A Very Brief Introduction to Spanish Wines

As an Spain travel specialist, I’m supposed to know a lot about wine. And in some ways I do. I know the main varietals and the most popular appellations. One of my first projects after my military service was consulting work for a good friend here in the US that was launching a wine importing business focused on Spain. It was tough work, I can tell you! I had to accompany him from vineyard to vineyard throughout Spain tasting all the wine along with the inevitably incredible food pairings we were always offered. All this being said, my actual category as a wine aficionado is probably best defined as “knows what he likes”. As I research and design my future blog posts, I will be attempting to educate both of us. We can get smarter about Iberian wines together. 

The Sobremesa: The Spanish tradition of relaxing to talk and drink sweet wine after a meal.

A good place to start is with is appellations. Like most wine growing countries, Spain has a quality control system that divides wine into Denominaciónes de Origen (DO). This is similar to the Appellation d'Origine Protégée (AOP) system of France. The DO’s represent distinct geographical areas and establish standards for the given areas of production. What do we mean by standards? Typically, standards include the ratios of varietals (grape types), minimum aging times, as well as labeling requirements. Many Americans are familiar with the major denominations such as Rioja. Spain has about 70 DOs, with 3 special DO’s labeled as Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa). The latter being awarded to DO’s that have maintained a very high level of consistency and quality over a long period of time. DOCa’s include Rioja, Priorat, and Ribera del Duero. 

Its important to know that not all Spanish wine is produced within the DO system. Almost ⅓ of Spanish wine (such as table wine) does not carry a DO label. This wine may be of very high quality by a producer that may feel boxed in by DO’s standards. Or it may be less expensive wine meant for the mass market. In any case, there is no need to be a “DO snob”. 

To put all this in context, my favorite Spanish wine is Albariño. (This is a bit odd since Spain is best known for its reds (tintos)). Albariño is the name of the grape as well as the varietal, found mainly in northwest Spain (Galicia) and northern Portugal, producing acidic but fruity qualities. This grape has a remarkable history that I won’t go into here. The point is that in Spain, the grape can be found primarily in the DO Rias Baixas. So don’t confuse the grape with the DO. The same grape can be found in multiple DO’s. I’ll do a separate blog post in the future on Albariño. 

I hope you enjoyed this brief foray into the high-level organization of Spanish wines. I provide the links so that you can explore these topics further on your own, (and in many cases to hide my lack of acumen). If you are like me and need a simple approach to all this, you can’t go wrong with Wine Folly.