José Andrés launches home-town wines of Ribeiro, Spain, in the US
Ribeiro wines, Spain’s biggest white wine success story of recent years, are coming to America. GQ Chef of the Year, José Andrés (pictured, right), has brought together the top seven estates from Galicia (neighbor to Andrés’ home region of Asturias) to satisfy US drinkers’ unending thirst for the fresh, aromatic whites flowing out of this corner of north-west Spain.
Andrés recently unveiled the wines at a one-off Galician culinary extravaganza at his Jaleo restaurant in Washington, D.C. He exhibited easy-drinking, indigenous varietals like Treixadura, Torrontés, Loureira, and Godello as well as the established Albariño with some of his favorite Galician dishes, including Pulpo a la Gallega (steamed octopus with pimento and fingerling potatoes), Mejilliones al vapor Pazo do Ribeiro (mussels with bay leaf and Ribeiro wine), Cocido Gallego (Galician stew) as well as local cheeses like San Simón and Tetilla.
“Ribeiro wines are incredibly elegant and aromatic”, says José Andrés. “They truly are the rising stars of white wines in Europe, and I am thrilled to be able to bring the wines from where I grew up to friends and Spanish wine aficionados in the U.S.”
Ribeiro is situated in the north-west Spanish province of Galicia, directly north of the Portuguese border. It neighbors Rias Baixas, the region renowned globally for Albariño white wines, and a style which Ribeiro also excels in. Versus its neighbor’s wines, Ribeiro are markedly fresher on the nose – with notes of white peach and green apple – but less tart in the mouth, making for a more unctuous, rounder taste. Ribeiro lies slightly further inland than neighboring Rias Baixas, and the warmer temperatures take away some of the astringency found in wines elsewhere in the region.
Following the launch at Jaleo, the seven bodegas – Bodegas Viña Meín, Docampo, María Alvarez Serrano, San Clodio’ Produccións Amodiño, Cooperative Vitivinícola do Ribeiro, Casal de Armán, and Bodegas Nairoa – also exhibited their wines at the Washington D.C. International Wine & Food Festival.
Click here for more information about Ribeiro Wines of Spain
