Wines from Espagne

The vineyard of the Iberian Peninsula has more than 2000 years of history, its territory has been successively occupied by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans,the Visigoths and the Arabs. Its structure began in the 15th century after the Reconquista. Today, Spain has 63 DO appellations (Denominación de Origen) distributed in 15 regions: Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y Léon, Rioja, Navarre, Catalonia, Basque Country, Galicia, Aragon, Madrid, Extremadura, Murcia ,Valencia, Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands.

More than the origin, the label indicates the vintage but also the aging time in barrels, which allows to classify the wines in: Vino de Crianza (aged 2 years including at least 1 year in oak barrels); Vino de Reserva (aged 3 years including at least 1 year in oak barrels); Vino de Gran Reserva (aged 5 years including 2 years in oak barrels).

In addition to being the largest vineyard in the world with 975,000 hectares of vines planted, Spain is surely the country with the largest variety of indigenous grape varieties. The main grape varieties are: Tempranillo, Grenache, Bobal, Mourvèdre, Cabernet Sauvignon for red wines; Airén, Cayetana Blanca, Macabeu, Palomino, Verdejo for white wines.

Here are 5 Spanish appellations that we recommend: Xérès, Rioja, Priorat, Ribera del Duero, Rías Baixas.