2020 Nanclares y Prieto Porta Franca
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Tasting notes
100% Albariño. Parcels in the village of Castrelo. It is made to the taste and request of a client from the USA. French oak is used, no sulphites are added and it is bottled directly from the barrel without filtering. Tasted blind. It has some premature oxidation, a touch of cider, crisp acidity. A somewhat free and open wine in its style. (FC)
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Jancis Robinson MW
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
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The 2020 Porta Franca Aberta is an Albariño with no added sulfur. They didn't even present this wine to the appellation of origin because many of their more conventional wines had already been disqualified and denied the appellation. So, it's sold as a table wine—a situation that is crazy and happens to some of the best producers in many regions, in Galicia and elsewhere. I was very surprised by this wine, which is from a vineyard in Dena (a parish of Meaño); it is expressive and precise in a Ganevat way, aromatic and tasty, very balanced and with cleanliness and precision. It did go through 100% malolactic fermentation to stabilize it, something they don't do in their other wines. It's marine, tart and salty, really impressive. It fermented in barrel, where it matured with lees, and was bottled directly from barrel in August 2021. There are only 500 bottles of this wine from one 450-liter oak barrel. The grapes were super healthy, and the wine has high acidity and moderate alcohol, nicely balanced.