Forjas del Salnés ‘Leirana’ Albariño 2022

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Leirana Albariño is partially fermented in stainless steel, partially in old oak and kept on fine lees.

About

In the 1970s, most vintners in Rías Baixas were pulling up their old red grapevines to make way for the more productive, more en vogue, Albariño. Over the last decade, Forjas del Salnés has firmly established itself as a cult producer in Rías Baixas wines that speak so clearly of the land on which they’re grown. Rodrigo Mendez, grandson of the project’s founder and local vinous legend Francisco Mendez Laredo, grows a selection of indigenous red varietals rarely seen in Rías Baixas: Caíño, Loureiro Tinto, Espadeiro, alongside the more ubiquitous Albariño. The red varieties now form a collection of wines known as ‘Goliardo’ – a local Galician term for a drunk philosophe.

This mission of preservation was kick-started in earnest during the early years of the 21st Century when Rodrigo Méndez and respected winemaker Raúl Pérez joined forces to produce not just some of the most astonishing Albariño available, but also the rare Galician reds that just a century beforehand were the pride of the region. Using traditional methods learnt over generations, Forjas del Salnés was born in a garage winery in 2005 and named after the ironworks set up by his grandfather, Francisco Méndez. Here they work the fruits from just 7.5 hectares of vines, grown in the villages of Meaño, Sanxenxo and Barro.

No amount of words can adequately describe the wines from Forjas del Salnés. To taste them is to taste true examples of Galician history, with the slight bite of Atlantic salinity reminding you of the coastlands from which they originate.

Along with the likes of Nanclares y Prieto & Zarate, Forjas del Salnés are making some of the most important Albariños of Spain.

In the Vineyard

At the heart of the project is the two hectare estate of Madame Lola, where pre-phylloxera Caíño and Albariño vines are planted on granitic sand around an old cellar.

Including Madame Lola’s estate, Forjas del Salnés now farms 12.5 acres of vines, spread across the Salnés valley. They search for sites with slight elevation, fast draining, sandy soils, and granitic bedrock to help counteract the high rainfall typical of Rías Baixas. Rodrigo farms organically, one of the few to do so in a region with high disease pressure, and typically yields are between a third and a half of the 12,000kg per hectare regional average.

The oldest vines are 150-200 years old, planted in the Finca Genoveva.

In the Winery

When Rodrigo began work here, he found a cellar with estate-made Albariño from the 1960s and 1970s, produced simply, with indigenous yeasts, old oak barrels for fermentation and ageing. These rare old bottles showed tremendous complexity and longevity. These bottlings, along with the simple manner of production at Madame Lola’s estate, have continued to inform the project as Rodrigo seeks complex, age-worthy expressions of the local terroir whose savoury nature provides stark contrast to the mainstream Rías Baixas producers.

The 2021 & 2022 Vintage at Forjas del Salnés

I tasted the 2021 and 2022 wines from Forjas del Salnés, and those are two different vintages. 2021 was a cooler year with lower alcohol, harvested from the second week of September. 2022 was a very warm year with a torrid summer. It was a drier year, but the wines were marked by the rains before the harvest; but they are quite complete and balanced, with a little less acidity but still fresh.

2021 was warmer than 2020 (a very sharp vintage, a very cold year), maybe in the style of 2019; and 2022 is warmer, like 2018, years of more powerful wines.

Luis Gutiérrez

Where in the World is Forjas del Salnés?

Forjas del Salnés is in the Val do Salnés sub-zone of Rías Baixas known as the birthplace of the Albariño grape. Located on the Atlantic coast in the north west corner of spain, it surrounds the historic town of Cambados. This is the original and oldest sub-region with the most area under vine and the highest concentration of wineries.