Top Five Galician Grapes: Unique Varieties from Northwestern Spain

Galicia is magical for many reasons. Its rolling green hills and foggy river valleys make it more like its Celtic cousins Ireland and Scotland than Spain, and you’re more likely to hear bagpipes than flamenco guitar. Instead of packing sunscreen, you’d be wise to bring an umbrella. And then there’s the wine. From Albariño to Zamarrica, Galicia is home to some truly exciting grape varieties.

It would be impossible to cover every native Galician variety in one article, but knowing the top five essential grapes will take anyone a step closer to this amazing corner of Spain.

Albariño: Galicia’s Most Famous Grape

Aromatic, zesty, and mineral, Albariño is Galicia’s best-known wine grape. Though it’s famous for making young wines, Albariño is also capable of producing some amazing, age-worthy examples that can rival the best aged Rieslings in the world. In Galicia, its home turf is Rías Baixas, though it’s also found in Ribeiro, Monterrei and Ribeira Sacra, as well as in Northern Portugal, where it’s known as Alvarinho.

The grape has been around for a long time: people used to say that Cistercian monks on the Camino de Santiago, replanting vines as part of their pilgrimage, brought the grape to Galicia. Another story is that Alba, or “white” in Latin, and Rin, for “Rhine”, would make it a “white of the Rhine.” Both are nice stories, but Albariño’s real origins are much closer to home. New genetic studies showed that the grape’s ancestors were most likely wild vines that the Romans cultivated when they came to Galicia in the first century.

Albariño was always grown in the Rías Baixas region, but its true potential wasn’t recognized until the second half of the 20th century. Since the Rías Baixas appellation was created, Albariño has rocketed to fame as one of the powerhouse white grapes of Spain. Today, it makes fresh, acid-driven wines with aromas of green apple, peach and white flowers, and some wines from the more inland subzones of Rías Baixas like Condado do Tea can have ripe mandarin orange or tropical fruit aromas. A select few Albariño wines can age for five or ten years: these wines are made in the best vintages to guarantee acidity and balance and usually have some contact with the lees.

Godello: Galicia’s Answer to White Burgundy?

Full-bodied with peach, apple and mineral notes, Godello is on the rise in Spain. Its ancestral home is the eastern part of Galicia, on the border with neighboring Bierzo. Although both Valdeorras and Bierzo like to lay claim to this grape, no one knows for sure where it was first cultivated. Its rise has been slower than Albariño, but more and more people are starting to wake up to its full potential.

Like other Galician wines, wines made from Godello have electric acidity and freshness. The grape can also stand up to oak aging, so some of the best examples spend some time in the barrel. You tend to see two different styles of Godello: young, fruity, fresh wine fermented in stainless steel with no wood or lees aging, and more complex wines that have some lees contact, bâtonnage, or oak aging. Under the right circumstances, Godello can show great evolution, adding body without losing any zippy acidity.

After phylloxera devastated Spain, Godello almost went extinct as farmers replaced the variety with the high-yielding Palomino and Garnacha Tintorera. The little Godello that was left was blended with other white grapes to be sold as bulk wine, produced by cooperative wineries.

In 1976, engineers working for the Agricultural Extension Service in Valdeorras began a project known as ReViVal (Restructuring the Vineyards of Valdeorras). They sought out old vines to use in experimental vinifications. Eventually, they settled on Godello as the perfect grape for their revival mission.

In 1981, the first single-variety Godello wines were released, and now Godello has become the star grape of Valdeorras—even yielding the first 100-point Galician white wine for Wine Advocate.

Treixadura: Honeyed, Floral, and Fruity 

Treixadura is mainly found in the Ribeiro region of Galicia. Traditionally, it was used as the base for white blends with other grapes like Torrontés, Lado, Albariño, or Godello, but in recent years more and more wines are 100% Treixadura.Though its modern renaissance only dates to the 1980s, Treixadura was once the centerpiece of a bustling European wine trade. Known in Portugal as Trajadura, this grape is one of the oldest recorded varieties in the region, with the first references to it in the 18th century.

