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Wine
Spanish Wines
Spain, together with France and Italy, the most important wine producer in the world. The most part of it is dedicated to self-consumption, since it’s an indispensable element in all Spanish cooking, although the exportation numbers are also very high.
Wine producers are more interested in quality than in quantity, so they spare no effort to investigate new fabrication methods. Thanks to this politics, nowadays we can enjoy a wide variety of wines that satisfies even the most exquisite palates.
Grapes Variety
Tempranillo: The most known. It has great delicacy, is very aromatic and has a black appearance.
Graciano: Red, nutritive and very aromatic.
Cariñena: Cultivated in Catalonia and surroundings, although is used in the fabrication of many North wines.
Viura: White grape from La Rioja and Navarra is widely used to soften the red wine. It has a great percentage of acids that later get converted into alcohol.
Malvasia: The second most important type of grape from Spain, very used in La Rioja, Navarra, Catalonia and Balearic Islands. Wines obtained from this type are very fresh and smooth.
Guarantee of Origin
Wine with “guarantee origin” has followed several norms in fabrication. It’s the way regional associations have to control the quality of their products and avoid falsifications.
Each guarantee regulates many aspects: grape picking methods, transports, grapes, alcohol graduation, barrels, etc. Nowadays there are 47 guarantees of origin in Spain, and their numbers are increasing.
Red wine
Spain has different wines, but the most important by far is the red one. It is very complete, aromatic and with certain oak taste. Moreover, the variety is extraordinary thanks to the Spanish geographical and climatologic variants. The most known come from La Rioja, but there are also several important regions: Jumilla, Catalonia, Navarra, Ribera del Duero, Aragon, etc.
When you buy red wine you must pay attention to the label, this way you’ll know the nature of the product:
- Young: The cheapest, since it has been between zero and six months in wooden barrel.
- Aging wine: Two years, and at least six months of them in a barrel.
- Vintage wine: Three years, and at least one of them in a barrel.
- Great Vintage: Five years, two at least in a barrel.
On the label also appears the exact year of fabrication, so we can know if the vintage was good or not (some years are better than other ones).
White wine
Red wine is consumed at room temperature and complements very well with meat, but the white one tastes better while it is cold and accompanying good fish.
Formerly, white wines were prepared like red ones, in oak barrels, although for a shorter period. As a result, these had a slight amber colour and wooden flavour. Nowadays there are white wines still made in this way, but the most used method is to keep them cold in stainless steel containers.
Rose wine
With the years this wine is winning adepts. Its elaboration is similar to the red one, with the difference that here the skins are peeled off to avoid getting dark. These wines are ideal for the summer, since they are consumed cold and usually go very well with salads.
Cava
Almost all cava is produced in the Catalonian region of Alt Penedes (95%), especially in its village Sant Sadurní d’Anoia (75%). It’s a sort of sparkling white wine, mainly consumed on important dates like birthdays and Christmas. Depending on the quantity of sugar added, from the biggest to smallest amount, the cava can be sweet, semidry, dry, extra dry, brut, extra brut and brut nature. This one doesn’t have any gram of sugar added.
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