Caíño tinto (kai-EEN-yo TEEN-toe) is a red grape from Galicia.
What is caíño tinto?
Caíño tinto is a red wine grape from the raia, the area on the border between Northern Portugal and Galicia. In the Vinho Verde region it’s known as borraçal, and in Galicia its synonyms are caíño redondo in Ribeiro and tinta femia in Ribeiras do Morrazo.
What does Caíño Tinto wine smell like?
Wines made from caíño tinto usually have intense fruity and floral aromas. Common aromas include fresh cherry, cranberry, and black pepper, and wines can also take on vegetal notes. Wines from cooler zones like Rías Baixas tend to have more acetic aromas, and their fruit aromas tend toward fresh and tart. In warmer climates, wines usually have riper red fruit aromas. Wines aged in oak can take on baking spice flavors that combine nicely with varietal aromas of black pepper.
What does caíño tinto wine taste like?
Although caíño tinto has low alcohol, it can produce lean, juicy wines, with well-integrated acidity and a long spiced fruit finish when it ripens sufficiently. When blended with other varieties, it adds black pepper and spice aromas as well as lift.
Where does caíño tinto come from?
Caíño tinto was first mentioned as borraçal in 1790, in Vinho Verde. It’s thought to have spread to the rest of Galicia from Melgaço and Monção, on the Miño River.
Some technical details
Late-budding and late-ripening, caíño tinto produces fruity wines with low alcohol around 10-11% and high acidity, about 7.5 g/L.
How is Caíño Tinto wine made?
Wines are generally high in alcohol and often see barrel fermentation in oak or undergo carbonic maceration to overcome their characteristically astringent, bitter tannins. In Galicia, there are a few examples of single-variety caíño tinto, and it’s also used in blends as a complement to varieties of greater structure.
How is caíño tinto grown?
In Rías Baixas, you can find caíño tinto growing on parras, the region’s typical trellis system. In other regions, old bush-trained vines or trellis systems are the norm. Caíño tinto’s long ripening cycle means that vines need to be exposed to the greatest amount of sunlight possible.
Curious about the rest of Galicia’s grape varieties? Check them out here.