Madrid, 16 July 2020. Fillaboa, the Masaveu’s Family Vineyards winery belonging to the Rías Baixas DO, is one of the most highly rated white wines by airlines and their passengers.
Due to its excellent quality, an important airline such as United Airlines has come to an agreement with the Galician winery to incorporate Fillaboa 2018 as an official wine in the Polaris business class, on international long-haul flights to Europe and South America. United Polaris business class is the US airline’s commitment to exclusivity and excellence, this service is provided for the entire fleet of international long-haul flights.
This agreement has resulted in the marketing of 30,000 bottles to accompany the business class gourmet menus prepared by the airline’s executive chefs and chefs from the Trotter Project, a non-profit organisation dedicated to guiding and inspiring a new generation of culinary minds.
The Trotter project emerged after the death of American chef Charlie Trotter, a pioneer of the culinary vanguard in the United States who introduced the country to a new form of catering. His contribution to American and world cuisine was recognised by the initiative that bears his name, and which collaborates with the airline that has chosen Fillaboa to be part of their business class menus.
In doing this, the airline’s customers will enjoy a ‘high-flying’ dining experience, with dishes made from fresh products and flavours from all over the world, which will vary every month, and will be accompanied by an Albariño wine from the Fillaboa Winery.
This highlights this wine’s prestige as a ‘high altitude’ wine, which meets the high quality standards required by the US airline. With the sole purpose of controlling the process, i.e. the quality of the wine, this winery has a limited annual production of 200,000 bottles. It is currently mainly distributed in the hospitality and catering sectors, and exports around 40% of its production mainly to countries such as Switzerland, China, Denmark, the United States and Germany.
Fillaboa 2018 is a 100% Albariño fresh, white, elegant and fruity wine, fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks at low temperatures, the wine is then kept on its fine lees for six months.
This Albariño wine is one of the Galician winery’s three wines of reference, along with other highly prestigious Albariño wines which have won major international awards such as, in the case of La Fillaboa 1898, the Best in Show at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2019 (DWWA), the highest distinction in the world’s most influential wine competition.
For José Masaveu, Masaveu’s Family Vineyards general manager, “this award is recognition of the work carried out by a whole team in the production and dissemination of Fillaboa’s Winery white wines, which undoubtedly place Albariño wines at the highest level of quality, this being one of this wine-making group’s firm commitments“, he explained.
Fillaboa Winery
Fillaboa is a historical Galician estate, the estate has remained indivisible for centuries and is one of the largest, oldest and most beautiful in Galicia and the only one that forms part of the Grandes Pagos de España, due to its special characteristics. Behind the 1,600 metres thick stone Wall that protects the property, lie the vineyards, the winery and the spectacular, reconstructed stately manor.
54 hectares of albariño grape vineyards, planted on rolling slopes, form part of the Fillaboa estate, which covers a total of 74 hectares are divided into 12 plots on the natural border with Portugal, alongside the Tea and Miño Rivers. The rich soils, Atlantic climate and mild temperatures due to the proximity of the sea, make Fillaboa a privileged place to grow the native Albariño grape.
Masaveu Family Vineyards
The Masaveu family first invested in the wine sector in 1974, when they purchased Murua Winery, however the family’s first vineyards date back to the middle of the 19th century, precisely in Castellar del Vallés where the family originally comes from and where Federico Masaveu Rivell began a journey to be continued one century later by his descendants.
Masaveu Family Vineyards has since grown to become a leader in the sector as a result of the quality of their winemaking in different DO´s, their sustainable philosophy and their utmost respect for the land in their estate-owned vineyards, thanks to which they transmit the unique personality of each terroir in each and every bottle. This being the common denominator in all the projects led by Masaveu Family Vineyards in different parts and regions of the country: Murua (DOCa Rioja), Fillaboa (DO Rias Baixas), Pagos de Aráiz (DO Navarra), Leda (Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León) and Valverán (Asturias).
