Emilio explains the difference between Albarino and Savagnin

Authenticity control of Rías Baixas Albariño

Initially, we must know the antecedents of the grape variety.

The person who has the deepest knowledge in DNA, ampelographic characteristics and specifications of Albariño is, no doubt, Carmen Martínez from CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), the most important Spanish national research and investigation centre. She started her research about Albariño back in 1986 with a wide and deep study throughout Galicia, based on an analysis of very old vines (200-300 years old) which afterwards provoked a clonal selection of these ancient plants.

In parallel with this research, we started a similar programme at Terras Gauda of selection and location of old Albariño plants. In 1989 we created a special plot in our vineyards with a clonal selection of Albariño (115 different clones, initially).

From these we selected 35 clones, and since 2001, together with the CSIC, we developed a project called the Albariño Clone Selection finishing in 2006.

ALBARIÑO vs. SAVAGNIN BLANC AUSTRALIA

How was the mistake created and then clarified?

In 1983, Truel, in a material study about Vassal’s collection (the most important vine gene reserve), said that Albariño is a synonymous of Savagnin Blanc. 

In a visit to Vassal in 1990, Boursiquot (the renowned French ampelographer), and Martínez, confirmed that Vassal’s Albariño, that had been the first shipped from “El Encín” collection in Spain in 1964, was not, in fact, Albariño.

Back in Spain, Dr. Martinez confirmed that that one of the plants they had previously considered as Albariño in “El Encín” was not Albarino either.  El Encín administration took note of this mistake and corrected their records.

Savagnin also arrived in Italy, although again its origin is not clear.

The mistaken plant of “El Encín” was shipped from Galicia in 1951. Martinez didn’t find any Savagnin in her 80’s recompilation study.

The first study about Albariño combining DNA and ampelographic analysis was made by Martínez in collaboration with Dr. Boursiquot in an article published in 1998.

In spite of numerous warnings from Dr. Martínez, the confusion still existed and, in 2007, she published a further article explaining how the mix-up was made between Albariño and Savagnin and highlighted the important number of differences between these two varieties.

How did Albariño arrive in Australia?

It is unknown where it was shipped from and when. The responsible of “EL Encín” Collection and “Finca de la Merced” cannot find this shipment in their records. It would have been surprising if Albariño had been shipped to Australia before 1989 since it was a pretty much unknown variety in other parts of Spain and totally undiscovered abroad.

If CSIRO (the official institution who distribute Albariño) had any document that showed that this plant was shipped from Spain, they would have to reveal it.

It is important to know:

The mistake comes from one single plant of the four planted in El Encín and is not (and never has been) cultivated in Galicia, as Martinez showed in her 80’s study.

In Galicia all the growers are familiar with Albariño, and nobody knows Savagnin. It is not a synonymy, just a specific mistake in one single plant.

The difference between Albariño and Savagnin is vast in ampelographical and botanical terms (leaves, bunches, berries...), agronomics (grape size and weight) and also at a DNA molecular level (micro satellites analysis), so we can say that Albariño was not a mutation of Traminer or Savagnin or any other known variety.

In Galicia today, you can still find old Albariño plants that shows the existence of this variety in this region for centuries.  DNA testing has revealed that all these plants are Albariño.

Emilio Rodriguez
Winemaker & Technical Manager
Bodegas Terras Gauda, SA