Albariño, the basics

Rias Baixas, Spain

90% of the vineyards are dedicated to Abariño

Albariño is being grown all over the world, but it originates from Rias Baixas.  We spent some time getting to know a little about the region and then tasting through 3 Albariños from this region and doing a little experimental food pairing.

ALBARIÑO

August 1st is “Albariño Day”. To celebrate, we are doing a group blog post with some of our friends who are wine bloggers, organized by Andrew over at Wine Thirty Flight. Now Andrew and team are experts on Spanish wines and so Albariño is one of their deep loves. To get us in the mood we thought we would dive back into some of our favorite Albariños.

Back in 2014 I was just learning about Albariños and I wrote a piece Albarino Portico da Rio, a crisp zesty white wine from Spain Here’s a bit of the blog:

• “The stories of it’s origin are interesting. One legend has monks bringing Riesling or Petit Manseng from Burgundy to this part of Spain in the 12th or 13th centuries. It has since been proven to be indigenous to Spain, but it does resemble Riesling’s minerality. It often has the body and weight of a Viognier and the acidity of a Pinot Gris.
• I read quite a bit about the history of the area, but it was much more fun to hear about it from my friend Pepe who is from Spain. He was so excited to tell me about Galacia. The area is often wet and cloudy and feels more like Ireland than Spain. He says this is not just the weather, but the fact that the Celts settled this area long ago, so you see many ginger haired blue-eyed Spaniards here. In addition it is not uncommon to hear bagpipes and Celtic crosses dot the landscape.”

Portico da Rio Albarino