Albariño : White Wine

Know your wine : Albariño

In Spain, Rías Baixas is a Denominación de Origen (DO) for wines. Plan to travel to province of Pontevedra and the south of the province of Corunna in the autonomous community of Galicia, to explore the magic of Albariño. 

In this region roughly 180 wineries are functional and specialize in white wines. Close to the vineyards and wineries is city of Pontevedra.

It’s also known for its Albariño wine but also for well-preserved old structures mainly Gothic Santa María la Mayor Basilica. Ruínas de San Domingos reminds the glory of a 14th-century convent. Nearby, the Sexto Edificio museum showcases Galician art. Northeast, Illa das Esculturas is an island with outdoor sculptures. Northwest of town, Mosteiro de Santa María de Armenteira is a 12th-century Cistercian monastery.

The area is damp when there isn't rain, but when there is rain, it's just plain wet. Albariñovines thrive here. And what's funny about that is, while Rías Baixas is misty and cool and all gray-green-Atlantic, Albariño itself is pretty much the spot-on embodiment of Galileo's famous saying that "wine is sunlight, held together by water." For your money, no other grape variety pulls that off so well.

Albariño is bright and zesty and crisp. When it doesn't taste like fresh grapefruit, it tastes like fresh pineapple, always with an underlying, evocative seashell minerality. So while you enjoy wine made of this variety you can feel magic of grapefruit or pineapple. 

It's the one part of Spain where the locals are more likely to have a glass of white in hand rather than red. People visit here not because of their love to Albariño ,  but also to get more of a handle on its stylistic range. Albariños are even starting to turn up in supermarkets, where coming across anything other than the big three whites - Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blancand Pinot Grigio, often feels like seeing a unicorn standing in your front yard.