Our blind tasting game—without the tasting! Can you identify a wine just by reading its tasting note? We post real Wine Spectator reviews. You use clues such as color, aromas, flavors and structure to figure out the grape, age and origin. Good luck!
Tasting Note: A creamy, light-bodied white, with notes of slivered almond and smoke enriching flavors of pineapple, preserved lemon and sea salt backed by tangy grapefruit peel acidity.
And the answer is...
Variety
Our light-bodied white wine is creamy with tangy acidity and nut, smoke, tropical fruit and sea salt notes. Let’s figure out what it is!
We can begin by eliminating Gewürztraminer, which makes fuller-bodied white wines with lower levels of acidity as well as prominent floral and perfume accents.
While a Sauvignon Blanc could show our wine’s tangy, citrusy acidity and fruit notes, our wine’s almond, smoke and salt accents would be unusual for one of these whites. Sauvignon Blanc has to go too!
Viogniers can have creamy textures, which sounds right; however, our wine is missing that grape’s distinctive floral characteristics, and Viognier tends to have low to medium levels of acidity. Let’s move on!
When made in a richer and riper style, Pinot Grigio (aka Pinot Gris) often shows nut, citrus and tropical fruit flavors. Unfortunately, a rich Pinot Grigio would likely also have lower levels of acidity. Maybe another grape works better?
Albariño generally makes lighter-bodied wines with creamy textures as well as tropical fruit, citrus, nut and smoke notes. These whites also usually have a distinctive saline accent. We have a winner!
This wine is an Albariño.
Country or Region of Origin
Albariño has a few key footholds, but it is not an international grape variety. It would be difficult to find it growing in France, Germany or Italy. There are some Albariño plantings in California, but the grape hasn’t achieved nearly as much prominence there as other varieties like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or even Chenin Blanc. And we would expect richer texture, fruit notes and spice accents from a California Albariño. Meanwhile, Albariño’s primary regions are the Iberian nations of Spain and Portugal (where it is known as Alvarinho). In Spain, Albariño is used primarily to make lighter-bodied, refreshing wines with nutty, saline accents. This sounds closest to the mark.
This Albariño is from Spain.
Appellation
We know that our Albariño is from Spain, so we can eliminate France’s Barsac, Germany’s Pfalz, California’s Santa Barbara and Italy’s Soave. This leaves us with two Spanish options: Rioja and Rias Baixas. While best-known for its red wines, Rioja does make acclaimed white wines with nutty accents; these are primarily made from the Viura grape variety. Meanwhile, farther west in Spain’s Galicia region, Rias Baixas is celebrated for its refreshing white wines made from Albariño. The choice is clear!
This Albariño is from Rias Baixas.
Age
Our Albariño’s fruit notes are still fresh. Bearing in mind that Rias Baixas winemakers tend to age their Albariños for a year or two before release (though rarely with significant oak aging), let’s look at northern Spain’s most recent vintages to figure out our wine’s age. 2020 was a hot year for Spain, with mildew and hail in some areas; the resulting Albariños have rich tropical fruit notes with lively acidity and nutty, smoky accents. Weather conditions were largely stable in 2019, and that year’s Albariños display minerally and floral accents. There was cooler weather in northern Spain in 2018, and that year’s Albariños have richer textures with herbal and ginger notes. Of this group, 2020’s wines sound the most like what we’re looking for.
This Albariño is from the 2020 vintage, which makes it four years old.
Wine
This is the Bodegas Fillaboa Albariño Rias Baixas Selección Finca Monte Alto 2020, which scored 89 points in 2023. It retails for $29, and 1,100 cases were made. For more on Spanish wines, read senior editor Alison Napjus’ tasting report, "Spain’s Bounty," in the July 31, 2023, issue of Wine Spectator.
—Collin Dreizen, assistant managing editor
