Eladio Pineiro Albariño, Envidiacochina | 2022

Few winemakers are as wonderfully unconventional as Eladio Piñeiro, the man who put Albariño on the world map with Mar de Frades and its iconic blue bottle. Today, through his Adega Familiar, he makes biodynamic wines that bend every old rule. Among them is Envidiacochina— “The envy of the worm,” a Spanish phrase for wishing to be in someone else’s shoes when fortune strikes. Its thermochromic label changes, depending on the temperature and optimal condition of the bottle, and the wine inside is even more original. Sourced from the Salnés Valley, the grapes undergo 48 hours of skin maceration before a slow, native fermentation with a “Pie de Cuba,” which mirrors a bread starter culture. The blend includes 15% reserve wine from the previous vintage, then rests six months with frequent stirring of the lees, yielding a wine invisibly layered with textures. Like the color of its label, the palate is a rainbow of green banana and mango, orange and lemon creamsicle, rose and fuzzy fennel. Bright, viscous, and unforgiving, it’s supercharged Albariño. ~Allegra Angelo