Spanish Wine Information: Overview, History & Red Wines from Spain

Find Spanish wine information including an overview of the world's third largest wine producing country and its history. Also, learn more about Spanish red wines including both native and international varieties grown throughout the country.

Overview | History | Red Wine of Spain | Quality Levels

Spanish Wines Overview & Aging Criteria

Spain is third in production behind France and Italy. While France and Italy trade off for the number one and two spots, Spain remains a constant at number three.

The interesting thing about Spain is that it has more hectares (or acres) of wine planted than any other country in the world. Due to the drier climate, the producers plant the vines further apart than other regions so each plant has enough nutrients to flourish. This is the reason it has the most hectares (or acres) planted, but remains at number three for production.

Starting in 1996, Spanish wine makers could irrigate, but need special permission from the government. Again, this is due to the dry weather in most of the country. Irrigating is one of the reasons Spanish wine quality increased during the last few decades.

Spain is one of the few countries in the world that still believes in releasing wines only when they are ready to drink. Each Spanish wine region has slightly different regulations around aging the wines, but they all follow some similar high-level guidelines. On the back of Spanish wines is a label with information on its aging history. Usually the longer the wine ages, the quality increases and so does the price. Here are some of the basics to know when buying Spanish wines:

• Young, Joven or Generic Labeled Wines: These wines are usually aged for around six to twelve months. However, it is also sometimes a catchall category for wines not meeting standards in the categories listed below.


• Crianza: These wines must age a minimum of twelve months, usually in oak barrels. After this time, producers bottle and sell them.


• Reserva: These wines must age a minimum of 36 months. At least part of the aging needs to be in oak barrels and part in the bottle before the producer can sell them.


• Gran Reserva: These are the highest level and usually the most expensive Spanish wines. They are usually aged a minimum of at least 60 months. Some regions only make these wines during exceptional vintage years.  

Bodega is a Spanish wine information term meaning any location where a wine is bottled and distributed for commercial sale. This is a term on many Spanish wine bottles. The meaning is broad and refers to anything from a winery to a local cooperative.

Another Spanish wine information term is terreno. This describes any environmental elements that affect the quality of the wine. This includes the soil, amount of rain, amount of sunlight, temperature, etc. It is similar to the French term terrior.

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Spanish Wine Information: History

Vineyards have grown in Spain for many years. However, the first official documentation of wines is around the year 500 BC. At this time, Greeks made wine near present day Cadiz on the southern coast of Spain. Today, this region produces the famous fortified wine, Sherry.

The Romans arrived around the 3rd century BC. They turned Spanish wine production into a true business. As with other regions in this part of the world, the Romans improved wine production techniques and the overall quality of the wines.

A tragic time for wine production in Spain was from the early 700s to the late 1400s. This is when the Moors occupied much of Spain. They did not understand the value of high quality wine, so turned the wines here into table wines. For a while, they also enforced a prohibition where winemakers could not produce or sell wine.

The Moors did bring a couple of advancements to the wine industry. They invented distilling. They also created some of the highest quality fortified wines near Cadiz. Sherry is from this region today, one of the highest quality fortified wines in the world.

In 1650, wine makers in Rioja, one of the top Spanish wine regions today, developed the first wine quality regulations. The region is close to Bordeaux in France and many producers watched it closely. They understood how regulations would improve the quality of wines in the region and increase demand.

In the 1860s and 1870s, phylloxera spread throughout the French wine regions. Based on Spanish wine information the grape supply was limited in their regions, so they sourced grapes from Rioja and other Spanish wine regions.

Another important year for Spanish wines is 1872. The Spanish wine information documents show this as the year cava was first bottled. Cava is a famous sparkling wine from Spain. Throughout the 1800s, winemakers tried different techniques to create a wine out of their lower quality grapes. Winemakers created cava and it is now one of the most popular types of Spanish wine on the market today.

