Dona Branca (DOE-na BRON-ca) is a white wine grape from Galicia.
What is Dona Branca?
Dona branca is a white wine grape grown mainly in the Ribeira Sacra, Monterrei, and Valdeorras wine regions. Outside of Galicia, it’s found in Castilla-León under the name Doña Blanca, in Extremadura where it’s called Cigüente, and in the Douro, Alentejo, and Algarve regions of Portgugal.
What does Dona Branca wine smell like?
Dona Branca has intense aromas of orange blossom and laurel, citrus notes of ripe orange, stone fruit aromas like peach and apricot.
What does Dona Branca wine taste like?
On the palate, Dona Branca has medium to low alcohol and medium acidity, which lend themselves to wines with good structure but not too much body. For this reason, producers will blend dona branca with other grapes, using its intense aromas to complement other varieties.
Where does dona branca come from?
The earliest mention of dona branca is under the name cigüente, in Alonso de Herrera’s 1513 description of the varieties of Castilla, Extremadura and Andalucía.
In Portugal, it was first mentioned in the Douro region in the early sixteenth century under the synonym alvaro de sousa. Ampelographers theorize that the grape’s birthplace could be in north-eastern Portugal, where it’s known as Síria.
Like mencía, it’s possible the name of this grape comes from a real medieval Dona Branca. Branca de Borbón, or Blanche of Bourbon, was the daughter of Peter I, Duke of Bourbon. In 1353 at the age of 14, she married King Pedro “The Cruel” of Castilla, so Pedro could have an alliance with France. Most historians beleive that King Pedro married his lover, Castilian noble Maria de Padilla before his marriage to Blanche, and when the money for her dowry didn’t appear, he abandoned Blanche for his lover only three days after their marriage.
Some technical details
Dona branca is late-budding, and early-ripening. It produces lower-alcohol wines with an average gradation of 11%, and average acidity of 5 g / L.