Viticulture in Ireland: White Varietals and Choices

Swaths of Albariño vines on pergolas in Galicia

Unusual white varietals are making a comeback. Torrontes, Viognier, and Albariño are being brought back to life from ancient vineyards and making their mark as superb and lighter alternatives to Chardonnay (ABC?).

I have not tasted Torrontés, but it is described as an aromatic white wine that originated in Argentina. Torrontés is supposedly an ideal wine to match with Asian and Indian cuisine due to its floral aromas of rose and flavors of peach and lemon zest. The wine smells sweet but is usually made in a dry style. I'll have to try it but have not seen it in Ireland.

We discovered Viognier in Saint Martin where a local wine merchant did a wine tasting for us since we were buying several cases to bring home with us across the Atlantic. We fell in love with Viognier's refreshing yet complex citrus and peachy tones. We later delighted wine connoisseurs in Ireland who had not only never tasted it but had never heard of it. Viognier is food-worthy, deserving of more intense, meatier matches in a manner closer to Chardonnay than Albariño. Viognier has more natural aromatics than Chardonnay including notes of peach, pears, and violets.

We discovered Albariño in Galicia where we have been sailing the past couple of years. A crisp, minerally wine with the perfume of citrus and stone fruit (peach, apricot, nectarine), Albariño is refreshing on its own before a meal or accompanying a light first course. I recently realized that it's the peach tones that I find alluring, as peach is my favourite fruit, which probably also accounts for my predilection toward Viognier. Medium-bodied Albariño is also the perfect pairing for seafood. Given that almost all the food consumed in Galicia is seafood, you can't go wrong with shrimp, scallops or mussels washed down with a zesty Albariño in a pleasing combination - and we love seafood.

Albariño has been likened to a lighter-weight Viognier, which is quite inaccurate. Despite its Viognier-like floral fruitiness, the minerally notes typical of Albariño are almost never found in Viognier. Classic Albariño tends to be lighter than a Viognier and is also zestier in acidity, giving it a distinct advantage in seafood pairing versatility. Viognier by all accounts is also a fairly difficult grape to grow, with low yield and susceptibility to fungal disease.

To deepen your appreciation of Albariño, it helps to get a feel for its habitat in the Rias Baixas in Galicia, occupying the northwest corner of Spain north of Portugal along the Atlantic coast. Albariño's citrus/lime and peach fruitiness, and quartzy minerality, juxtaposed by salinity derived from the sea-salt-saturated air, are reflections as much of the grape as of the terroir. Unlike the rest of Spain which is associated with hot, dry landscapes, the Rias Baixas region is lush and verdant, which like in Ireland, means heavy rainfall, high humidity, temperatures rarely above 20°C, but almost never below 10ºC. Albariño makes up close to 95% of the Rias Baixas' grape production mainly because it is a grape with thick enough skins and high enough phenolics to thrive in these conditions. Vineyards in Galicia have been traditionally trained on pergolas to circulate air and avoid mildew, but trellising and open canopy management are gaining traction.

Like all great wine producing regions, the Rias Baixas represent a convergence of climate, soil, and grape adaptation. The finest output is in Val do Salnés, a gently hilly, alluvial terrain at the northern end of the Rias Baixas Denominación de Origen (DO). This is also the coolest, wettest section of the region and closest in climate to Ireland. Albariño responds positively to Val do Salnés' well-drained, rocky, granitic soils and maritime climate. There's so much granite they even use granite posts to support the vines. I've written about our visit to Bodega Granbazan elsewhere in this blog and on our sailing blog.

So given that we've fallen in love with Viognier and Albariño, we have a maritime climate very similar to the Rias Baixas, and we have gently rolling hills with rocky soils (not so much granite), it's this combination of climate and terrain that led us to choose the Albariño to plant - after all, it's easier to grow than Viognier and closer in proximity than France. We'll see. A few years to go before we know.