First cultivated by monks almost a thousand years ago, Treixadura and the other white grapes of Ribeiro became famous all over medieval Europe as wines were shipped from Galicia’s port cities to Flanders, Italy and Great Britain. The English were some of Ribeiro’s best customers, but when Spain and England went to war at the end of the 16th century, the Spanish king prohibited the export of Ribeiro wine to England and trade declined. Over the next few centuries, disaster after disaster affected Ribeiro and Treixadura was nearly replaced with Palomino and Alicante Bouschet as in other parts of Galicia.

Luckily, in the 1980s a few pioneers saw this grape’s potential and began to make wine with it, eventually sparking a Treixadura revolution. Now, the majority of Ribeiro is planted to this plucky Galician grape.

Wines made from Treixadura have aromas of stone fruit and white flowers, and they’re fresh and balanced on the palate, with good structure and body.

Mencía: Galicia’s Fresh Red Grape

With fresh, crunchy acidity, tart fruit and spice aromas, and grippy tannins, Mencía has been compared to a lot of different grapes: Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, and even Syrah. Sometimes comparisons are useful, but in this case, Mencía can stand on its own as making one of the most unique wines in Spain.

Renowned for its freshness, Mencía from Galicia stands out in a lineup of the powerful, ripe and rich red wines that Spain has become known for. It’s Galicia’s most-planted red grape, and outside Galicia, you can find it in Bierzo, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla-León, Asturias and Cantabria, as well as in the north of Portugal where it’s known as Jaén do Dão.

In Galicia, Mencía takes on red fruit aromas like raspberries, red cherries and delicate floral notes that mingle with earthy, vegetal and peppery notes. No one knows exactly when the grape was first planted in Galicia, but it really started to expand after phylloxera forced many farmers to replant their vineyards. Most researchers now think that, like Godello, Mencía is native to the region straddling Galicia and Castilla y León. Although the grape’s origins are unclear, its name has been around at least since the Middle Ages. “Mencía” was a popular girl’s name in the medieval period.

Today, winemakers make both young and fruity Mencía wines, meant to be drunk within a year or two of release, and heftier examples with some barrel aging that can age for a decade or more. Mencía is hugely versatile for food pairing: in Galicia, it’s common to drink it with pulpo á feira, Galician octopus!

Caiño: Earthy and Unique

File this one under “lesser-known reds worth seeking out.” There aren’t many wines made from Caíño, but this little grape is worth knowing and appreciating. It’s part of the Caíño genetic family, which researchers think might be the ancestors of Albariño and other grapes from this corner of Spain. There are many Caíño grapes: Caíño Branco, Caíño Longo, Caíño da Terra… but a common grape is simply Caíño Tinto, or “Red Caíño.

Caíño Tinto comes from an area locals call A Raia, which forms the border between Northern Portugal and Galicia. You can also find the grape in the Vinho Verde region, where it’s known as Borraçal.

Caíño is another versatile grape that some say may actually benefit from a changing climate. For years, winemakers in Galicia had difficulties producing any wine over 10 or 11% ABV from Caíño, but now the grape can ripen more easily resulting in wines with a touch more alcohol. Wines made from Caíño Tinto usually have intense red fruit aromas like tart cherry, cranberry and varietal aromas of black pepper.

Caíño is an exciting example of Galicia’s spirit of viticultural innovation. There are still very few examples of single-variety Caíño Tinto—as it’s often used in blends to complement other red varieties—but more and more growers are experimenting with this grape as demand increases for fresh wines with a sense of place.

Galicia's top five grape varieties show off the region’s breadth and depth, from fresh and mineral to opulent and rich. Every grape reflects Galicia’s unique identity and culture, honed over centuries of winemaking tradition. As Galician grape varieties get more and more recognition in Spain and beyond, it’s important to learn why they’ve evolved the way they have and why in a world of so many different options they continue to inspire wine enthusiasts to explore this distinctive corner of Spain. It’s clear that whether you're a fan of Albariño, Godello, Mencía, Treixadura or Caíño, Galicia has something for everyone.