UK drinkers get taste for Albarino

Spain may have just lost its place to Chile over imports to the UK, but consumers here are still discovering new Spanish wines.

While Spain has been leapfrogged by Chile, which has taken its sixth position in the wine-imports league, the Old World country’s white Albarino grape has been building a fan base with British drinkers. Shipments to the UK of this wine from the Rias Baixas DO in the northwest of Spain jumped by 60 per cent between 2005 and 2006. Furthermore, the UK now accounts for more than 40 per cent of Albarino sold in the EU, according to figures from Wines of Spain.

It seems that Spain can take heart in the UK consumer’s growing appetite for dry and aromatic white wines.