When a famous and very trendy London restaurant commissions its own wine, then you've made it. This is what happened to Rodrigo Méndez with his bodega "Forjas del Salnes" in the Rias Baixas region in the far northwest of Spain on the rough and cold Atlantic coast, even though the bodega was founded in 2005 and is not even 20 years old. Today, Rodrigo Méndez is considered an iconic winemaker and the great specialist for wines of the Albariño variety. The crisp, fresh and exciting wines of this variety are without question the flagship of the region, but it is only in the last 30 years or so that they have increasingly become the focus of discerning wine lovers, also and especially because of the wines of Rodrigo Méndez. The Spanish winemaking legend Raul Perez proved to be an important mentor when he started out in the wine world. Today, his wines, some of which are made from grapes from vines up to 100 years old, are celebrated masterpieces, because hardly anyone knows how to reproduce the rugged landscape, the typical granite terroir and the cold influences of the Atlantic as authentically as he does. The vines for Méndez's top wine "Leirana Areas de Arra", one of Spain's best white wines, are planted on a thick layer of sand on the beach in the immediate vicinity of the sea and are thus exposed to the harsh Atlantic climate. An unusually taut and fascinating wine, which is unfortunately difficult to find. On his way to creating this exceptional wine, he does not shy away from reactivating traditional methods; his "Cos Pés" is literally trampled underfoot and pressed in the old-fashioned way. The result is a kind of orange wine that is also one of the best of its kind on the Iberian peninsula. Otherwise, his credo is to intervene as little as possible and let nature take its course. And even if Méndez's heart beats for the Albariño, he has his red wines from indigenous varieties such as Loureiro firmly in his sights, in contrast to many other winegrowers who have removed their red wine vines from the vineyards. In the end, this leaves a small deficit: with around 45,000 bottles produced annually, the production is so small that you will have to search for the few bottles.
