Albarino

I like to say that Albariño is Miguel Migs. If you know music, you know this is the cool dude who mixes it up for the dance clubs in SoMa, San Francisco. With notes of apple, pear, lemon, lemon rind and toasted almond, tropical fruit, and occasionally, a vein of chalky minerality, this delicious, dry, hip, crisp and international white is best known as the wine of Rias Baixas, in Galicia, Spain. Rias Baixas is said to be it’s birthplace, and the grape thrives here, especially in vineyards with granite soil, where it produces wines of great structure. When grown on sandy soils, the wines are softer and have less personality.

Across the border into Portugal, as Alvarinho, it is the key grape in white Vinho Verde wines. Ordinary Vinho Verde is light, tart, crisp, and cheap – a good quaffer on a hot day – but when made primarily or all with Alvarinho, the results are dramatically different. These wines are far more complex but still have that wall of bracing acidity to cleanse the palate.

In the New World, Albariño is trending in the USA with tasty new releases coming in from Lodi and Mendocino in California, and it is gaining traction also in Australia.

Albariño is delicious as an aperitif, and pairs nicely with ceviche, oysters, lobster salad, Crab cakes, grilled fish, light pasta with vegetables, and Vietnamese dishes.

Three to Try

Rias Baixas, Galicia, Spain
 Palacio de Fefinanes Riax Baixas

Vinho Verde, Portugal
- Anselmo Mendes Muros Antigos Alvarinho Vinho Verde 

Albariño, California
-  Harney Lane Albariño Lodi 

© Copyright 2014 Master Sommelier Catherine Fallis, Planet Grape LLC. All Rights Reserved.