{"id":4082,"date":"2020-04-10T17:29:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T15:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/?p=4082"},"modified":"2020-04-15T16:54:06","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T14:54:06","slug":"a-toast-to-spanish-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/a-toast-to-spanish-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"A toast to Spanish wine"},"content":{"rendered":"
A country like Spain, due to its size, geography and diverse climate, produces a wide variety of wines; it has 90 designations of origin, only a few of which are known to the international consumer. Spain is the country with the most land devoted to vineyards in the world: in 2019, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, a total of 952,829 hectares. It produces a quarter of all European wine, which in turn accounts for three out of every four bottles consumed in the world. The total turnover of the approximately 4,000 Spanish wineries \u201375% of which export abroad\u2013 amounts to over 7 billion euros and the sector contributes around 1% of GDP. Indeed, after Italy and France, it is the world\u2019s third largest producer of wine and the leading exporter by volume, mainly of bulk wines without a protected designation of origin or geographical indication (PDO\/PGI). This type of wine accounts for more than half of the total production and approximately the same percentage of exports, of which only 30% to 40% are quality wines. Of the latter, Rioja and Cava are the most popular, and even more so, Cari\u00f1enas, Utiel-Requena, Almansa, Valdepe\u00f1as and Jerez are the most popular abroad by volume. The United Kingdom and Germany are the main consumers of Spanish wine, and outside the European Union, Mexico, the United States, China and Canada.<\/p>\n
Spain produces a wide variety of wines\u00a0and has 90 protected designations of origin<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In Spain, some 120 native grape varieties are grown, some of which are associated with very specific areas or regions. On the Atlantic and Cantabrian coasts \u2013what is known as \u2018green Spain\u2019\u2013 varieties adapted to the moist climate are grown, giving rise to the Galician Albari\u00f1os or the Basque Txakol\u00eds. In the vast central area of the country, with its dry continental climate, the varieties Garnacha and Tempranillo (above all) are used to produce outstanding reds such as the Castile and Le\u00f3n wines of Ribera del Duero, La Rioja, or the wines of El Bierzo, in Le\u00f3n, produced with the red Menc\u00eda grape and the white Godello grape. The designations of origin Toro, Rueda or Cigales are also from the Castile and Le\u00f3n region. Catalonia produces 90% of Spanish cava \u2013a sparkling wine with DO produced since the 19th century according to the French Champenoise method\u2013 mainly in the regions of Pened\u00e9s, Costers del Segre and Alella, with the native varieties Parellada and Xarel\u00b7lo, although it is also produced in some areas of La Rioja, Extremadura or Navarra. In addition to cava, which is its most exported wine, Catalonia has more than half a dozen other designations of origin, including Priorat and Monsant.<\/p>\n
Andalusia is the cradle of the most famous Spanish wines in the world: Jerez or Sherry (from the Arabic Sherish). They all share the same common denominator: they are produced in the province of Cadiz, with the Palomino grape variety (or Pedro Xim\u00e9nez in the case of sweet wines) and in the territory of the nine municipalities known as \u2018el Marco de Jerez\u2019: Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa Mar\u00eda, Sanl\u00facar de Barrameda, Chiclana de la Frontera, Chipiona, Puerto Real, Rota, Trebujena and Lebrija, the latter belonging to the province of Seville. Different types of wines come from different winemaking processes: biological ageing or \u2018velo de flor\u2019 (yeasts that prevent oxidation), or oxidative (natural ageing in American oak barrels or \u2018botas\u2019), sugar content (based on which, they are classified from dry to sweet), and final alcohol content after the process of adding wine spirits, called \u2018fortification\u2019.<\/p>\n