Fish for lunch at a Galician taberna in beautiful and much visited Toledo and the wine list had the magic name Zarate. Sorry, none left. Perhaps the house Albariño? Why not and out came this cheerful package, gloriously topped by a Stelvin Luxe and glistening with condensation. Opened a bit affected by recent fermentation but settled to a clean, fresh modern, stainless steel made white wine. Just a bit of Albariño’s exotic perfume creeping in. A good mouthful and that’s better. Rich yellow peach and a lick of papaya, seasoned with sweet green shrubbery all put firmly in line by that Galician acidity. Add a mouthful of fresh flatfish bathed in garlicky olive oil and all is well. Amazing how white wine goes with food, often better than red! Quite rich for a basic and perhaps shows a warm concentrated vintage. Wasn’t expecting to see the industrial sized producer’s name on the back label. Much better than the supermarket Codax brand. Toledo’s not very close to the Rias Baixas but wine, fish and me travelled well.
12.50% alcohol. Beautiful back and white striped Stelvin! 12 euros on the list.
91 points.
Cognitive Bottle Therapy 