The Spanish civil war was from 1936 to 1938. This was another tough time for the wine industry in Spain. It took until the 1950s for the wine industry to get back into full swing again. However, by this time, the wine was really low quality and cheap.

Spanish wine producers knew they needed high quality wines in order to compete with regions such as Bordeaux and Burgundy. They began an aggressive campaign to update their equipment and winemaking techniques.

This work started to pay off in the 1970s. At this time, Spanish wine started to receive recognition again.

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Spanish Wine Information: Red Wines of Spain

There is a lot of Spanish wine information around the hundreds of grape varieties in the country. There are a number of red and white wines native to Spain. Some of them grow in small amounts in only one or two regions in the country. According to the Spanish wine information, the country also grows a number of international varieties.

Tempranillo wine is the most popular Spanish wine. When you hear people talk about wines from Spain, they are often referring to this fruity, spicy type of red wine that is native to the country. You will find it with different names in some regions such as Tinta del Pais in Ribera del Duero region, Tinto de Toro in the Toro region, Ull de Llebre in Penedes near Barcelona and Cencibel in the La Mancha region in central Spain. Some of these are local Tempranillo clones, but all have similar characteristics. Review ratings and prices on some classic Tempranillo wines from Spain.

Grenache wine (called Garnacha in Spain) is another native red grape variety. It is commonly grown and one of the most planted reds in Spain.

You will also see names of several other native reds from Spain including Moristel, Mourvedre (named Monastrell in Spain) and Mencia. Most of these grow in just one of two regions in the country.

International varieties also grow throughout Spain. The most popular are Cabernet Sauvignon wine, Merlot wine, Syrah wine and Pinot Noir wine. Many of the fine wines from Spain are from one of these international varieties.

Review ratings and prices on other Spanish red wines.

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Spanish Wine Information & Quality Levels

The three most popular wine regions in Spain are Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Priorat. All three focus on red wines. Learn more about these and other Spanish wine regions featuring red wine.

Similar to France and Italy, quality control systems are in place to regulate Spanish wines. There are a few different quality levels and systems in place. Spanish wine information for these systems is well documented.

The Designation of Origins system satisfies the European Union's Quality Wines Produced in a Specific Region (QWPSR) requirement. This system is at the same level as the AOC system in France. It regulates the growing region, the types of grapes grown, the amount of wine produced per hectare (or acre), blending rules, what is added to labels for each region and more. The rules are strict and quality control for the finished wines is high.

There are four levels of wines in this system:

• Donominacion de Pago (DO de Pago): This level is for individual, single estates with very high quality wines. The region for these wines is small and around ten estates have this qualification.

• Donominacion de Origen (DO): This is for slightly larger areas or regions. This is the most common designation and there are around 70 DOs in Spain.

• Denominacion de Origen Calificada (DOC): This is the highest quality level. Only two regions are at this quality level, Rioja and Priorat. In the Catalan language, this level has a different name, Denominacio d’Origen Qualificada or DOQ. Both names have the same meaning, but Pirorat wines typically show DOQ on their labels.

• Vino de Calidad Producido en Region Determinada (VCPRD): This category is for regions just applying for DO status. Regions only stay in this category for a short time, so the number of regions at this level changes.

The other three categories are outside of the EU QWPSR regulations. The Spanish wine information and regulations for these categories are less strict which offers more flexibility for the wine makers. However, the price paid for these wines is usually less than wines in the DO system.

The top category is Vino de La Tierra (VT or VdlT). These are simple country wines. These regions do have regulations, but just not as many as the DO system listed above. This is similar to the Vins de Pays system in France.

The next category is Vino Comarcal (VC). These are local wines with regions much larger than VT wines. The quality of Spanish red wines is lower than VT wines.

The last category is Vino de Mesa (VM or VdM). These are standard table wines. These are the least regulated and have the lowest quality. They are only required to add the color of the wine to their labels and that it is from Spain.

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