white grape · regional staple
Airén
La Mancha, Spain
Say it
eye·ren
Stress on the final syllable; the opening 'Ai-' sounds like English 'eye'; the 'r' is a Spanish tap, not a trill.
On the palate
Body
light
Acidity
medium minus
Aromatics
low
lemongreen applepearmelondried herbs
How you spot it blind: Spain's dominant neutral white; grown at scale primarily to supply brandy distillation
The story
First written down · 1615, La Mancha, Spain
The world's most-planted grape by acreage through the 1990s–early 2000s, peaking near 306,000 ha, Airén has since declined to ~190,000 ha as La Mancha moved away from bulk-wine and brandy-base production.
Where it lives
La Mancha, Spain · Valdepeñas, Spain · Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Shows up as
still whitesparklingorange