When the small white wine region of Rías Baixas in far northwestern Spain came to prominence in the 1990s, a new era in Spanish white wine history was born.
With the exception of fortified Sherry and sparkling cava, the Spanish wines that had commanded world attention were almost exclusively red.
By the late 1980s and early 1990s modern technology — above all temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks — reached virtually all of Spain's top white wine producers and quality skyrocketed, with Rías Baixas leading the way.
The region sits on the Atlantic just above Portugal, in the southern part of Galicia, and takes its name from the Galician rías: sharp, fjord-like estuaries that slice like cobalt swords into the baixas, the lower part of southern Galicia.
It is one of the world's most breathtaking and unusual-looking wine regions — easy to mistake for Ireland or Wales but for the eucalyptus forests covering the steep hills and deep ravines.
The best wines are made principally from the white albariño grape, and albariño — not Rías Baixas — is the name by which they are commonly known and labelled, in complete contrast to other Spanish regions, where wines are named for the place rather than the grape.
Albariño's flavour profile is unique: not as zaftig as chardonnay, nor as minerally as riesling, nor as wild and herbal as sauvignon blanc, ranging from zingy citrus-peach to almond-honeysuckle.
In texture albariños are beautifully poised between light creaminess and crisp zestiness, and because most are neither fermented nor aged in wood the best of them are as light as gossamer on the palate.