Today we’re looking at Albarino the Refreshing salty white grape grown in Spain and Portugal so what the heck am I Doing with a 10 year old wine hi I’m Master of wine Christine marsilio and Head Wine educator for wine volley today We’re going to learn about Spain and Portugal’s Premier white grape variety Albarino Albarino is a white grape that produces Refreshing zesty light-bodied white Wines that are normally meant to be Drunk young and it’s grown in the Northwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula so how can such a refreshing White wine be made in one of Europe’s Warmest regions Well it turns out that the rain in Spain Doesn’t fall mainly on the plane thanks To its proximity right next to the Atlantic Ocean this area of the Iberian Peninsula gets over 1700 millimeters of Rain each year that’s 67 inches that’s Almost double of what Bordeaux gets and With all that rain this is the most Lush And verdant part of Spain and Portugal Thankfully alberino has thick skins Which makes it resistant to the humid And wet weather those thick skins also Give a grippy texture to some of these Wines making it perfect for pairing with Food so where exactly is albino grown in This wet cool northwest corner in Spain The main region is riyasbitious with its
Granite and schist soils you’ll find Fuller bodied mineral wines with Razor-sharp acidity this wine has that Acid and that’s one of the reasons it Can age so well in Portugal Albarino is Known as alvarino and it’s grown in vino Verde it’s often blended with other Local grapes creating a spritzy Light-bodied lower alcohol style but There are some Fuller bodied single Varietal examples too today I’ve got two Different wines to help us discover more About Albarino our first wine is a Single varietal alvarino from the wine Society from the Vino Verde region in Portugal you can see on the bottle it’s 12.5 percent and if we check out the Back we can see it’s from the monsal and Melgaso region which is located along The Mino River it’s one of the best Sub-regions in vino Verde this should be A refreshing zesty salty style of Alvarino and it should taste pretty good Because of that really excellent Sub-region let’s give it a try Vino Verde means green wine in Portuguese but The color here is pale lemon let’s give It a smell as suspect did we’ve got Fresh floral notes of Jasmine Almond Blossom wet stones But there’s no Oak and there’s no aging Aromas as you might suspect from a Youthful refreshing wine let’s give it a Taste
Yep there’s a lot of freshness and Acidity there thanks to the cool wet Climate the scrape holds on to that Really refreshing acidity it’s also bone Dry but we do get some of that grippy Texture from those thick skins our next One is an Albarino from Rhea spices in Spain this one is Pazzo senoran’s albino Vintage 2012 10 years old I thought that Alberino was meant to be drunk young and Fresh so what’s going on here this says It was bottled in April 2021 so what was It doing for the nine years in between Harvest and bottling well it seems to Have spent three of those years Aging on its leaves this one says 36 Months sobre Elias or surely that’s Going to give us a creamy texture and a Bready doughy Aroma as well for the rest Of the time this wine spent Aging in Stainless steel tanks so because of that Age we’re we’re probably going to find Honey wax and maybe even kerosene let’s See if we’re right wow look at that Color that has changed from lemon to Gold over time because of the slow Oxidation in bottle Let’s give it a smell Wow all those kind of vibrant fresh Aromas those floral notes from The Young Wine have now really taken a step back And we’ve got a lot of Aging Characteristics so
Honey wax candle wax nuts as well like Hazelnut and we also have this really Subtle kind of biscuit or doughy Aroma Coming through that has to be from that Three years on the lease and there’s a Real Kind of saline character as well that’s Probably coming from the proximity to The ocean where these grapes were grown It kind of smells like really good old Chabli and I really like that let’s give It a taste Wow Just like the Vino Verde this has loads Of acidity it’s like razor sharp but we We also have this kind of creamy oily Texture that’s almost certainly coming From that Lee’s aging and then we have Really intense Aromas of wax and honey Coming through from that bottle age too And the Finish just goes on and on Um this is a really really fantastic one So where else can you find Albarino Grown well outside of Spain and Portugal There aren’t really many places you Might be able to find a few rare Examples in Australia or California But that’s pretty rare So what does good I’ll bring you cost well this fantastic Aged albino which is pretty rare costs Around sixty dollars but if we’re Looking at a more refreshing youthful Style such as the Vino Verde here we’re Looking at more like 10 to 15 Albarino
Tends to grow next to the Sea and Therefore it works really well with many Seafood dishes and thanks to that razor Sharp high levels of acidity it’s going To cut through a lot of kind of salty Creamy dishes too I would suggest pairing with mussels in A cream sauce with french fries because The acid in these wines will really cut Through any fat that’s there if you want To learn more about Albarino check out The link below and if you want more Awesome video content make sure you like And subscribe to the channel Cheers