Zárate Albariño, Balado | 2023

Of the earliest adapters of biodynamic farming in Rías Baixas, Zárate makes exceptional whites that rival the minerality of great Burgundies. I feel like every year, I ask my supplier, "Is Balado back in stock?" "When is Balado coming back?" Made from two parcels of un-grafted vines, planted in the 1950s, the terroir is sacredly unforgiving — a paper-thin topsoil over a bedrock of granite. Vinification takes place in steel tank with no malolactic fermentation or influence of oak. This is a wine you want to hold onto, a tight-knit ball of minerality, ready to explode in a few years. That's Balado. ~Allegra A