Rías Baixas DO

Rías Baixas DO

Wine region
Rías Baixas DO in the provinces of Pontevedra and Coruña, in the region of Galicia
Official name	Rías Baixas
Type	Denominación de Origen
Year established	1988
Country	Spain
Sub-regions	Val do Salnés, O Rosal, Condado do Tea, Soutomaior, Ribera de Ulla
Climate region	Maritime
Size of planted vineyards	4,321 hectares (10,680 acres)
Varietals produced	Albariño, Loureira blanca, Treixadura, Caiño blanca, Torrontés, Godello, Caiño tinto, Espadeiro, Loureira Tinta, Sousón, Mencía, Brancellao
No. of wineries	179
Wine produced	160,116 hectolitres (3,522,100 imp gal; 4,229,800 US gal)

Rías Baixas is a Spanish Denominación de Origen (DO) (Denominación de Orixe in Galician) for wines located in the province of Pontevedra and the south of the province of Corunna in the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It is renowned for its white wines made from the Albariño grape variety.^[1] Its Regulatory Council is headquartered at Pazo de Mugartegui in the city of Pontevedra.

It is believed that the Albariño grape was introduced to the area in the 12th century by the Cistercian monks of the Monastery of Armenteira [es].

The sub-zones of Rosal and Condado have a long history of grape growing and wine production and have their own traditional styles. The Salnés sub-zone only recently began to produce Albariño wines, for local sales to bars and restaurants.

Rías Baixas acquired its official status as a Denominación de Origen (DO) in 1988. This replaced the earlier "Denominación Específica Albariño" status which had been granted in 1980. Its Regulatory Council (Consejo Regulador) is based at Pazo de Mugartegui in the city of Pontevedra.

The DO is divided into five sub-zones, four of them in the province of Pontevedra and one in the south of the province of A Coruña.

Val do Salnés is located on the lower reaches of the river Umia [es] and centred on the town of Cambados. The landscape is of low undulating hills and the vineyards are planted both on the slopes and on the flat valley floors. The soil is generally rocky and alluvial.

O Rosal is located further south, along the Portuguese frontier in the basin of the river Miño and extends from the Atlantic coast inwards towards the town of Tui. The vineyards here are planted on terraces on the banks of the Miño. The soils are alluvial.

Condado do Tea, in the west, extends eastwards from Tui along the Miño valley up to the neighbouring Ribeiro. The landscape is more abrupt and consists of several small river valleys. The soils are granite and slate based.

The Soutomaior sub-zone was incorporated into the Denominación de Origen in 1996 and is located just south of the city of Pontevedra. The soils are light and sandy, and covered with granite.

The Ribera de Ulla sub-zone, to the north of Pontevedra was incorporated recently in 2000. The soils are mainly alluvial.

The climate is Atlantic, with wet winters and sea fog. In general rainfall is high and the temperatures mild. In general, maximum temperatures in summer rarely exceed 30 °C (86 °F) and only drop to 0 °C (32 °F) in December and January.

The coldest areas are Ribera do Ulla and Val do Salnés due to their proximity to the coast. The warmest is Condado do Tea where temperatures in summer sometimes approach 40 °C (104 °F), but the winters are cold with frequent frosts and rainfall of over 2,000 millimetres (79 in) a year.

Strong winds can occasionally cause problems for the vineyards, especially those located on the west face of the coast. Frosts, hailstones and summer heat can also cause complications.

The regulatory Council (Consejo Regulador) of the Rias Baixas DO currently authorises twelve different grape varieties, though Albariño represents over 90% of all vines planted.

• Authorised white grapes: Albariño, Loureira blanca, Treixadura, Caiño blanca, Torrontés and Godello
• Authorised red varieties: Caiño tinto, Espadeiro, Loureira Tinta, Sousón, Mencía and Brancellao

The vines are trained along granite posts (called parrales) and wires so as to protect them from humidity and to maximise their exposure to the sun in summer.

