SAQ Robertson Albariño 2022, Springfield Estate, South Africa

Follow this link for SAQ: https://www.saq.com/fr/15299869

Starting from afar to do very well

Certain grape varieties are considered synonymous with a region. Let’s think Gamay and Beaujolais, Nebbiolo and Piedmont, and why not Pinot Noir and Burgundy.

Fortunately for savvy drinkers like us, the world is becoming less dependent on these wine generalizations, which is why a few Spanish vine cuttings (coming from Uruguay...) transported to South Africa a few years ago now provide the ability to produce a new kind of Albariño in the country.

The experiment is taking place in Robertson. It is the second most important wine region in South Africa and is better known for its magnificent Chardonnays, which make traditional method sparkling wines known there as MCC.

The Bruwer family, a Huguenot name if ever there was one, dabbles in bubbles, but also enjoys offering us an Albariño aged in stainless steel tanks with about a hundred days on the lees. The result is a wine a bit richer than what one might find in Spain, with stone fruits, but still with the minerality characteristic of the grape variety.

An astonishing wine that one will find themselves intellectualizing with friends.

• To pair with it: Yellow tomato salad with feta,
• As a fun fact: This is only the second Albariño produced in South Africa, the first being at the initiative of Gordon Newton Johnson of the eponymous estate.
• To better understand sweet wines: We’re getting on the waiting list for the workshop on the subject in the fall of '24.
• While we're at it, since we're daring to try Albariño, let's try the opposite in terms of flavors with an Alvarinho from Portugal, Solos de Xisto 2021, Aveleda $25 at the SAQ (15091072)