-	All photographs of Galician wine

In Galicia five zones are oficially acknowledged as Protected Designation of Origin, P.D.O – A.O.C in french and D.O.C in spanish. Some of them, in particular Rías Baixas, produces one of the best white wines, if not the best, of the whole spanish territory: Albariño

D.O.C. Ribeiro
The capital city of ribeiro is Ribadavia. Along its banks the wine of ribeiro is grown, the white wine, with all due respect from albariño, para excellence from Galicia. It is made of treixadura, a native grape from the region, and the result is a light, fresh and young wine with fruity notes and floral bouquet. It is really pleasant to palate and it is easy to drink. It is served often in a white cup, called 'taza' or 'cunca'.

D.O.C. Valdeorras
It is located in the northwest of the province of Ourense, Galicia. This P.D.O uses, to elaborate the wines of this area, grapes as Godello, Dona Blanca and Palomino for the white wines, and Mencía, Merenzao, Grao Negro and Alicante for the red ones. Among them, Mencía and Godello stand particularly out. Godello is an authochtonous grape from Barco de Valdeorras and during these last years it has been recovered. It presents a solid body and, at the same time, fine and delicate hints, impregnated with an outstanding subtlety and complexity. It evokes in the nose an appel bouquet with a long and pronounced aftertaste.
Red wines are made of Mencía and they stand out by its intense dark ruby red color. In mouth, it takes initially clear blackberry and fruits of the forest hints, to end with a long and silky drink. It has a clean structure and good intensity.

D.O.C Rías Bajas
The P.D.O. corrresponds geographically to the Rías Baixas in Galicia although it adds, moreover, two sub-zones in the south of the province of Pontevedra, Soutomaior and O Rosal, delimiting this last one the border between Portugal and Galicia.
As it was said albariño is probably the best white wine of Spain. It is thought that the grape came hand in hand with the german and french monks during the high Middle Ages, around the XII century. There are other grapes in the same vineyards, among others, Mencía and Espadeiro.
It is a white wine, dry, very light and delicious. The wine has a characteristic bouquet with resemblances to peaches. In the area of O Salnés it reaches 13º degrees of alcohol. The soils of the region's vineyards are rich in granite and, ideally, are located close to the sea and climate presents a high percentage of humidity.
Usually albariño is ordered with seafood.

D.O.C Ribeira Sacra. The liquid gold of river Sil.
The Protected Designation of Origin, P.D.O - Ribeira Sacra, is between the provinces of Ourense and Lugo, Galicia. It is divided, at the same time, in five sub-regions: Amandi, Chantada, Quiroga-Bibei, Ribeiras do Miño and Riberias do Sil. The dominant grapes are the red ones, basically mencía, although white grapes as variety of godello is getting more and more importance. 45000 hectoliters of red wine are produced and around 5000 of white (year 2005). The steep orography confers this zone a microclimate that, added to the south orientation of the wine's terraces, allows the appropiate ripening of the grape along the banks of rivers Sil and Miño
Red wines are elaborated primarily with mencía, an indigenous variety of Caubernet Franc. These wines stand out by its brilliance, an intense ruby red colour with cherry and purple shades. The bouquet is elegant and fruity and they come to palate really tasty, well equilibrated and with a high alcohol content. The aftertaste is lovely and they remember to fruits of the forest. Regarding white wines, the main grape which are made of is godello. These wines are young, splendid in mouth and with pronounced bouquet.