Over 90% of the wines produced are white, predominantly using the Albariño grape variety.

• Galician wine

• Official website of DO Rias Baixas

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Spanish wine regions

PDO: Protected Denominations of Origin
Major regions Cava Navarra Priorat Rías Baixas Ribera del Duero Rioja Rueda Jerez-Xeres-Sherry
Denominación  de origen  calificada (DOCa)	Basque Country Rioja [1] Catalonia Priorat La Rioja Rioja [1] Navarre Rioja [1]
Denominación  de origen (DO)	Andalusia Condado de Huelva Granada Jerez-Xeres-Sherry Málaga Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda Montilla-Moriles Sierras de Málaga Aragon Calatayud Campo de Borja Cariñena Somontano Cava [1] Balearic Islands Binissalem Pla i Llevant Basque Country Txakoli de Álava Txakoli de Bizkaia Txakoli de Getaria Cava [1] Canary Islands Abona El Hierro Gran Canaria La Gomera La Palma Lanzarote Tacoronte-Acentejo Valle de Güímar Valle de la Orotava Ycoden-Daute-Isora Castile and León Arlanza Arribes Bierzo Cigales Ribera del Duero Rueda Tierra de León Tierra del Vino de Zamora Toro Cava [1] Castile–La Mancha Almansa Jumilla [1] La Mancha Manchuela Méntrida Mondéjar Ribera del Júcar Uclés Valdepeñas Catalonia Alella Catalunya Conca de Barberà Costers del Segre Empordà Montsant Penedès Pla de Bages Tarragona Terra Alta Cava [1] Extremadura Ribera del Guadiana Cava [1] Galicia Monterrei Rías Baixas Ribeira Sacra Ribeiro Valdeorras La Rioja Cava [1] Madrid Vinos de Madrid Murcia Bullas Jumilla [1] Yecla Navarre Navarra Cava [1] Valencia Alicante Utiel-Requena Valencia Cava [1]
Vino de Pago	Aragon Pago Aylés Castile–La Mancha Campo de La Guardia Casa del Blanco Dehesa del Carrizal Dominio de Valdepusa El Vicario Finca Élez Guijoso La Jaraba Los Cerrillos Pago Calzadilla Pago Florentino Vallegarcía Navarre Arínzano Otazu Prado de Irache Valencia El Terrerazo Pago de Los Balagueses Vera de Estenas
Vino de calidad	Andalusia Lebrija Asturias Cangas Canary Islands Islas Canarias Castile and León Sierra de Salamanca Valles de Benavente Valtiendas

PGI: Protected Geographical Indications
Vino de la tierra	Andalusia Altiplano de Sierra Nevada Bailén Cádiz Córdoba Cumbres del Guadalfeo Desierto de Almería Laderas del Genil Laujar-Alpujarra Los Palacios Norte de Almería Ribera del Andarax Sierra Norte de Sevilla Sierra Sur de Jaén Sierras de las Estancias y los Filabres Torreperogil Villaviciosa de Córdoba Aragon Bajo Aragón Ribera del Gállego-Cinco Villas Ribera del Jiloca Ribera del Queiles [1] Valdejalón Valle del Cinca Balearic Islands Formentera Ibiza Illes Balears Isla de Menorca Mallorca Serra de Tramuntana-Costa Nord Cantabria Costa de Cantabria Liébana Castile and León Castile and León Castile–La Mancha Castilla Extremadura Extremadura Galicia Barbanza e Iria Betanzos Ribeiras do Morrazo Val do Miño-Ourense La Rioja Valles de Sadacia Murcia Abanilla Murcia Campo de Cartagena Navarre Ribera del Queiles [1] 3 Riberas Valencia Castelló
[1] Multi-regional wine regions: Cava · Jumilla · Ribera del Queiles · Rioja See also Spanish wine Catalan wine Galician wine Txakoli Malaga