Albariño is a popular white grape variety from north-west Spain, prized as a high quality, refreshing match for the local seafood.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This grape variety is also known by the name of:
Albariña, Albariño, Albelleiro, Alvarinho, Alvarin Blanco, Azal Blanco, Cainho Branco, Galeguinho, Paderna, Galego
