Bodegas Ramon Bilbao Mar de Frades Brut Nature

Bottled 23.8.24 Smells heavier than I expected, stone fruit, toffee and a touch of saline albarino character, Lean and lemony, lemon sherbert character, fine bubbles, creamy finish. Not much development. Imagine this would be very nice drunk cold in the summer but at £25-30 you could do so much better from SA, New Zealand, cremant etc.

First eever Champagne method 100% Albarino apparently. Very high flowery perfume to it. Salty and tangy on the palate. Average in quality. Maybe a touch below average in value at $26. Quite dry at 3 g/L RS.

Apparently the world's first sparkling Albarino. Super super crispy on the palate, that, combined with the slightly not delicious flavor means that for me, well, below average in character and below average in value at $30 and even at $25 still below average.

Fruity refreshing quaffer, made with traditional method, fermented with native yeast, aged in stainless steel on its lees for over a year. Pale lemon colour. Medium intensity aroma of lemon sorbet, lemon peel, apples, quince, doughy hints. Medium body, fresh with very fine mildly creamy mousse, zesty and citrusy with crisp high acidity.

traditional method, on lees for 12 months. lots of citrus, very zesty. high acid, not so much yeast. just a touch of bread. quite nice actually. 16

Smells of Apples and Quince. The taste is fruity but on the very dry side. Strong acidity and also structure from tanins. I enjoyed it on its own, with fish and also with quince sorbet, which was really outstanding. One of my favorite bubbles.

Sparkling Albariño, fresh and clean. Green apple and lemon sherbert. No autolysis character that I could detect. Some creaminess. Enjoyable but not sure the bubbles really add anything to it.

Fresh, vibrant, creamy, citrus-y, has kept the albarino typicity , but more playful with that delicate bubbles, pure joy.

Bubbles from the Old World (Bodega Santa Cecilia - Madrid) : Dry herbs from albariño with dried shells. Easy and a people's choice. Scrape on the tongue. For those who liked this kind of thing. Hierbas secas del albariño con conchas secas. Facilón y para el gran público. Raspa en la lengua. Para el que le gusté este tipo de cosas.

Honey , oranges on the nose, some biscuit Very fine bubbles, lemony, acidity Not developed, some length QN

Enofusión 2016; 1/25/2016-1/27/2016 (IFEMA - Madrid) : In one sentence? Luis supplied it : Acid little green apple with bubbles. ¿En una frase? La suministró Luis: Manzanita ácida con burbujas.

Enofusión 2014 (Including a walk into the Chateau Margaux path by Paul Pontallier) (Auditorio de Madrid) : Still obvious but some efforts are made on this in order to domesticate this Albariño based cava. Sigue siendo obvio pero lo van domesticando a lo que debe ser un cava basado en la Albariño

Ramon Bilbao operation in Rias Baixas. Made with the traditional method. Refreshing citrus profile. The mousse is rather aggressive with large bubbles, juicy but short length of finish.

Clear, pale lemon colour with many tiny bubbles. Medium intensity clean nose at a developing stage, fruity and floral with notes of ripe apricot, orange blossom, fresh pineapple and hints of banana. Dry, delicate mousse, medium refreshing acidity, medium delicate and well integrated alcohol, low body, medium intensity flavours of ripe apricot, lemon, white flowers and hints of pineapple. Medium finish. Good quality sparkling showing a clear varietal character, fruit and flowers dominate with almost no hints of autolytic notes, …

Enofusión 2013 (Including Vega Sicilia´s Macan) (IFEMA - Madrid) : A new cava made from Albariño Too obvious fruit, giving nothing new excepting varietal Un nuevo cava elaborado con Albariño Fruta demasiado obvia, aportando nada nuevo exceptuando la varietal