I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but there’s been some confusion surrounding Australian Albariño of late, and it only came to my attention when I was reading an email from joint winemaker at Cascabel in McLaren Vale, Duncan Ferguson, who was considering planting the varietal himself.

“On the subject of Albarino, there’s a huge fuss here at the moment, it seems that due to a stuff up by the original importers (an Aust. Govt. body), that we don’t really have Albariño in Australia. It’s actually Savagnin (a variety from the Jura in France!). No wonder I hadn’t tasted any here that reminded me of a good Spanish one.”

According to Felix Cabello Sáenz de Santa María, head of the largest vine variety collection in Spain, the mix up can actually be traced back to its homeland. Many years ago Savagnin Blanc and Albariño were confused in some Spanish areas and a wrong sample collected in Orense in 1951 was labelled with the name of Albariño, when it was actually Savagnin. Essentially, all samples sent from the collection between 1955 and 1984 were Savagnin Blanc.

This discovery is partly thanks to advancements in DNA testing. I’ve never actually tried Australian Savagnin Blanc (which I’m sure is very good), but I really hope the Australian government, or whoever is in charge, can sort this out quickly so that wineries, such as Cascabel, can start to produce Rias Baixas quality Albariño alongside their other world class wines. I’m just too big a fan of the stuff.

To view our range from Cascabel, click here, and to read more about their Spanish influence, click here.