The ocean is beautiful to look at and it’s fun to swim in. In Rías Baixas, it also happens to be a key ingredient. At Bodegas Albamar, the vineyards sit on granitic sand a few steps from the water, and you can taste the salt air in the wines. Two bottles, same coastline, two expressions of that Atlantic Ocean snap.

The Albariño 2024 is the classic: bright and linear, all citrus peel and green peach, with that little sea-spray lift that makes oysters taste even more like oysters. It’s the bottle you chill hard, pop without ceremony, and marvel at how something so simple can feel so alive and precise.

Alma de Mar 2023 is the deeper cut. From a tiny parcel right on the ría (the local word for where the ocean floods the mouth of a river, and what gives Rias Baixas its name), it trades some upfront juiciness for tension and texture—more leesy depth, more mineral drive, more of that savory, tide-pool complexity. It’s still Albamar-fresh, but with an extra gear for the table.

All of this fantastic, practically exotic, terroir gets strict hands off treatment in the cellar. While avoiding marketing the winery as “natural”, wine-maker Xurxo Alba hand harvests, native ferments, ages only in tank and old wood, and generally does as little possible to allow that special coastline magic to shine through.

If you’re a Chablis person, these are your Galician cousins, with a little more stone fruit and a salty grin. Crudo, ceviche, Dungeness, simple grilled fish—start with the 2024 and pour it freely, and then break out the Alma de Mar when you’re ready for something more. 

Bodegas Albamar Rias Baixas Albarino Alma de Mar 2023 - $56.99

Bodegas Albamar Rias Baixas Albarino 2024 - $31.99