The ever-shrinking window of opportunity to acquire Luis Rodríguez’s wines has officially reached a crisis point: Years ago, we were able to offer this wine quarterly, and then bi-annually, and now, 13 months have passed since his name has graced our site. For anyone who’s been following these jaw-dropping gems, it shouldn’t come as a surprise: consumer buzz has likened them to the Burgundy of Spain which has consequently lifted them into the upper echelons of fine wine and generated impossible-to-meet demand. I’m here to assure you that every ounce of praise is warranted.
Luis has absolutely stolen the show when it comes to his extraordinary, multi-textural whites and each deeply sophisticated showing silences any suggestion that Spain’s finest can’t exist alongside the elites of Grand Cru Burgundy and Rhône. In fact, I’m willing to bet that anyone currently doubting this bold statement hasn’t tasted “A Teixa” before! Hailing from a single vineyard, raised with native yeasts in barrel, and aged two years before a micro-release, this 2016 is a fascinating homage to Galicia’s native grapes and an exceptional addition to a cellar furnished with Europe’s most iconic labels. When I talk about “the best,” the inimitable wines of Luis Anxo Rodríguez Vásquez stand at the top of my list, and I’m certain you’ll agree. Only 400 or so cases were produced for the world and that number today has practically dwindled down to zero. After you pull the cork on that first bottle, you’ll be thanking yourself—let’s just hope you have another on standby!
These wines are not only exceptional in quality; they are also remarkably diverse in style. Depending on the cuvée and vineyard source, Luis covers the spectrum from lean and mineral white, all the way up to powerful and mouth-filling red—and seemingly everything between! “A Teixa” is his ‘sweet spot’ white: It contains the soft fruit of a Premier Cru from Burgundy’s Côte de Beaune, the intense minerality of top Albariño, and refined, expressive aromas that are unique to Ribeiro.
Luis farms just five hectares spread across some 100 parcels in the rural Galician village of Arnoia. These “micro parcels” hug the granite hillside at 300-1,000 feet elevation and offer a diverse mosaic of soil characteristics, all of which are brilliantly delineated in the estate’s final cuvées. After studying viticulture and enology at the esteemed University of Madrid, Luis worked and traveled extensively across the great appellations of Europe—and logged many hours in Burgundy—before bottling his first vintage in 1988. Almost three decades later, Luis' one-man show has earned a singular status in the Ribeiro region.
“A Teixa” is brought to life through a combination of Albariño, Godello, and Treixadura planted in a single granite/sand vineyard. Each Autumn, he harvests clusters by hand before pressing juice into an enormous, 2,300-liter oak barrel where it will be raised with only wild, airborne yeast to aid in fermentation. The wine remains in barrel, aging on its lees for an entire year before being racked into bottles where it continues to integrate and mature in Luis’ cellar for an additional year. Luis’ wines get snatched up on release in the US, so we’re incredibly fortunate that any quantity of this 2016 “A Teixa” still remains.
Throughout Luis’ lineup, “A Teixa” is, for me, his most expressive and inviting white. There are more powerful wines like his “Escolma” and more purely mineral ones like his “Os Pasas,” but “A Teixa” always delivers a harmonious blend of richly textural fruit and one-of-a-kind aromas, all tied together with exceedingly pristine minerality and freshness. Texturally speaking, it reminds me—and countless others—of great Premier Cru White Burgundy, but aromatically, it’s distinctly Galician.
In order to extract the most out of this wine, there isn’t much required of you: Simply decant for a minimum of 30 minutes and serve in your largest Burgundy stems around 50-55 degrees. The wine sings a soulful, terroir-driven tune that’s marked by a stunning backbone of white pear, juicy white peach, lime blossoms, melon skin, pineapple core, and tangerine peel that rests on a pillowy bed of exotic flowers, crushed stones, and a hint of spice. Don’t jump the gun on this—make sure you allow the wine to breathe because oxygen introduces another dimension. That nervy acidity will calm down and broad, rich textures come out. This is a sneakily opulent wine with layers of exotic fruit and a powerful mineral imprint that reverberates on an impressively long finish. I advise you to purchase one more bottle than you’re planning on, too because (1) each pour only gets better, (2) it will be a breathtaking wine between its fifth and tenth birthday, and (3) you’ll likely never encounter a bottle of 2016 “A Teixa” again. Cheers!
