Afton Mountain Vineyards 2021 Albariño

Further evidence that we need more albariño planted in Eastern wine country

For all the discussion over the years about “signature varieties” for wine regions — things like merlot for Long Island, riesling in the Finger Lakes, or the rotating cast of grapes put forward by Virginia wine country — I always come back to diversity being Eastern wine country’s biggest strength.

Sure, there is some good-to-great viognier in Virginia. That was the first grape I remember marketing folks pushing hard down there. There have also been pushes for tannat and cabernet franc, too — with good reason. Petit manseng seems to be the de rigueur grape nowadays. Maybe. I feel like I’ve seen petit verdot pushed as well. I’ve had terrific examples of each — and I think that kind of proves my point. Why pick a single grape when so many can flourish in various corners of a state?

Enter albariño. There isn’t a lot planted up and down the coast, but I have yet to taste an outright bad one. Even in tougher years, the wines are still fresh and easy drinking.

This not-yet-released example from Afton Mountain further fuels my contention that we need more albariño planted on the East Coast. Winemaker Damien Blanchon clearly has this wine dialed in.