Never having been a wine drinker when I first arrived in Mallorca I found myself drinking mainly local white Mallorquin wines at meals. Red wines never seemed to appeal considering the lovely warm climate and I don’t recall sampling the fine reds produced in Binissalem in those days.
Moving to Madrid after a few years this was all to change as I discovered heavy red wines and have never looked back. Not surprisingly it was Rioja wine that first caught my attention, the strong oaky flavour proving particularly appealing. When buying Riojas it’s easy to recognise supposed differences in quality according to whether they were labelled Rioja, Rioja Crianza, Rioja Reserva or Rioja Gran Reserva …
‘Rioja’ simply means the wine has spent less than a year in an oak barrel whilst ‘Vino de Crianza’ is wine in its third year, matured for at least one year in the oak cask. ‘Reserva’ is aged for at least three years with at least one in an oak cask. ‘Gran Reserva’ is a vintage wine which has aged at least two years in an oak cask and three years in the bottle.
My favourite based on value for money is certainly the ‘Crianza’ wines. Personally I can’t justify the additional cost of buying ‘Reservas’ and ‘Grand Reservas’ as I can’t appreciate any noticeable jump in quality. As a poor man’s Rioja I’d recommend Navarra wine which is produced further east around Pamplona.
A lesser known region abroad is Ribera del Duero which is centred on the town of Aranda del Duero between Madrid and Burgos. Its wines are recognised in international circles as the finest of Spanish reds. A couple to keep an eye out for are Pesquera and Vega Sicilia.
Catalonia is home to the Penedes wine region just south-west of Barcelona. Whilst I’m partial to the red Sangre de Toro as an everyday wine it’s the whites which are particularly rated for their quality notably the Viña Sol and Viña Esmeralda from the Torres winery. This region is probably more famous as a producer of Cava, Spanish champagne, at a fraction of the cost of its French counterpart. I’m not a great Cava drinker as it makes me fall over very quickly (!)
On the opposite side of the peninsular from Catalonia is Galicia where you’ll find a wine region called Rías Baixas, home of the Albariño grape. This grape is difficult to cultivate and yields are low yet it produces what for me is the finest white wine I’ve ever tasted. Albariño wines are known as the ‘wines of the sea’ given that their production is so close to the Atlantic ocean and how they complement the delicious seafood of the region so perfectly. If I lived in Galicia I’m sure I’d be a white wine drinker. The whites from the nearby Ribeiro region are also outstanding.
Another white I’d recommend comes from deepest Andalucia and is one of Spain’s best selling wines. It is labelled Barbadillo (Castillo de San Diego) and is produced in Sanlúcar de Barrameda which is one point of Spain’s ‘sherry triangle’ consisting of Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar. This triangle represents the biggest sherry producing area in the world where you can combine a tour of one of the sherry bodegas with a visit to the Royal School of Equestrian Art where you can see a performance of the famous dancing horses.
Spanish Food – What to Eat in Spain
Try the wines of Somontano in the Pyrenees. They have some very good wines and the foothils of the Pyrenees is a wonderful place to visit.
Thanks Jacqui
We have a page about Somontano Wines that backs up what you say.
Cheers
Gerry
Hi.
You make no reference to the super dry Rioja Rose’s which make such wonderful summer drinking. Any thoughts
David
Thanks David … I’m no fan of Rosado wine so cannot recommend any in particular. Any tips from Rosado drinkers?
I’d also recommend trying reds from the Valdepenas region, in fact I think it’s difficult to find a really bad wine from any Spanish region these days, unless you’re a real wine snob! Much better value than French or Australian wines at their prices (Spanish supermarket prices, that is!).
My favorite wine is garnacha which I was first introduced to some 60 years ago at a roadside cafe near Madrid and which was served with delicious chuletitas de cordero.
Hi Gerry, I’m not a wine expert but having sampled great Spanish food you have to compliment with great Spanish wine, with red meat Rioja is my favorite, but the white I like with fish is Torres San Valentin, I cant get it here in Ireland, my loss, Patrick.
Hi Gerry
I am travelling to Barcelona in September and have been looking for a good white wine. One that I found and just love is TORRES VENA ESMARALDA. hope it easy to find when I am there.
Having just read your interesting article I am prompted to add some comments. I live in the South East of France which is not best the known area for red wine and indeed I have found it difficult to consistently find local reds to my taste here. Whenever I have visited Spain though I have always found some delicious and reasonably priced red wines. My particular favourite is 100% Tempranillo grape a light but fruity wine and to my delight I have found a very pleasant version in Carrefour in France (France is not renowned for its display of foreign wines!!!). It is called ‘Gota De Oro’ from the Castilla. Cheers!
A good Rioja is probably the best known Spanish wine and is delicious as you say. But living in Murcia I have become quite a fan of the local Jumilla….which is more or less unknown outside Spain. They do produce mature more expensive wines which are slowly becoming recognised as being a quality product, but for me The Jumilla joven is superb as an all round, everyday wine. It complements any meal, it’s light and fruity, nice at room temperature or chilled, and is amazingly cheap. Wine doesn’t have to be expensive to taste good…..there are too many wine snobs about!
Thanks Emlyn … there are indeed some great, inexpensive Spanish wines. And what fun trying to discover them 🙂
Marques del Riscal… one of my favorites