Pazo Baión albariños are 3 outstanding wines, according to critics

The central wine guides have rated Pazo Baión, Gran a Gran and Vides de Fontán as outstanding wines, scoring them above 90 points for another year

The end of the year brings with it the publication of new editions of the most prestigious wine guides, such as the Peñín Guide, the Proensa Guide and the Gourmets Wine Guide. These publications, consulted by wine lovers worldwide, have once again rated Pazo Baión, Gran a Gran and Vides de Fontán as outstanding wines. The three Albariño wines from our winery have achieved scores above 90 points.

Thus, as in recent years, the 2024 wine guides recognize the quality of the only Rías Baixas de single-estate wines—three elaborations produced using only and exclusively the grapes grown in the vineyards of the Pazo Baión estate.

In this article, we compile the evaluations that wine critics have given about Pazo Baión, Gran a Gran and Vides de Fontán, as well as the aspects that have stood out in the tasting notes about three outstanding wines.

Pazo Baión, an aromatic and powerful albariño

94 points. The Proensa Guide and Guía de Vinos Gourmets have awarded the quality of the flagship of our winery with this spectacular note. The first publication highlights that Pazo Baión is a “subtle” Albariño with “finesse and character”. While the Gourmets Wine Guide emphasizes that Pazo Baión is a “powerful”, “unctuous” and “enveloping” Rías Baixas that has a “very well assembled skeleton” and stands out for being “persevering retronasal”. In addition, the Gourmets Wine Guide stops to detail some of the notes of an “aromatic” Albariño: nectarine, Paraguayan, lime, eucalyptus, pickled and even pastry notes can be found during the olfactory phase of the tasting. For the Proensa Guide, the most outstanding aromas of Pazo Baión are ripe white fruit and syrup.

In its 2024 edition, the Peñín Guide awarded 91 points to our winery’s first-born wine. It also highlights its aromas of fresh fruit and wild herbs, its “good acidity” and its “fine bitterness”.

In addition to these scores, Pazo Baión also received two major awards. Firstly, the award for Best Young White Wine in Spain, granted by Vivir el vino. And secondly, the Gold Medal +, awarded to Pazo Baión by the Guía de Vinos, Bodegas y Destilados de Galicia 2024.

Vides de Fontán, a spicy Rías Baixas with a long aging process

Unlike most Albariños, Vides de Fontán undergoes an aging process that lasts three years and comprises various phases, including aging in a concrete egg. This complex and delicate maturation process has a decisive impact on the main characteristics of this wine. This is attested to by the Proensa and Peñín 2024 guides, which awarded Vides de Fontán 96 and 93 points, respectively. The Proensa Guide describes Vides de Fontán as a “mature and forward-looking” Rías Baixas with a “complex nose”. While the Peñín Guide details some of the aromas of this Albariño: dried flowers, candied fruit, honeyed notes… and even aromas of brioche.

In addition, this acclaimed wine publication describes Vides de Fontán as a “round, spicy, long, persistent, powerful and flavorsome” wine due to its “long aging”. Characteristics that place it at the altar of outstanding wines.

Gran a Gran, a raisin wine resulting from a late harvest

The third of our outstanding wines, Gran a Gran, is listed in the Peñín and Proensa guides with a score of 92 and 91 points, respectively. This bright yellow Albariño is not made yearly because it uses grapes harvested during a late harvest, which can only be done when the autumn rains are delayed, as in 2023. Why is this the case? By allowing a plot of our property to ripen for longer, we enable a minor miracle in the grapes: noble rot. A phenomenon that alters their aromatic composition and concentrates the sugar.

The result is an Albariño with a surprising aromatic composition that combines, as the Peñín Guide points out, notes of candied and raisined fruit with such stunning aromas as hydrocarbon and saffron.

A Rías Baixas that is also “tasty” and “fruity” according to the Peñín Guide and “friendly”, “creamy” and “fine” according to the Proensa Guide.

Keep working to make three outstanding wines that will surprise wine lovers

Each vintage of a wine is a new challenge, which is why the professionals who form part of the Pazo Baión project are constantly updating their knowledge and incorporating cutting-edge procedures and techniques into making outstanding wines, according to prominent publications in the world of wine.

The scores and, above all, the evaluations of the tasting notes that we have included in this article are an endorsement and encourage the viticulture and enology team of our winery to continue working in the search for excellence and the production of outstanding wines that conquer the senses of all wine lovers.

For example, Pazo Baión’s oenologists are currently working on the new vintage of Gran a Gran, introducing a significant innovation: it will be a vegan wine. In this way, we can offer our semi-dry Albariño to the growing number of vegan wine lovers, that is to say, who do not consume any product with any animal origin component. Once the aging process has been completed and we launch it on the market, we will discover the evaluations of the wine critics and those who enjoy tasting a millenary elaboration such as wine.

In short, the publication of our country’s most prestigious wine guides has been full of good news for Pazo Baión. Our three albariños with five centuries of life have been valued as outstanding wines one more year, thanks to their intense perfumes, structure, personality and long development in the mouth.

Without having the best raw material, excellent Albariño grapes and a team of highly qualified professionals, it would be impossible to produce outstanding wines that combine the magic of nature with human talent.