Fine Wine from Spain

Vega Sicilia Winery      Photo Credit: Vega Sicilia

Overview 

Spain’s wine history dates back to the Phoenicians around 1,000 BC and was further established by the Romans in the 1^st century. Fast-forward some thousand years growth in export increased steadily during the 17^th and 18^th centuries, and in the second half of the 19^th century, Spain benefitted by the French wine industry being destroyed by the wine louse, phylloxera, in that all of the French wine would buy Spanish wine in bulk during this period and bottle it in France. However, in 1901, the wine louse arrived in Spain, which meant that all vineyard’s had to be regrafted onto American rootstocks – a very costly affair.  The Spanish civil war destroyed many of Spain’s vineyards, but then years later, when Spain joined the European Union, this had a very positive effect and Spanish wines started thriving internationally.

A combination of great winemaking traditions, improved viticulture, stronger market visibility and self-belief paved the way for greater recognition and demand for premium Spanish wines. Moreover, new regions began to develop and flourish, enabling Spain to produce wines of international quality produced with their own indigenous varieties. As a result, Spain is now producing some of the truly majestic wines of the world.

Key Grape Varieties

Spain has many different grape varieties planted across the country; most important from a fine wine perspective are Tempranillo, Garnacha, and to an extent Mencia, Albarino and Godello. Tempranillo – known under different synonyms in different regions – is the main grape of Rioja, Ribera del Duero, and Toro. Garnacha is blended with smaller portions of Carinena and sometimes international grape varieties in Priorat. Mencia is behind the pure fruited and often concentrated Bierzo. And finally, when it comes to white wines, Albarino and Godello makes saline fresh and sometimes textural white wines in Spain’s northwestern corner, Galicia.

Classification

Spain does not have wine classifications in the way that we know them from France, but instead uniquely has wine ageing classifications, from ‘Joven’ for the youngest wines (aged for up to 6 months in barrel), to ‘Crianza’ (between 6-12 months in barrel followed by 18 months in bottle), onto ‘Reserva’ (12 months in barrel and 24 months in bottle) and finally, at the top of the pyramid, ‘Gran Reserva’ (18-24 months in barrel followed by 36 months in bottle).

For white wines, the minimum period in oak barrel is only 6 months for all categories, but the total ageing requirement increases the higher up the pyramid a wine is.

Key Regions 

Spain is divided into 19 regions of which we focus on four: They are:

• Castilla y León
• Catalonia
• Galicia
• Rioja