📍 Galicia

Galicia is an autonomous community in north-western Spain with four provinces: A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra; its capital is Santiago de Compostela. The coast faces the Atlantic, and the ocean shapes the climate over most of the region: humidity is high, and the Rías Baixas vineyards lie below 300 m, close to the sea.

Further inland the climate changes. Ribeiro is a transitional zone with marked swings between day and night, Valdeorras has a Mediterranean-oceanic climate, and Monterrei gets little rain and hot summers. In Ribeira Sacra vines grow on terraces on steep slopes above the Miño and the Sil – the rules call this heroic viticulture.

The MAPA list gives Galicia 5 DOP – Rías Baixas, Ribeira Sacra, Ribeiro, Valdeorras and Monterrei – and 5 IGP: Barbanza e Iria, Betanzos, Ribeiras do Morrazo, Terras do Navia and Val do Miño-Ourense. The oldest in the EU are Ribeiro and Valdeorras (1986), the youngest Terras do Navia (2023).

Rías Baixas has 5 subzones and is dominated by Albariño; the rules explain the tall emparrado pergolas as an adaptation to humidity. Valdeorras Godello is 100 % Godello, Ribeira Sacra is above all Mencía, Ribeiro's main grape is Treixadura, and Monterrei uses at least 60 % local varieties.

Why it matters to you. A subzone name on a bottle of Rías Baixas (Val do Salnés, O Rosal, Condado do Tea and others) points to a specific place. The region's reds are mostly Mencía, so Galician wine is not always white. Whites are served at 4–10 °C, reds at 15–18 °C.