Albariño versus Alvarinho: panel tasting results

Sarah Jane Evans MW, Sarah Ahmed and Beth Willard tasted 83 wines with 7 Outstanding and 29 Highly Recommended.

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit a single wine of their choice of vintage, and 100% single-varietal Albariño/Alvarinho

Albariño versus Alvarinho panel tasting scores

83 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 7

Highly recommended 29

Recommended 33

Commended 8

Fair 4

Poor 0

Faulty 2

Albariño is a seasoned traveller. Recently licensed in Bordeaux, you’ll also find it in Uruguay, New Zealand, California and southern France. Yet nowhere does it better than the northwest of the Iberian peninsula, where it’s an ancient variety.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Albariño vs. Alvarinho wines

For this Iberian showdown, the Spanish entries came, with two exceptions, from Rías Baixas, predominantly from the Salnés sub-zone. The Portuguese samples came almost exclusively from the top-quality Vinho Verde sub-zone of Monçāo e Melgaço, with a notable exception from the Douro.

This is a variety that loves the granite of both regions. The tasting confirmed its adaptability to terroir, with clear differences in style. It is very sensitive to climate, whether the humid, maritime Rías Baixas, or the higher altitude and more continental character of Monçāo e Melgaço.

Highlighting these differences, Beth Willard commented that Alvarinho sees more differences in quality between the entry-level wines and the top ones, while Albariño is in general more consistent. Specialist importer Nick Oakley, who works in both countries, notes that this consistency is Albariño’s great selling point.

Over the river Minho in northern Portugal, Alvarinho (along with Loureiro) plays a starring role in dry, still Vinho Verde (traditionally a spritzy varietal blend).

Produced in nine different sub-zones, until this year only 100% Alvarinho from the sub-zone of Monçāo e Melgaço enjoyed Vinho Verde DOC status. Others were labelled Vinho Regional Minho (VR Minho shares the same boundaries as DOC Vinho Verde, but the regulations for the DOC are stricter).

From 2021, 100% single-varietal Alvarinho from any sub-zone can declare DOC on the label.

See all 83 tasting notes and scores from the Albariño vs. Alvarinho panel tasting

Albariño/Alvarinho: the facts

Albariño (Spain)

Area planted 4,093ha in Rías Baixas, of which 96% Albariño

Growers 5,131 in Rías Baixas

Production 1990 3.1m litres, 2020 23.5m litres

source: CRDO Rías Baixas, 2019/20

Alvarinho (Portugal)

Area planted 3,227ha across Portugal, 2% of national vineyard production

Monçāo e Melgaço vineyards 1,700ha of Alvarinho

Monçāo e Melgaço growers 2,000

source: IVV, 2018; Wines of Portugal

Albariño showed its typical stone fruit character, with richness, ripe citrus, and white flower aromatics. Sarah Ahmed also found a briny, maritime note, like ‘pickled jalapeño water’.

Many wines declared four to 24 months of ageing on lees, which built a successful complexity. Willard, though, was discouraged to observe the effects of Albariño’s popularity: ‘Everyone is rushing wines out – these 2020s have distinct primary tropical fruit. They are missing out on the complexity that an extra year gives, and it has damaged the category.’

Certainly, though, the best Albariños age beautifully – it is well worth seeking them out. Ahmed agreed: ‘I have tasted Alvarinhos that have been 10 to 20 years old, and they have aged really well.’

The Alvarinhos here distinguished themselves by their power and structure. Soalheiro’s Granit was a textbook example of ‘continental’ Alvarinho grown on poor granite soils at 350m: less aromatic, less rounded, more linear and mineral.

Historically, Alvarinho was said to have lower alcohol than Albariño, but today there is little difference. Overall, one factor was clear. As Ahmed concluded, whether Albariño or Alvarinho: ‘This tasting showed that it is a noble variety.’

Top-scoring wines from the Albariño vs. Alvarinho panel tasting

The wines listed below all scored 92 points or above

The judges

Sarah Jane Evans MW is an awarded journalist, author and broadcaster, and a DWWA Co-Chair. Author of The Wines of Northern Spain (Infinite Ideas, 2018), she is also the current chair of Spain’s Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino.

Sarah Ahmed is an awarded wine writer, educator and judge who specialises in Portugal and Australia. A Cavaliero of the Confraria do Vinho do Porto, she is the DWWA Regional Chair for Portugal and publishes her own website at thewinedetective.co.uk

Beth Willard is buying director for independent merchant Winetraders, introducing new wines from Spain and Eastern Europe to the UK. Formerly buying manager at Direct Wines, she is a member of Spain’s Gran Orden de Caballeros de Vino and of the Confrérie de Tokaj in Hungary.

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