The varietal Albari?o 2022 X, which contains some 5% Treixadura, was produced with grapes from schist and granite soils. It has a nose of dry herbs and a Mediterranean feeling to it, perhaps from the warmer year. The palate has depth and personality, nice texture and a long aftertaste. 7,000 bottles were produced. It was bottled in May 2023.

The 2020 X is tasty and sapid with a salty twist in the finish. It has varietal Albari?o notes, white flowers and yellow fruit, peach and apricot, with an herbal touch. It has good ripeness, developed flavors and aromas and a balanced mouthfeel. 5,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2021.

The 2019 X is pure Albari?o from schist soils. Seventy percent of the grapes are from the As Penelas vineyard, a one-hectare slope with 5,000 plants that ripens well and keeps good freshness, especially in years like 2019 when the higher yields made the grapes retain more acidity. This is complemented (since 2018) with 30% grapes from sandy soils that add more acidity and freshness, as the climate change meant the schist soils delivered wines with a more and more Mediterranean character. This is rounder and not as sharp as the coastal Albari?os from Rías Baixas, gentler and with mellower acidity. It was bottled in June 2020, and one and a half years in bottle seem to have amplified the leesy and smoky character from being in contact with the lees for six to eight months. 5,000 bottles were filled in June 2020.

X is for "xisto," the Galician spelling of schist, the dominant soil in the vineyards used for the 2018 X, a rare bottling, as it's mostly Albari?o (it's mentioned on the front label as a varietal wine, even if it has some 5% Treixadura). It has an expressive nose that goes beyond the pure varietal expression, and the palate reveals great elegance, intense and powerful, with developed flavors (the wine is close to 14% alcohol). They like ripe and flavorful fruit here but not over-ripeness. This comes from vines planted in 2001, and the wine is produced in a traditional way, bottled unoaked after time in contact with the lees. 6,000 bottles were filled in May 2019.

I tasted two vintages of this Albari?o from Coto de Gomariz, and the 2017 X showed fresher, less evolved and more harmonious than the 2016. I've always liked their Albari?o, even though it's not traditionally bottled separately in Ribeiro, and it certainly behaves better than Godello in the warmer Leiro-Gomariz zone. It used to be from a single vineyard, As Penelas, where the soils are rich in slate, but in 2017 some 30% of the grapes come from a new planting on granite soils. Slate is certainly different in that it delivers a riper and more continental Albari?o when compared with Rías Baixas, with aromas of yellow fruit and honey, but it also seems to have more freshness than the 2016. It's very tasty and has a pleasant bittersweet twist on the finish; it has complexity and great length, combining power and elegance. It has to be one of the finest vintages for this bottling. The volume has grown to 10,000 bottles. It was bottled in May 2018.