Wines From galicia

Galicia, the mysterious Finisterre (end of the earth) where the Roman legions surrendered in terror, produces a large part of the best Spanish white wines: the Albarinos from the wine-growing region called Rias Baixas.

Luminous wines with beautiful green and gold reflections, they are aromatically very delicate, fresh and full of flavour. They are the perfect companion for lobsters, crabs, oysters, clams, bass, turbot, and a long list of other delicious foods which make Galicia a unique food experience.

The Atlantic climate is one of the pillars of the quality of the Albarino wines, but another major support are the properties of the variety itself, which is distantly related to the Central European Riesling introduced into the region by Cluny monks journeying on pilgrimages to the tomb of St. James along the Santiago Way.

The Albarinos of the Rias Baixas aren't the only quality wines to be found in Galicia. The Godello variety produces some unusually fine, delicate whites in the Valdeorras area, while some high category names are beginning to emerge in the Ribeiro area.

Rias Baixas
The Albarino is the main reason for the explosion of quality in this Galician D.O., which produces sought-after dry white wines. This grape gives the wines a collection of subtle and fragile aromas of freshly-peeled fruit, which are usually accompanied, in years of high rainfall, by high acidity.

The potential of the Albarino variety isn't exhausted by the production of young wines. Its proven nobility would certainly allow the development of other possibilities, with more vineyards and land being given over to the planting of noble vines, Albarino wine being prepaed for aging in bottles or fermented in oak barrels and so on.

The Rias Baixas designation of origin could find some wonderful pointers for meeting these new challenges in other historic white wine producing regions such as Alsace and the Loire.

Ribeiro
Some cellars which fall within this well known Galician Designation of Origin are changing their strategy which was based on large volume production and are going for quality white wines instead. They have been encouraged by producers such as Emilio Rojo, amongst others, who have insisted on recovering, for the Ribeiro wines, the dignity they had earned in time, unfortunately, long past.

After undergoing a long and acute process of decay some local grape species such as Palomino (whites) and Garnacha Tintorera (red) have lost ground to autoctonous species with proven finesse and nobility such as Treixadura, Loureiro, Lado and Torrontes (white), or Caino and Brancellao (red). The future is promising.

Valdeorras
Valdeorras is the name of the land on one of the banks of the River Sil which, between the towns of O Barco to A Rua, is covered in vineyards growing next to the riverside poplars and the south facing slopes. There is a very special micro-climate to be found here, a cross between Mediterranean and Atlantic, which contributes to the maturing of the grapes. This is a warm passageway between some tall mountains and receives a higher exposure to the light than other Galician regions.

The main asset of the Designation of Origin is a white, autoctonous, aromatic grape called Godello. Valdeorras encourages growing this grape as well as the red species called Mencia and Merenzao or Maria Ordona. The Mencia grape has adapted well to the climatic characteristics of the region and one finds, on the market, a good collection of single species wines. The Mencia grape allows Valdeorras to compete with many other young reds thanks to the delicious wild berry, plum and licorice aromas of the species.

Monterrei
Los vinedos de esta joven Denominacion de Origen gallega se extienden como una alfombra por las laderas y hondonadas del Valle de Monterrei, situado en la parte oriental de la provincia de Orense, muy cerca de la frontera con Portugal. El rio Tamega y sus afluentes ordenan una geografia privilegiada para el vino, donde reinan las variedades treixadura, dona blanca y godello entre las blancas, y mencia y bastardo o maria ardona entre las tintas. Produce blancos aromaticos, de fuerte personalidad, y tintos ligeros y delicadamente aromaticos.

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