WINES OF GALICIA

Wines of Galicia are marked by a number of climatic conditions that make them different from those of other regions in Spain. The high rainfall rate in this region makes that its wines have got a characteristic lightness and acidity, since the grape does not reach to get high sugar levels. In spite of this, historical tradition of vineyards in this region is very old and the quality of its wine is unquestionable.

The main reason of Galician wines’ quality must be searched in the great quality of some of their grape varieties: albariño, treixadura and godello among white vines and mencía among red ones.

There are five regions with denominación de origen (guarantee of origin) in Galician territory: Ribeiro, Rías Baixas, Valdeorras, Ribeira Sacra and Monterrey.

Historically, saying wine in Galicia meant speaking about Ribeiro. This D.O. (denominación de origen), located in the western part of the province of Orense, has always been popular for producing light, fresh, dry and aromatic white wines with a high acidity level, excellent for social events and fine cooking.

The Rías Baixas D.O. is famous for producing almost exclusively white wines (which is logical as the atlantic influence brings a very high humidity to this area in the province of Pontevedra. Among these wines, those single varietal albariño stand out, giving one the best and most elegant white wines all over the world. They have fruit and floral bouquet and , in addition to this, their balanced acidity, lightness and moderate presence of alcohol must be outlined. Therefore, they are the perfect complement to fish and seafood. The most well-known among these albariños use to be those fermented in barrel, famous for their great quality, not only in Spain, but also on an international level.

The Valdeorras D.O. spreads out over the province of Orense. If there is something that distinguishes these wines from the rest of the Galician wines, this is their higher presence of alcohol and lower acidity due to the area’s more continental microclimatic location, which results in lower rainfall rates. Wines elaborated with the oldest native vine in the country, called godello, This white grape bears wines with a fine fruity bouquet, showing a pretty high, although very balanced to palate, natural acidity. As regards red wines, those elaborated with the mencía variety should be highlighted, as this vine offers one of the best youthful wines in Spain (it doesn’t ages badly, though).

The Ribeira Sacra D.O. spreads out over the south part of the province of Lugo and the North of Orense. It must be stressed the hard conditions in which the growing of the vines is made, since vineyards are placed in sheer terraces, making harvest really difficult. However, modernization is gradually settling in this region and higher quality wines are being produced nowadays. They are specially red wines made with mencía and white wines with the godello and albariño as the main varieties.

The Monterrey D.O., in the eastern part of Orense, stands out for the production of both white and light red wines, fresh, fruity and with a moderate presence of alcohol. The most used grapes are the red mencía and the white treixadura and verdello.