Parentage — Old Iberian Atlantic variety; legend credits Cluny monks on the Camino
peach
apricot
grapefruit zest
white flowers
saline note
Budbreak
Mid-early
Maturity
First to second epoch; early September on the rías
Leaf
Small, orbicular, five lobes; dark green, slightly bullate
Bunch
Small, conical, winged, rather loose
Berry
Small, spherical, greenish-yellow; thick skin against Atlantic rain, prominent pips
Albariño is the white of Galicia's drowned coastline, grown above the rías on pergolas raised on granite posts, out of reach of the damp. An old variety of the Iberian Atlantic, it has its founding legend — Cluny monks bringing it down the Camino de Santiago — though the grape is almost certainly native; across the Miño in Portugal it has always been Alvarinho, the noblest thread of Vinho Verde.
Thick skins defend it against Atlantic rain, and the wine repays the climate with peach, citrus zest and a saline snap. Its modern rise can be dated: the Festa do Albariño at Cambados, held since 1953, grew from village fair into the launch pad of Rías Baixas — and of Spain's flagship white.
In the blend
Share of this grape in a typical blend of each wine