06 Abacela, Southern Oregon Albarino

If there is anything true about great wine, it's that it has a sense of place. But great terroir isn't necessarily about where a wine is from--it is about where a wine can place you. And if you think the two should be the same, then start looking for a Galician penninsula just west of I-5 near Roseburg, Oregon. If there's anything distinctly Portuguese or Spanish about this varietal, Abacela has captured it with lean apple tarte-tatin and white peach flavors and a sharp, racy texture that gets just creamy enough without ever being sweet. Wines like this can be so simple, they seem effortless. It's their burden, and the best ones are the ones that don't have any mistakes, because even the lightest flaw would shadow through. The Abacela makes salt taste saltier, mussels taste more like the sea. And should there ever be a great migration of Basque people to the states, we will have a place for them--one that feels just like home.