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Spain is the third biggest wine-producing country in the world, after France and Italy. Until late in the 20th century, the country's wine production was mostly for domestic consumption, with a relatively small trickle exported to other countries.
Today Spain is best known for its robust and fruity high-quality reds, principally Rioja and Ribera del Duero. Also highly-regarded are the reds and whites of Catalonia in the Penedès and Priorato appellations. Specialty wines include the sparkling whites and rosés known as cava and the famous fortified wines of Jerez, better known as sherry.
edit Facts and figures
Spain has 1.2 million hectares (almost 3 million acres) of land planted with grapes. This makes it the country with the largest area under vine in the world. Wine is Spain's third-biggest crop.
The country produced more than 3.9 billion liters of wine in 2006/2007, of which about 60% was red or rosé and the other 40% white. 1.4 billion liters were exported from the country, primarily to the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and France.
- Main varietals:
- Red: Grenache (Granacha), Tempranillo, Monastrell, Carignan (Cariñena), Merlot
- White: Macabeo, Grenache blanc, Malvasia, Palomino, Parellada
edit History
As in many Mediterranean countries, Spain's wine grape cultivation began with Greek and Phoenician colonists and was well established by the time of the Roman conquest in the first century B.C.E. Sweet Spanish wines from the area around what is now Jerez were one of the most traded commodities in the Mediterranean area during classical times. Romans also added resins and aromatic spices to the Spanish wines.
The Muslim conquest of Spain in 711 C.E. greatly reduced the country's wine industry. Islam forbids the drinking of alcohol, so land formerly under vine was converted to other crops where possible or developed for table grapes instead. In some areas, Christian subjects were allowed to create wine for their own use.
After the reconquest of Spain, the Spanish wine industry was revived by monasteries in the country, who needed wine for the Catholic communion. In the Renaissance and early modern era, the main Spanish wines seen in the English-speaking world were the fortified wines from Jerez, called sherry in English.
Spain was relatively isolated from the plague of phylloxera in the 19th century which decimated wine crops in the rest of Europe. Many winemakers from France and other regions moved to Spain in order to continue to practice their craft. By the time phylloxera reached Spain at the end of the century, the grafting techniques used today had be developed, and the country's wine production was relatively unharmed.
Spain's wine industry took steps towards standardization and modernization in the 1920s and 30s, but the Spanish Civil War left vineyards in a shambles and World War II destroyed any export market. The industry began to recover in the post-war era of the 50s and 60s.
With the opening of the Spanish culture and economy to the rest of Europe in the mid-1970s, Spain's domestic wine industry became an important asset for the country's export strategy. As Spain joined the European Community in 1986, the country's wine regions and appellation system were formalized and harmonized with the French and Italian systems.
Spain's mix of old wine traditions with a relatively low profile on the international scale has given the country's vintners a chance to combine old and new. Since the 1980s, New World wine-making techniques have been adapted to Spain's climate and indigenous grapes to provide high volume production and highly-acclaimed wines.
edit Geography
Spain shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal. It's one of the southernmost countries in Europe, with a hot, dry and sunny Southern coast on the Mediterranean Sea and a cooler, greener Northern one on the Atlantic Ocean. Almost 90% of Spain's external borders are with the sea.
The Spanish mainland centers on a large plateau, the Meseta Central, with an elevation of about 600-750m. Mountain ranges ring the Meseta to the north, south, and east, with peaks from 1300-2600m. Coastal lowlands extend from the mountain's foothills to the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
Politically the country is composed of several provinces and autonomous regions -- many with deeply-held ethnic, cultural and linguistic autonomy.
edit Climate
Peninsular Spain has three main climactic regions. The north Atlantic coast has a moist, temparate climate, giving the region the nickname España Verde or Green Spain. Typical rainfall is about 120cm per year. Summers are warm but not hot, with high temperatures to about 25C. Lows in the winter are mild but do get down to freezing.
The Mediterranean, conversely, has significantly lower and less reliable rainfall, and warmer temperatures in both winter and summer. Winters along the Mediterranean have highs from 10-15C, and highs in the summer average 30-35C.
A central region, less influenced by either body of water, has typical rainfall of 50cm, with rainy seasons in both spring and autumn. Winters at the higher altitudes are much colder, with average temperatures below freezing, and highs in the summer are moderate, between 20C and 25C.
edit Viticulture
Wine is produced throughout Spain, but as in the rest of the world the most productive regions are in inland valleys with nearby salt water to regulate temperature.
Spain's wine industry is rooted in the country's long-time small-scale wine production traditions. However, the changes wrought by the country's reinvention of itself as a wine exporter have enabled a corresponding revolution in wine production techniques. Less bound by appellation restrictions than producers in France or Italy, Spanish growers and vintners have adopted many of the high-volume, more controllable wine techniques used in Australia, California and other New World countries.
Spain's long-isolated wine tradition has resulted in cultivation of many idiosyncratic grapes unused elsewhere. Most notable is the Tempranillo, which develops the full-bodied wines of the Rioja. Other major wine grapes include the Grenache (called Garnacha), Graciano, and Carignane. The "international" grapes, like Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, and under increasing cultivation in Spain as producers compete more and more for the international high-volume wine market.
Spanish wine was once aged primarily in Spanish oak. Today, a combination of American or French oak as well as stainless-steel vats is more common.
edit Appellation system
- Denominación de Origen or DO: official classification for wines of controlled origin which follow strict production standards.
- Vino de Calidad Producido en Región Determinada or VCPRD: another official appellation system following new standards established by the European Union.
- Denominación de Pago ou DO de Pago: a recent classification aspiring to the very highest standards with extremely strict geographical criteria.
- Denominación de Origen Calificada or DOCa (Catalan: Denominació d'Origen Qualificada or DOQ): another system which reflects a constant level of quality. Only used by a few appellations.
- Vino de la Tierra or VdlT: table wines of a designated origin.
edit See also
- Wines From Spain - official wine site of the The Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade
- Spanish wine on Wikipedia
