The 2013 Raimat Albariño is sourced from two sustainably farmed Raimat estate vineyards in the Costers del Segre DO, just west of Barcelona in Spain. This is a young wine, with only a small amount of aging, “on lees,” in stainless steel tanks and is intended to be consumed within 2 years of release. “On lees” indicates this Albariño was left in the vats with the spent yeast and grape residue (that’s the lees). This imparts some depth and structure to the wine as well as creamy flavor. The 2013 vintage in Costers del Segre was long and slow, which allowed the grapes to develop and ripen fully. The alcohol content is 12.5%.
The color is an extremely pale yellow. The nose is sugary sweet, with very ripe peach and apple. While the nose is sweet this is a dry wine, clean and crisp, with some good weight to the fruit flavors. It tastes dried pears and apricots, a touch of peach and a slap of grapefruit. The acidity is very well-balanced, this is a long and lean White wine.
The 2013 Raimat Albariño is a very tasty and versatile. When lightly chilled it makes a terrific back porch sipper and will pair well with summer salads, fish and shrimp and white sauce pasta. Young wines tend to taste fresh and alive, since the wine-maker does very little to get in the way of the true nature of the fruit. The Raimat Albariño is a wonderful, change of pace (but Albariño really deserves to be on the regular rotation), refreshing and delicious summer wine.
