S2E2: Rias Baixas: The Secret of Salinity in Wine with Diego Rios of Granbazán

D’Amato & Szabo: Wine Thieves

This is part two of a five-part series on the Wine of Rias Baixas. In the first episode, we took you through the region, including a brief history and the technical details of climate and soils, sub-regions and the denominación of origin rules and regulations. If you missed it, you may want to go back and have a listen to our interview Katia Alvarez, winemaker at the Martin Codax winery of the Val do Salnés sub-region.
In this episode, we remain in the Salnés valley sub-zone and speak with Diego Rios, the Chilean winemaker in charge of regional reference, Granbazán. We get to the bottom of the mysterious origins of albariño with Diego, the most widely planted grape in Rias Baixas today. Germanic tribes? Cistercian monks travelling the Way of St. James? or Roman foragers? Find out in this episode.
Saltiness in wine is a strangely recurring theme on Wine Thieves, and we also look more deeply in this episode into its causes. Is it real? Or perceived? A trick of the other senses joining together to create the impression, or a bona fide dose of sodium? Does the terroir of Rias Baixas itself contribute to the perception of salinity? We discuss such riveting angles as sodium deposits on grapes, absorption through soils into vines, and even how the important Galician canned seafood industry might play a role… As always with scientific papers, our conclusions are that, "further study in this field is recommended”. So grab a glass of salty coastal Albariño from Green Spain, maybe some razor clams or pulpo a la gallega, and join Sara and John on this adventure into the past and future.
Salud!
Episode sponsored by D.O. Rias Baixas, content exclusively by The Wine Thieves®