What is Albariño?
Albariño is a popular white grape variety from north-west Spain, prized as a high quality, refreshing match for the local seafood.
What does Albariño taste like?
Albariño is known for its peachy, floral fragrance, often balanced with a stony or saline edge. In Portugal’s Vinho Verde region it tends to show a more zesty citrus character. Oak or lees ageing can add greater weight, aroma and texture.
Where is Albariño from?
Albariño has been cultivated for centuries in Galicia, north-west Spain, but has similarly deep roots across the border in Portugal’s Vinho Verde region, where it is known as Alvarinho.
Where does Albariño grow?
Albariño’s thick, rot resistant skin makes it ideally suited to the relatively cool, wet climate of Galicia’s Atlantic coast. The variety is particularly associated with the Rías Baixas region, but also plays a leading role across the border in Portugal’s Vinho Verde. More recently Albariño has been planted in small quantities across the Pacific North West, Uruguay and New Zealand.
Famous Albariño regions:
- Rías Baixas, Spain
- Vinho Verde, Portugal
Anything else?
In 2009 DNA tests revealed that much of the Albariño planted in Australia over the previous two decades was actually the obscure French grape Savagnin.
Our selection of Albariño
- Bodegas del Palacio de Fefiñanes, Rías Baixas, Spain
- Quinta de Soalheiro, Vinho Verde, Portugal
This grape variety is also known by the name of:
Albariña, Albariño, Albelleiro, Alvarinho, Alvarin Blanco, Azal Blanco, Cainho Branco, Galeguinho, Paderna, Galego