Types of Wine: Spanish Region Wines
The Spanish wine growing regions have always occupied a special niche inside the wine world but the types of wines Spain created had a limited appeal to dessert or specialty drinkers. But as the palates of millions of consumers around the globe expand, curiosity about Spanish wines evolves. A highly proportionate area to France and Italy is agriculturally invested in grape growing. The proximity of Spain to the legendary French wine making regions cannot be missed.
Spain has long been centralized as a grape growing region with other agricultural concentrations. But the industrial market worldwide for contemporary wine has built a new model for the modern Spanish wine industry. Traditional and historic Spanish wine from la Rioja, Cataluna, Ribera del Duero, and the Sherry District have kept pace with the worldwide wine frenzy. Spanish wine maintains an intensity and character unmatched in all but the finest vineyards elsewhere for the color, flavor density, tannins, and nuanced yet identifiable
Tempranillo and Garnacha grapes compose the Rioja wine product. Baja, Alta and Allavesa terroirs specifically farm a mean Rioja brew. The celebrated wine products of the Rioja valley and the world renowned sherry products, as well as the strongest fortified wine come together to render Spain a singular presence in the wine community globally. American and French oak supplies aging of the appropriate caliber. Table wines and vintages wines "stem" from these Spanish regions in
consistent quality.
Spanish wines come in three distinctions, Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva. Spanish wine products are concentrated around a top tier of winemakers called bodegas. Prominent names to know in Spanish wine lexicons are Penedes and Ribera del Duero (commonly called "Douro" wines). Sparkling "cava" Spanish wines like Codorniu and Freixenet can display the established intensity of flavor that makes these regions famous.
The grapes used in Spanish wine reflect the traditions of Spanish winemaking in days past and the new exciting blend trends hitting the global wine retail market today. The Denominación de Origen (DO) system updated 1970 governs labeling, production, and distribution of Spanish wine of various classes and aging conditions. Spain occupies a distinctive full bodied presence in the global wine spectrum for red wines, roses and notably Riojas and Dueros.
Post-Phylloxera Europe looked to Spain to fill in the blanks left in French grape viticulture depletion. But the rising popularity and trading strength of exported Spanish wine was drawn thin by the Spanish civil war, European military movements and postwar economic shifts. Spanish wine rose again to prominence due to advanced development of a system designed to designate aging caliber of wine and storage requirements per appellation.
Monastrell, Rias Biaxas, Priorat, and Albarino are terms referring to Spanish wine making.The Catalan wine region benefits from the Ebro river and other irrigations. The Meseta Plateau and the Rueda areas favor famed Spanish wines of varying types. The dense geographical terroir means Spanish wine lovers will have their fair share of wine experiences to come.
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