Beba

White variety used both as a table grape and for winemaking, also known as Eva or Beba de los Santos (and as Beba Dorada, Beba de Jerez or Beba de Huelva, among other names). Clemente (1807) describes it scattered through the vineyards of Sanlúcar, Jerez and Trebujena, where the bunches were kept hanging to eat in winter, and also in Chipiona and Conil; it was grown in Cádiz and Huelva before phylloxera and was only regrafted afterwards in Huelva. Today it is authorised only in Extremadura (6,215 ha in 2018; 8,881 in 1990). Large, compact bunches; large, round, yellowish-green berries. In IFAPA trials in Jerez it ripens two to three weeks after Palomino fino, yields 60% less and gives low-alcohol wines (9.6% vol.), with more malic acid and medium aromatic intensity (orchard fruit, stone fruit, tropical and floral notes depending on the vintage). In IFAPA surveys (2020-2022) two Beba vines were genetically identified in Moguer (Huelva); there is interest in authorising it in Andalusia, especially in the Marco de Jerez, and one of the vines is virus-free, which could yield a certified clone (Cretazzo et al., BIO Web of Conferences 56, 2023). ICIA identifies it with the Canary Islands' Breval (also Colgariega, Valencí Blanco and Calop) (Rodríguez-Torres, 2017).

Source: IFAPA, Potencialidad enológica de las variedades de vid cultivadas en Andalucía: Beba y Mantúo de Pilas (2021); Wikipedia, “Eva (uva)”.