Spanish Atlantic reds: know your vintages

NB: vintage assessments over such a large area are inevitably imprecise. In addition, the vineyards are mostly planted in hilly areas, with significant climate variations. Please take this summary as generic.

2016 Widely considered to be an excellent vintage.

2015 There is a lot of variation. In Galicia there were problems with botrytis, but average quality is quite high.

2014 Quite difficult in Rías Baixas; excellent for Ribeiro, Valdeorras, Cangas (Asturias) and Txakoli de Bizkaia.

2013 Cool, humid vintage in most places. Most wines are uninteresting, but again, Ribeiro is the exception, with a great year.

2012 The best ever vintage for Txakoli, which resulted in its revolutionary ascent to the fine wine world. Good for all the others.