Airén

The grapes have a cotton-like bud burst, which is bronze or yellowish in colour, with light reddish edge, and not very intense at the tip.

Tightly clustered grapes, large, rather late in maturing, with visible veins.He says that this variety is grown in Sanlúcar, Xerez, Trebujena, Arcos, Espera, Moguer, Tarifa and Paxarete.

Medium-sized leaves, somewhat irregular, somewhat lobed, with normally sharp sinuses, upper face smooth, the fall off early, yellowish colour.

This grape, according to Roxas Clemente, is used for the production of raisins and to mix its must with that of the Ximénez variety, and in 1807 was grown in Sanlúcar, Xerez, Trebujena, Algeciras, Arcos, Espera, Moguer, Málaga, Motril, Albuñol, Adra y Paxarete.

In 1954, Marcilla defined the Airén variety as a typical vine in the La Mancha region, grown almost exclusively in that area.

In 1965, Fernández de Bobadilla described Mantúo Laerén as: Vine with a sturdy trunk, semi-erect shoots, of average length, large leaf, orb-like, wedge-shaped, with 5 lobes, deep upper lateral sinuses, and overlapping edges; marked lower sinuses, more or less intense green upper face, velvety lower face.

Fat grapes, ovoid shaped, greenish colour, slightly golden, thick stem, hard pulp not very juicy.

Average shoots, strong, very branched.In the "Inventario Vitícola Nacional" by Hidalago and Rodríguez Candela (1971) Airén is cited as growing in Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Madrid, Málaga y Toledo.

In his book "Cepas del Mundo" (1997), José Peñín gives the origin of Airén as being in La Mancha, from where two thirds of all the grapes grown in Spain come from.

In general, the wine [from Airén] are characterised by a pallid colour with yellow iridescences; in the nose, mature fruit can be noted (banana, pineapple or grapefruit), and in the mouth, despite a certain lack of acidity, they are quite tasty and pleasant, easy to drink, though not ‘elegant’.

The vine is perfectly adapted to the harsh arid climate of La Mancha, its calcareous soils, and at up to 700 m above sea level.

It is very resistant to drought and to diseases, which explains its extensive planting after the phylloxera crisis.From this bibliography, it can be observed that two types of Airén (Lairén or Layrén) are described: one is the variety extensively grown in La Mancha and which is cited in the first reference by Clemente, by Abela, by García de los Salmones, by Marcilla, by Hidalgo, by Jancis Robinson, and by Peñín.

The first mention of the name Airén (currently the most widely used denomination to define this variety) is in the citation by García de los Salmones (1914) in the province of Albacete.

The low vine density of Airén in La Mancha has led to it being the known as the largest area, planted to a single grape variety, in the world[3] It can also be found significantly in Madrid and as far south as Montilla-Moriles.

Airén is allowed in the following DOs: Alicante, Bullas, Jumilla, La Mancha, Valdepeñas and Vinos de Madrid.