If you’ve been a SommSelect reader for long enough, you’ve likely seen one of our gushing missives about Luis Rodríguez’s genre-defining Galician wines. Make no mistake about the esteem in which we hold Luis; were we to compile a list of the world’s greatest whites, we’d place his exotic, mineral, endlessly complex wines alongside legendary bottles like Leflaive Puligny or Keller Riesling without hesitation.
That might sound dramatic, but spend an evening with his 2017 “Viña de Martin Escolma” and you’ll see things our way. This is Luis’ crowning achievement, his own little “Montrachet of Ribeiro,” if you will. Hailing from the lowest-yielding vines and aged 4-5 years before release, this hypnotic field blend delivers a complex mosaic of palate-wrapping texture, saline fruit, and powerful mineral verve. It’s been a full calendar year since we’ve been able to offer any of Luis’ wines, and his 2017 “Escolma” might just be the most limited creation in his lineup. It’s certainly the qualitative peak. Enjoy up to six bottles.
The rise of Galicia from obscure novelty to wine list lynchpin has to be one of the best vinous turnarounds of the 21st century. Prior to that, a Spanish white wine that wasn’t either Albariño or a big producer’s shot at Chardonnay or Sauv Blanc was a genuine rarity. But over the past 10 years or so, the wine world seems to have caught on to the tensile, mineral, sun-kissed magic possible in this northwestern region known as “Green Spain” (and I’d like to think our effusive offers on these wines have also moved the needle a bit). Store shelves are now packed with Galician white wines I’d happily drink any day. But when I want to experience the absolute best, the spine-tingling heights this special place has to offer, I turn to Luis Anxo Rodríguez Vásquez.
Luis was born and raised in Ribeiro, the Galician region that sits right above the border with Portugal. He studied enology and philosophy in Madrid, then returned home to create an estate firmly focused on elevating the region’s underappreciated varieties and vineyards. He now resides in the village he grew up in, Arnoia, and farms six hectares that are dissected between a mind-boggling 200 parcels. The main soils in his vineyards are granite and clay, and as a rule, they’re planted on dangerously steep slopes. Luis spends most of his time converting vineyards from Palomino and Alicante Bouschet—planted in the ’70s and ’80s for bulk production—back to local specialties like Treixadura. Many of the wines Luis makes are thus based on fairly young vineyards, making the mature, low-yielding vines that comprise “Viña de Martin Escolma” his ultimate treasures.
A blend of Treixadura with smaller amounts of Albariño, Torrontés, and Lado, this 2017 “Escolma” fermented spontaneously and aged in a combination of new and used 300-600-liter French barrels for one year, then in bottle for a further three. To really grasp the majesty in a bottle like today’s, I suggest treating it like great white Burgundy; that is, serve it in Burgundy stems at or just above cellar temp. It pours a faint gold with hints of straw and wafts up with waves of golden pear, quince, plastic, orange peel, lanolin, just-ripe apricot, acacia honey, Marcona almond, pulverized chalk, and seaspray. The palate perfectly toes the line between mouth-coating lushness and electric energy, recalling nothing if not great, developed Premier Cru Meursault in its structure. Indeed, my tableside pitch would be something like “fantastic white Burgundy reinterpreted through an exotic, saline lens.” In a word, breathtaking!
