Albariño is one of Spain’s great gifts to the wine world. These crisp, floral wines rarely age well, but they’re reasonably priced and go nicely with food.

Albariño comes from a cool, wet viticultural area known as Rías Baixas, tucked away in the Galicia region of far northwestern Spain. Its lush landscape is marked by rías, fjord-like inlets that come inland from the Atlantic Ocean. Albariño is the only Spanish wine known by the variety of the grape. If these wines were tagged as others from Spain, they’d be called Rías Baixas.

Albariño wine is a light- to medium-bodied, fragrant, floral white that shows remarkable flexibility with food. Its sharp acidity allows it to pair especially well with seafood, which also happens to be the mainstay of the local cuisine. The wine rarely ages well, so readers should be buying the 2005’s, which are just being released. Here are some of the better examples:

Bodega Castro Martin – 88 points – $20

Aromatically demure, Castro Martin’s albariño explodes on the palate with melon balls, spices, salty minerals, and flowers. This light- to medium-bodied white is satin-textured, expressive, and sports a lengthy finish. $20

Visit www.erobertparker.com or http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/09/parker_41/source/1.htm

Footnote: I just thought that I would add a comment to put this article into perspective:

Only six albariño were actually mentioned as “better examples”, and although 88 points might not appear to be the highest, please remember that most of Parker’s 90+ scores are awarded to red wines. The highest mark acheived in this selection was 92 points, with only two wines above 90 points – our wine was 4th……

I would also like to challenge the great guru’s assertion that Albariño does not age well – see my blogs of 31st July and 26th August.