The Albariño grape is planted across Spain, but it reaches its most thrilling heights of flavor, acid and fruit in the northwestern corner of the country, in a region called Rias Baixas. Yes, that is an odd place to put an “x”…if you’re wondering; it’s pronounced ree-ass bye-shass. The language in this area is different from the rest of Spain because the region is located in the semi-autonomous region of Galicia, which uses an ancient language derived from the original Celtic peoples of Europe.

It is thought that the Albariño grape came to the region in the 1100’s along with Cistercian monks. Rias Baixas has certainly been a good fit for the grape. The regions gentle maritime influenced climate rarely gets below freezing or above 90. The region is relatively moist so the wine growers of the region grow their grapes on distinct trellised systems called pergolas, which allow the grapes plenty of ventilation.

The Albariño wines produced in this little corner of the country are some of the most sought after white wines in all of Spain. The wines are delicate but lively with a signature hint of residual sugar. Some producers intentionally inhibit malolactic fermentation, which produces a wine with a bit of bubble in the bottle and an amazing balance of sugar, bubbles and ripping acid.

The best sub-regions are Val do Salnes and O Rosal. You can find the names of the regions on the bottles, but don’t worry, just pick up any Rias Baixas—you won’t be disappointed. Rias Baixas doesn’t mean “ray of sunshine”…but it should.