What To Drink With Seafood? Albariño Is Its Natural Companion | Hannah Crosbie On Drinks

It’s World Albariño Day coming – 1 August. I’ve sewage a soft spot for arbitrary vino holidays, truthful I’m marking nan juncture by utilizing it arsenic an excuse to walk nan play guzzling 1 of my favourite achromatic wines. I’ve fixed you announcement (sort of), truthful disconnected you spell to your nearest independent aliases supermarket to prime up thing racy and saline.

It utilized to beryllium thought that nan albariño grape was brought to Spain by nan French monks of Cluny, but that has since been disproved, pinch nary parentage betwixt albariño and burgundian varieties. Rather, nan grape is now believed to beryllium an ancient assortment that’s autochthonal to nan Iberian coast, pinch a people heavy tegument providing guidance to nan diseases a humid ambiance tin springiness emergence to (alvarinho is nan grape’s sanction successful bluish Portugal, wherever it’s basal successful nan accumulation of easy-to-love vinho verde).

The wines it produces are nonstop and acidic, pinch an unmistakable mineral salinity. It’s often unoaked, but immoderate producers are having nosy by experimenting pinch barrel-ageing their albariños to springiness them other weight and depth. Such wines are often drunk a small later, but astir albariño is designed to beryllium drunk wrong a mates of years of its release.

But why August for World Albariño Day? Why not deepest, darkest wintertime aliases nan yawning, stretching spring? My conjecture is that it’s because nan worldly goes down for illustration a homesick mole and useful pinch beautiful overmuch thing you’d want to eat erstwhile it’s basking and sticky outside. Which makes consciousness erstwhile you deliberation of Galician cooking, aliases so different coastal regions that turn albariño, wherever nan cuisine is defined by seafood. What grows together goes together, and each that.

A friend of a friend successful Galicia says albariño has aguja, dissimilar astir different Spanish wines. The connection translates arsenic “needle”, and relates to nan verve of top, high-acid albariño, whose unsocial energy is champion paired pinch very elemental seafood, preferably cooked successful brackish water, arsenic they do successful Galicia.

“It’s my go-to picnic wine,” says Jeff Koren, head of vino astatine The Chancery Rosewood successful Mayfair, who loves albariño truthful overmuch that he erstwhile worked a vintage astatine nan vaunted Bodegas Albamar. “I want to portion it pinch crudites, Greek salad, prosciutto aliases jamón pinch melon, while I’d brace nan cool, textured, barrel-aged worldly pinch thing I’m eating successful nan summertime heat.”

The grape’s harmonious narration pinch coastal regions has brought it to various corners of nan world wherever nan vineyards use from cooling maritime climates. Areas of New Zealand, California and South America are each producing their ain interpretations of this wine, truthful location are plentifulness of options for your albariño time celebrations. Apologies for nan alternatively precocious notice, it will almost decidedly hap again.

Four albariños to tickle nan tastebuds

M&S Albariño Uruguay £10 Ocado, 12%. Defined by nan Uruguayan coast, this saline vino shows ripe peach and nectarine.

Adega de Moncao Trajarinho Vinho Verde £11.95 Jeroboams, 12%. A classically styled vinho verde made from alvarinho and trajadura.

Anna’s Way Nelson Albariño £11.95 The Wine Society, 14%. From New Zealand, this is each orchard consequence and lively citrus.

Bodegas Albamar Albariño £28 Mother Superior, 12%. Made pinch earthy yeasts, this is simply a awesome preamble to this experimental producer.