Spain is an amazing place with a rich history and long traditions of making fantastic wine. If you’re a wine lover, then we’d recommend a visit to Galicia, in particular Rias Baixas in north western Spain.
Rias Baixas has some amazing wineries and you can really immerse yourself in Galician culture. With this in mind, we thought we would share our favourite things about this amazing wine region. This is our guide to Rias Baixas wine.
Rias Baixas DO is a Denominacion de Origen, based predominantly in the commarca/county of Pontevedra, which is in Galicia. Just like Catalunya and the Basque region have their own identities, people from Galicia identify themselves as being Galician. The Rias Baixas region gets its name from the four estuaries that run through the region, as the Spanish word ‘ria’ directly translates to estuary in English.
Galicia has various grapes varieties grown for wine production, but it is most famous for producing Albariño, especially in the Rias Baixas wine region. Albariño is a thick skinned, white grape which produces very aromatic, highly acidic and refreshing white wine. We recently posted a complete guide to Albariño which you can read here
Other grapes permitted to be grown in Rias Baixas wine region include:
White grapes – Loureira blanca, Treixadura, Caiño blanca, Torrontés,Godello
Red grapes – Caiño tinto, Espadeiro, Loureira tinta, Sousón, Mencía, Brancellao
Red production is very minimal and Albariño makes up 90% of Rias Baixas wine production.
If you’re based in the UK then it is very easy to get there. There’s four airports in the region, the main one being Santiago de Compostela, which is about an hour’s drive from the main Rias Baixas city of Pontevedra. EasyJet and Ryanair both offer direct flights from London which cost between £200-£280* for a return trip. Check sites such as Google Flights, Sky Scanner and Hopper for the best prices.
If you’re wanting to go on a bit of a road trip on your visit to Galicia in search of Rias Baixas wine, then there are daily flights to Porto airport, Portugal for circa £200* return. Porto is just under a two hour drive to Pontevedra, so we would recommend spending a couple of nights in Portugal, before driving up to Rias Baixas, you could even stop off in the Minho province and try some Vinho Verde.
There’s plenty of areas to stay all over the region and we would recommend the city of Pontevedra as the main hub for your trip. Pontevedra is home to four of the five sub-zones (the other being in A Coruna) and is under an hour’s drive from the airport. The city of Pontevedra is well placed and is a short drive further to various wineries, or just a short drive out of town to the coast.
Here’s a list of places to stay in Pontevedra, depending on your budget:
The first producer that we want to showcase in our guide to Rias Baixas wine is Camino de Cabras.
Founded in 2013 by couple Marina and Santiago, their goal is to create the best Galician wines with the best grapes that their Atlantic corner of the Iberian Peninsula gives them. They have vineyards in both Valdeorras and Rias Baixas and we love all their wines.
Savage Vines stock both their Mencia and Albariño, which are both excellent. The Albariño is crisp, elegant and fresh. A dry, aromatic white wine packed with flavours of white peach, apricot, melon, pineapple, mango and honeysuckle.
Their humble headquarters is just a 45 minute drive south of Pontevedra and if you’re serious about good wine then we’d recommend that you send them an email to check availability for a tasting in their cellar!
Can’t wait until your visit to Galicia to try their wines? You can buy a bottle of their Albariño for as little as £11.25 here
Named in homage to Martin Codax, the medieval troubadour; Bodegas Martin Codax is a fantastic Galician winery that has been producing world class Rias Baixas wine since 1983. They have vineyards all over Galicia, however the winery is based just outside of Pontevedra city centre.
You can sit and relax in the patio while looking out at the view and enjoying a glass of Rias Baixas wine. We would recommend their ‘Burgans‘, a beautiful single varietal Albariño.
Thinking of visiting Bodegas Martin Codax? Well they offer a wide range of tours. Click here to have a look at their various packages
Last but not least in our guide to Rias Baixas wine is Bodegas Vionta. This is a fantastic winery, which has amazing grounds. We’ve included them in our guide because they make a fantastic Albariño. It’s only a 25 minute drive from Pontevedra city centre, so very easy to get to.
Vionta is owned by the Freixenet group, one of the biggest wine producers in Spain. With this in mind, we think it’s important to showcase the fantastic quality of big producers like Vionta, as well as our friends at small, family owned wineries like Camino de Cabras.
Vionta have a dedication to the earth and strive to get the best out of the terroir from their various vineyards in Rias Baixas. In return, their Albariño shows off brilliant and intense aromas of apple and kiwi, fresh yet balanced acidity and a fantastic, lengthy finish.
Well, that was our guide to Rias Baixas wine. It is a great region, perfect for wine holidays, so don’t waste anytime and visit Galicia soon!
Check out our Albariño, Mencia and Godello guides for the best wines to drink while on your trip!
Don’t forget…
Savage Vines imports wine from small independent vineyards from around the world into the United Kingdom. The wines we source are made by family businesses and by supporting us you are supporting them and that is our mission. Join our wine subscription from £29.95 a month (free delivery) and we will send you two unique, high quality wines which you will not find on the high street or supermarket shelves. Monthly wine subscription boxes come with tasting notes and a podcast talking you through each wine. Monthly subscribers’ also get 25% off wine repurchases. Gift or join the subscription today.
12.5%
100% Albariño
Spain - Rías Baixas
Conventional
Lime, lemon, apricot, white peach,
11%
Alvarinho, Trajadura & Loureiro
Portugal - Minho
Conventional
Lemon, lime, passionfruit
13%
Godello
Monterrei - Spain
Conventional
Lemon, lime, green apples with a hint of bees wax
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