A few years ago, young Spanish winemaker Marcial Dorado decided he wanted to produce the finest Albariño in Rias Baixas. In Galicia, the optimal growing areas for Albariño are Val do Salnes to the North and Condado do Tea in the South on the Spanish side of the Miño River. Dorado couldn’t find suitable vineyard sites in Rias Baixas, but in 1999 he discovered an excellent property across the Miño River in Portugal, near the town of Melgaço, with a seventy-year old vineyard where Albariño is known as Alvarinho. And he hired Spanish winemaker Marcos Lojo Abal as a consultant. Abal's Gran Bazan Ambar has long been regarded as a benchmark Albariño from Rias Baixas. Dorado named the property Quinta do Dorado and the property’s first vintage was 2000.

Marcial has recently purchased a property, the Feital estate, in the nearby town of Seixas near the mouth of the Minho river, to make a lower-level white wine called Auratus, made from 60% Alvarinho and 40% Trajadura fruit. Some Dorado fruit is included in this wine. Additionally, Dorado has an "agritourism" project underway similar to many on Italian wine properties in Tuscany, Campania and Basilicata, which will utilize the original monastery structures on his properties.

To produce Dorado's 2002 Alvarinho Superior, the winemaking methods employed by Dorado and Abal are similar to those utilized by the best white Burgundy growers from the Mâconnais or Chablis regions rather than the Cote d’Or, since no oak is used for aging. The overall philosophy of winemaking is one of minimal intervention. First, Dorado uses fruit meticulously picked by hand from his seventy-year-old 100% Alvarinho vines that already produce concentrated fruit and low yields due to their age. Vineyard yields are a low 33 hl/hA from hilly soils of sand and clay.

The first sorting is in the vineyard during picking, then a sorting table is used for a second sorting, where any unhealthy or damaged bunches are discarded. All transfers of must or wine during vinification are performed by gravity to emphasize gentle handling. There is a long, cool alcoholic fermentation, after which there is a weekly stirring (‘batonnage’) of the lees (spent yeast cells that are the typical by products of first fermentation) during its nine-month aging (‘elevage’) period. As in Burgundy, the technique of stirring the lees during aging greatly helps to enrich the wine's aromatic complexity and depth on the palate. Finally, the wine completes a full malolactic fermentation in tank.

When asked about his wines at a March 2005 portfolio tasting in New York, Marcial said unequivocally he wants his wines to stress purity of fruit and a sense of place that is specific to his vineyards (what the French term ‘terroir’). Dorado also carefully watches the older winemakers around Melgaço and Rias Baixas to learn their growing and winemaking methods. Dorado was granted a new appellation "Alvarinho Superior" though the official Region is Vinho Verde. Clearly, the intent of the Portuguese government is to assist quality winemakers like Dorado by creating a higher classification than the generic "Vino Verde" used to denote white table wines, which are often light and slightly fizzy, but usually very refreshing.

The 2002 Dorado Alvarinho Superior has incredibly clean aromas of wet stones, clover, chalk and grassy notes, with traces of light honey and white pepper. On the palate, the aromas become clearly delineated, showing fresh, round flavors of honeydew melon and Fuji apples that end in a bracing mineral flourish. The wine finishes with a hint of crème brulée and a refreshing, cleansing acidity. Unlike some Albariños, where a rough blend of intense minerality and acidity can result in an austere, disjointed wine on the palate, the Dorado is elegantly balanced and integrated, dominated by the round, concentrated fruit. This wine pairs well with grilled or fried squid, tuna, swordfish, lobster, and shellfish, as well as half-shell clams and fresh oysters.

—Chris