red grape · regional staple
Baga
Bairrada, Portugal
Say it
bah·gah
On the palate
blackberryblack cherryred plumblack peppertobaccoearth
How you spot it blind: punishing tannins and searing acidity that relent into elegance with long age
The story
First written down · 19th century, Bairrada
DNA profiling confirmed Malvasia Fina as one parent of Baga while the second parent remains unidentified; 19th-century ampelographers Aguiar and Vila Maior formally classified it as indigenous to Bairrada.
Family tree: Malvasia Fina × ?
Where it lives
Bairrada DOC, Portugal · Dão, Portugal · Beira Interior, Portugal
Shows up as
still redsparklingrosé