Tiro al Blanco - Godello, Ribeiro, Spain (2020)

TASTING NOTES

So textured and mineral driven. A little cotton candy on the palate with green apples, lemon zest and tonnes of salty bite over a long finish. Volume on the palate makes this easy to pair with just about everything. 

Tiro al Blanco is a new project from Matías Michelini in the D.O. Ribeiro. Along with his brothers Gerardo, Gabriel and Juan Pablo, Matías has been at the forefront of a viticultural revolution in the Mendoza region of Argentina. Among the four of them, they make over eighty different wines divided between several different projects, including Zorzal, Passionate Wines, SuperUco, Gen del Alma and Blanc de Alba.

Matías is not the first Michelini to bring his vision to Spain; Gerardo preceded him by a few years with Michelini i Muffato, a project in Bierzo in partnership with Javier González, a Bierzo local who tragically passed away just prior to the 2022 harvest.

In 2017, Matías met Alex González (no relation to Javier), a soft-spoken Gallego who had been tending vines in Ribeiro since he was in his teens. Matías immediately fell in love with the tempestuous nature of the Ribeiro - blazing hot one day, pouring rain the next - and decided to establish Tiro al Blanco (trans. "target shooting") in partnership with Alex. Their model is Burgundian: one village wine - Castes Blancas - and four vineyard- designates - A'Vía, O'Morto, A'Rocha and G'Aviones. In just a few vintages, Matías and Alex have joined Luís Anxo Rodríguez Vázquez at the very top of the region's quality pyramid.