Five centuries ago, on an island in the Caribbean, a priest died begging for Galician wine. Soon after, the man who had crossed the Atlantic three times for the Crown of Castile would be on his way back to Spain, relieved of his command and bound in chains. And twenty years ago, a chance encounter in a Spanish archive would see the story finally come to light.

Monterrei was the last of Galicia’s DOs to begin harvesting this year. Adega Castro de Lobarzán kicked things off on August 17 with vineyards in the village of Vilaza. The earliest harvest in the DO’s thirty-year history came on the tail of a hot, dry summer, with virtually no rainfall from May through August and several months with temperatures above 35–36°C (95–97°F).

Harvest came early this year in DO Ribeiro: the official start date was August 12. 2026 will go down in history as one of the earliest in the region’s history.

Normally, harvesting a vineyard in Ribeira Sacra would take days of back-breaking labor. The unforgiving terrain means using any machinery in the vineyard is impossible and growers have to haul boxes up steep slopes by hand. This year, they have a little help. For the first time ever, some wineries in Ribeira Sacra are harvesting with the help of drones.

It’s another record-breaking harvest for Rías Baixas. The final total for 2026 probably won’t exceed last year’s all-time record, but along with the rest of Galicia, this year’s harvest is the earliest in Rías Baixas’ recorded history.

At this time in a normal year, harvest in Ribeira Sacra would only just be getting underway. In 2026, it’s already halfway over. The 2026 harvest began on August 12, the earliest date ever.

Harvest 2026 is underway in Galicia! Here are some pictures from Valdeorras.

Preserving rural livelihoods is part of the solution to reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires, but those livelihoods now have to adapt to increasingly unpredictable conditions. The question for the coming years will be if the countryside can remain both economically viable and disaster-resistant in a changing climate.

In celebration of August as Albariño month here at The Wines of Galicia, I wanted to take a dive into the Albariño archives. Things like these are essential for understanding the story of Rías Baixas Albariño. They give us a window into how people thought about wine at the time, and they let us see firsthand the process of how one grape began to take over the region.

María Falcón (left) and Cristina Yagüe were doing things differently from the start. For one, rather than naming their project something about themselves or their families or what they hoped to accomplish, they decided to name their winery in homage to others.

After a seven-year hiatus, Envínate is once more making wines with the D.O. Ribeira Sacra back label. Ribeira Sacra’s Regulatory Council announced that the winery is rejoining the DO, describing the project as an “international benchmark for wines from the region.”

An afternoon with Rodri Méndez showed off a different side of Rías Baixas: old vines, aged Albariño, and red wines still being invented in real time.

Just like Santiago is constantly undergoing a process of renewal and rejuvenation—whether via physical construction or the arrival of new generations—Galician wine is actively under construction. We’re incredibly privileged to be watching this history unfold before our eyes.

Every time I visit Santiago de Compostela, I’m reminded of the greatest homage to the Galician capital ever written: Viendo Llover en Galicia, or “Watching the Rain in Galicia”, by Gabriel García Márquez—who was of Galician ancestry, of course. I’ve translated it for your reading pleasure.

If there’s a typicity to Ribeira Sacra, Guímaro is one of the wineries that nails it. It’s no surprise—it’s also one of the wineries that helped define it.

My Fair Lady got it wrong: the rain in Spain stays mainly in Galicia. Most overviews leave Galicia’s climate at just that: cool, rainy, and influenced by the Atlantic. They’re not wrong, but if we dive a little deeper into Galicia and its wine regions, we find there’s a lot more going on.

Pablo Soldavini is one to watch in Ribeira Sacra. He farms steep, old-vine terraces near Castro Caldelas on the south side of the Sil River with an organic, low-intervention approach. Tanis is a light-on-its-feet, elegant, and just plain delicious red field blend.

The sandy, decomposed granite soil known as xabre in Rías Baixas and sábrego in Ribeiro is one of the most important soil types in Galician wine.

Move over, Rías Baixas—two new Michelin stars are putting Galicia’s less-traveled interior on the map. I talked to their wine directors to explore their wine programs, understand the philosophy behind them, and discover what the future holds.

Stainless steel and oak are no longer the only materials you’ll find in Galician wineries. A new generation of winemakers is using amphorae, concrete eggs, chestnut barrels, and granite tanks and reshaping ideas of what Galician wine can look like.