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Albariño: Panel tasting results

A high-scoring tasting brought together an eclectic mix of wines, showing unexpected diversity in style, beyond the variety’s typical descriptors of peach, citrus and white flowers. Older examples showed its ageability, too.

Sarah Jane Evans MW, Pierre Mansour and Beth Willard tasted 137 wines, with 1 Exceptional, 5 Outstanding and 71 Highly recommended.

Albariño: Panel tasting scores

137 wines tasted

Exceptional 1

Outstanding 5

Highly recommended 71

Recommended 59

Commended 1

Fair 0

Poor 0


Entry criteria: Producers and UK agents were invited to submit their current-release vintages of still white wines made from 100% Albariño


Search this website for Rías Baixas Albariño reviews and you will find we did a panel tasting way back in 2016. It was already an established favourite on wine lists: the new face of Spanish white, peachy and unoaked. We talked then of the risk that global demand was turning Albariño into another Pinot Grigio.

The verdict then was that it was a tasting of two halves. Said Pierre Mansour at the time: there were ‘some truly great [wines] with real identity and class… no poor or faulty wines, but too many neutral ones’.


Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from the Albariño panel tasting



Albariño: Panel tasting scores


The judges

Sarah Jane Evans MW is a Decanter contributing editor and Co-Chair of the Decanter World Wine Awards. Her latest book The Wines of Central and Southern Spain (£35 Infinite Ideas) is set for release in early 2024.

Pierre Mansour is director of wine at The Wine Society, and has been buying The Society’s Spanish wines since 2008. He is a member of Spain’s Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino, and a DWWA joint Regional Chair for Spain.

Beth Willard is involved in sourcing wines for both the on- and off-trade in the UK, with a particular focus on Eastern Europe and Spain. Formerly buying manager at Direct Wines, she is a member of Spain’s Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino, and a DWWA joint Regional Chair for Spain.


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