A Year On with Mar de Frades: Albariño and the Atlantic

Almost exactly a year ago, I sent my mum on a very specific mission to Big Tesco: track down a bottle of Mar de Frades Albariño. “Mum! It’s the one with the little blue boat that appears on the label only when the wine is chilled to the right temperature! I have to post about it.” (If you scroll back far enough on my Instagram, you’ll find the post - I compared it to a Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc for its freshness and flintiness.)

Fast forward to this week, and I feel incredibly lucky to have been invited to Mar de Frades’ ‘Atlantic & Albariño: Personality & Provenance’ tasting at The Oyster Shed in London - a deep dive into their portfolio, led by winemaker Paula Fandiño herself.

The tasting featured eight still wines and one sparkling - the first ever 100% Albariño sparkling wine, in fact (more on that later). Across the board, these wines carried the unmistakable fingerprint of the Atlantic: freshness, minerality, and that characteristic saline note that is reminiscent of coastal vineyards and sea breezes.

We began with the Albariño 2024 from Rías Baixas - bright, vibrant and full of white flowers, apple, pear, salt, peach and pineapple. The wine undergoes bâtonnage every hour for 10 minutes to build texture and balance. We then tasted the same vintage vinified with lees contact in granite vessels. Here, a stony, mineral edge came through, with a hint of honey thanks to micro-oxygenation. A third version, aged six months in concrete, brought out a fresher, reductive profile - beautifully flinty with fresh pear on the nose.

From there, we explored Albariños from different subregions of Rías Baixas.

Finca Monteveiga 2020, from Ribera del Ulla, sits slightly inland. This vintage was shaped by the intense heat of 2020, which brought ripe soft peach and banana notes but still retained that coastal saline finish. Skin maceration and fermentation with indigenous yeasts added richness and depth, and bottle ageing had given it a lovely nutty, nougat-like note.

Finca Lobeira 2019 overlooks the Salnés Valley and the Ría de Arousa, with vines rooted in granite soils and surrounded by dense pine forests, which was reflected in the wine’s herbaceous and balsamic notes alongside dried apricot from a bit of age. The blend includes 97% Albariño with 3% Godello, Caíño Blanco and Loureiro, which add further complexity.

The still wine tasting ended with a vertical of three vintages from Finca Valiñas, all 100% Albariño.

The 2020 vintage had a difficult start due to an unusually warm winter, which led to early budburst. But the hot summer delayed ripening just enough to restore balance. This wine showed notes of lemon peel, thyme and a savoury herbal edge.

The 2017 vintage was a favourite in the room. Impressively fresh after eight years, with orange blossom and dried fruit on the palate and a beautifully long finish. Albariño isn’t typically seen as an age-worthy variety, but this proved otherwise.

The 2015 vintage added even more intrigue, with 20% of the wine aged in oak barrels - not enough to impart overt oak flavours but just to enhance texture. Creamy and smooth, with a gentle toastiness, it also held onto a remarkable level of acidity for its age.

Then came the sparkling: a brut nature made from 100% Albariño, sourced from meticulously pruned plots and harvested early when grapes hit exactly 11°C. After 24 months on lees, it offered up bright notes of green apple, lemon and stone fruit, balanced by that classic brioche richness you’d expect from traditional method wines. An absolute delight - fresh, structured, and celebratory.

To finish, we had an oyster shucking masterclass, tasting three different species:

Porthilly was crisp and cucumber-like.

Maldon was creamy, with the flavour of avocado.

Carlingford were three years old. Rich with hints of walnut.

Who knew oysters had tasting notes too?

It was a wonderful deep dive into the world of Albariño - a grape I already loved, but now admire even more for its versatility, terroir expression, and age-worthiness. A huge thank you to the Mar de Frades team for such a memorable experience.