2021 Alvaro Cristobal Portugal Albariño

In the late 1800s, a series of phylloxera outbreaks — vineyard infestations by leaf-loving insects — devastated wide expanses of grapevines in the northwestern corner of the Iberian peninsula, straddling the border between modern-day Portugal and Spain.

This necessitated the uprooting, cleaning and replanting of those vineyards. It was only then that the Albariño variety ascended from a blending grape to a star among the region’s single-variety white wines. It had been a long wait, since Albariño had been cultivated there since the times of the ancient Romans.

In Portugal, the variety typically is labeled with a slightly different spelling: Alvarinho. But Alvaro Cristobal opted for the more widely used and recognizable Albariño for its 2021 vintage. And what a vintage it turned out to be, producing a wine with perfect acidity, making it ideal for drinking chilled on a hot day. It’s hard to imagine a better outcome, post-phylloxera.