Appellation Article

The Rías Baixas (Galician for "Lower Rias") are the Atlantic facing southern a part of Costa del Marisco in the Galicia region of Spain. They consist of the southern part of the Province of Coruña and the entire Province of Pontevedra. To the South the Rias Baixas border the Portuguese coast, and ends at Cape Finisterre to the North. The Rías Baixas appellation began in 1980 on October 11 when the Denominación Específica Albariño was legally established and recognised by the Spanish state. Four years later, on April 30, the regulations of the Denominación Específica Albariño and its Regulating Board were officially approved. Because of the need to adapt Spanish legislation to that of the EU, the Department of Agriculture, in an order dated March 17, 1988, recognised the Denominación de Origen Rías Baixas, and on July 4 published the order which approved the regulations of the appellation and its Regulating Board, ratified by a ministerial order on July 28 of the same year. During its short history, the Rías Baixas appellation has evolved in a sound and ordered way; and in the period between the years 1987 and 2001, the number of growers rose from 492 to 5,059, the number of wineries increased from 14 to 161 and the surface vineyard area expanded from 237 hectares to 2,408 (585 acres to 5,948).