In search of the most effective albariño wine? Need to know our choose of this Spanish grape? Learn our skilled information then check out our favorite vineyards within the UK, greatest English Pinot Noir and greatest appassimento wine for extra wine inspiration.
What’s albariño wine?
Whisper ‘albariño’ into the ear of any lover of Spanish wine and watch their eyes gentle up. Characterised by its fragrant peachiness, citric zip and saline minerality, crowd-pleasing albariño was as soon as very a lot a wine geek secret. Now it’s firmly established as certainly one of Spain’s most favoured white wine grapes.
Its house is the coastal Rías Baixas area of Galicia (on the northwest tip of Spain), whose slim estuaries, referred to as rías, jut their craggy fingers into the Atlantic Ocean. Galicia is a good distance from the parched plains and sun-soaked costas to the south – the panorama right here is inexperienced and luxurious, and rainfall is excessive. It’s extra harking back to the west coast of Eire than of Alicante, and it shares extra of Eire’s Celtic cultural roots than these of the remainder of Spain.
Though albariño has been grown right here since Roman occasions, it flourished from the twelfth century onwards, quenching the thirsts of numerous pilgrims en path to the holy metropolis of Santiago de Compostela. However the late 1800s noticed devastating inhabitants and financial decline, and most vineyards had been deserted. The tide of fortune turned when Spain joined the EU in 1986. Funds had been made accessible for large investments in Galicia’s moribund wine trade, and albariño is now the jewel in its very profitable crown.
It makes a bullseye match with any of the good Galician seafood discovered there in abundance. Fishing has been the mainstay of the economic system for a whole lot of years, and since fishermen could be at sea for weeks on finish, it was the ladies who tended the vines and made the wine. It’s a practice that continues at present – most of the greatest producers have feminine winemakers at their helm.
Extra like this
In neighbouring Vinho Verde, within the north of Portugal, the wine is called alvarinho and is usually blended in these gentle, spritzy wines most related to the area – or, more and more, made into severe, single-varietal wines that actually shine. When you can’t get to the seaside this spring, seize an albariño and let the seaside come to you. Shellfish, sun shades and swimsuits optionally available.
Finest albariño wine at a look
- Finest finances albariño: Martin Códax Caixas Albariño, £11.99/£9.99 when shopping for 6
- Finest albariño from past Spain: Left Area Albariño, £10.99
- Finest glowing albariño: Mar de Frades Brut Nature Albariño, £29.50
- Finest Portuguese alvarinho: Céu Na Terra Alvarinho 2019, £15.99
Finest albariño wine to purchase 2023
Martin Códax Caixas Albariño
Finest finances albariño
Katia Álvarez heads up the wine-making at this well-known albariño producer. Baggage of zesty lime with a protracted and fruity end makes a cultured match with lobster thermidor.
Obtainable from:
Majestic (£11.99, £9.99 when shopping for 6)
Left Area Albariño
Finest albariño from past Spain
A cracking albariño from New Zealand. Partly fermented with pure yeasts, this wine is flexible and food-friendly. Drink with white bean stew with coconut, kale and ginger.
Obtainable from:
Waitrose Cellar (£10.99)
Mar de Frades Brut Nature Albariño
Finest glowing albariño
The primary traditional-method glowing albariño made in Rías Baixas, this bone-dry fizz in its lovely blue bottle makes an off-beat celebratory aperitif. Good with a plate of oysters.
Obtainable from:
The Nice Wine Co. (£29.50)
Céu Na Terra Alvarinho 2019
Its title means ‘heaven on earth’, a nod to the fantastic thing about Vinho Verde’s panorama and the wine’s mild richness. It really works nicely with apa de camarão (Goan prawn and coconut pie).
Obtainable from:
Merely Wines Direct (£15.99)
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