Santiago Ruiz “Rosa Ruiz” Albariño
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Rosa Ruiz, who inherited her father’s love for the land and a focus on the finer details, lends her name to set apart this exceptional wine which is the first different to Santiago Ruiz.
- A limited edition, it comes from old vines of Albariño that are trellised in the traditional manner and located at the foot of the old winery, where Rosa learned the true philosophy of the winery with her father.
- From father to daughter, from daughter to father: A label loaded with significance and sentiment, expressing the union between father and daughter. Inspired by a photo taken of the two of them in 1993 in the winery where they shared so much. With Rosa Ruiz’s favorite color, red, taking center stage, it is an invitation to cross the threshold of the winery and enjoy its wines.
Varietal Composition: 100% Albariño from a selection of very low-yielding old vines planted at the foot of our winery, trained on the high pergola system typical of the O Rosal sub-zone.
Elaboration: Hand-harvested grapes from their own vineyards which after being selected in the sorting tables, are destemmed and softly crushed prior to maceration. Temperature-controlled fermentation following pre-fermentative cold maceration with dry ice for 12 hours. Long period of contact with the lees to achieve volume on the palate.
Tasting Notes: Pale-yellow color, clean and bright. Intense, clean, and powerful nose where the typical aromas of the Albariño variety (apple, pear, mango, papaya, white flowers and citrus) are fully ripe and marked in their presence. Broad, structured and full-bodied on the palate lifted by a bright acidity that offers a sufficient framework to support such structure. The aromas are very much present again on the finish.
PRESS
2022 – 93 Decanter
PRODUCER BACKGROUND
Most talk of Albariño wine inevitably leads back to talk of Bodega Santiago Ruiz and its founder, Mr. Santiago Ruiz, a man hailed as the “inventor” of Albariño wine. Located in the district of O Rosal, the bodega is one of the leading producers in Rias Baixas. Santiago Ruiz was a visionary, decades ahead of his time. In 1978 at the age of 70, retired from his everyday work obligations, he decided to devote his newfound free time to his real passion by following the tradition of his ancestors (His maternal grandfather was one of the first winemakers and leabellers in Galicia, founding his own bodega in 1860).
A stout defender of the quality of native grapes, Santiago Ruiz became an ambassador for Rias Baixas’ wines, traveling the length and breadth of Spain (mostly on foot), with the clear objective of heightening awareness of Rias Baixas among the most select restaurateurs and opinion leaders of the early 1980’s. He was convinced that Albariño could give rise to some of the best white wines in the world, and his trailblazing work has clearly made a mark in the wine world, with Rias Baixas Albariño now considered a “must have” on any thorough wine list or cellar.