{"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

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Many of the Spanish designations of origin are still relatively unknown, due to their small size (59 of the existing 90) despite the quality of their wines, such as Lanzarote (Canary Islands), Menorca (Balearic Islands), Arlanza or Arribes (Castilla Le\u00f3n), Ribera del Guadiana (Extremadura) or Somontano (Arag\u00f3n). \/ PHOTO_ALEJANDRO ESPINOSA (FLICKR)<\/p><\/div>\n

DENOMINATIONS OF ORIGIN OF WINES FROM SPAIN<\/span><\/h4>\n\t\t\t
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WINE TOURISM: MORE THAN WINE<\/span><\/h4>\n\t\t\t
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In a country like Spain, the second largest tourist destination in the world which in 2019 once again broke its own record by receiving 83.7 million visitors, there is no shortage of wine tourism. According to the Spanish Association of Wine Cities (ACEVIN), in 2019 this sector generated 80 million euros and attracted three million visitors, a quarter of which were international. Spain has 30 \u2018wine routes\u2019 to become acquainted with the different designations of origin.<\/p>\n

The major wineries are the wine tourism destinations par excellence. With more than half a million visits in 2019, those from Jerez top the list: T\u00edo Pepe, from Gonz\u00e1lez Byass; Osborne, in El Puerto de Santa Mar\u00eda or the Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana, in Sanl\u00facar de Barrameda, to name but a few. After that, it is cava that arouses the most interest among wine tourists. In Catalonia, some of the most outstanding wineries are: Cordorniu, in San Sadurn\u00ed d\u2019Anoia (Barcelona), founded in 1551, the oldest winery in Spain; or the Castillo Perelada winery, with its spectacular monumental complex.<\/p>\n

Of the Rioja D.O., the most visited and internationally recognised are Vi\u00f1a Tondonia, in Haro, where the Barrio de la Estaci\u00f3n Tasting, one of the most popular wine and food events in the country, is also held every two years. Vivanco, in Briones, Ysios, in Laguardia (\u00c1lava), with its facilities designed by Santiago Calatrava, or the ultra-modern complex designed by Frank O. Gehry, for the Marqu\u00e9s de Riscal winery, in Elciego (\u00c1lava).<\/p>\n

The 12th century Santa Mar\u00eda de Retuerta Abbey in Sard\u00f3n del Duero (Valladolid) has been converted into a winery with a five-star hotel and a Michelin-starred restaurant.\u00a0 In the Ribera del Duero D.O., Bodegas Portia, in Gumiel de Iz\u00e1n (Burgos), boasts its avant-garde headquarters designed by Norman Foster.<\/p>\n

Another way of getting to know the world of Spanish wine is by attending the \u2018Radical Wines\u2019 Fair, which for the past six years has brought together winemakers from all over Spain in Madrid who strictly follow traditional methods of cultivation and production. With minimal production and often high prices, another option is \u2018garage wines\u2019 (made in very small quantities and of high quality) such as those from the Dominio de Pingus winery, in Quintanilla de On\u00e9simo, Valladolid, which produces some of the most exclusive and award-winning wines in the country.<\/p>\n

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SHERRY\u2019S GLOBAL FAME<\/span><\/h4>\n\t\t\t
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Sherry wines have been renowned and exported since ancient times, although their industrial boom and current ageing methods were established in the 19th century. Today, they continue to receive countless awards. Some of the most recent awards include \u2018world\u2019s best wine\u2019 at the International Wine Challenge 2019, which was presented to T\u00edo Pepe Cuatro Palmas, 53. This is a very old amontillado one of the main varieties, together with the fino, a dry white wine aged biologically for at least two years in American oak; the oloroso, which \u2018heads\u2019 up to 17\u00ba and goes on to oxidative ageing directly; the manzanilla, a fino made in Sanl\u00facar de Barrameda; and the palo cortado, an initially fine wine, with a high alcohol content and very long ageing process. Its name comes from the chalk mark made on the barrel at the beginning of the ageing process.<\/p>\n

Other highly valued sherries are the natural sweet wines, which are made from the Pedro Xim\u00e9nez grape variety. Outside Andalusia, this type of wine is also produced in Valencia and in the Ebro basin, with Moscatel grapes; and in Jumilla, Yecla, Alicante and Almansa, from the Monastrell variety.<\/p>\n

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Spain is the country with the most vineyards, is the third largest producer and the leading exporter of wines by volume… And despite the worldwide fame of sherry, cava or rioja, a large part of its oenological richness, with 90 designations of origin, remains almost unknown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[598],"tags":[1970,1967,1968,1969],"coauthors":[51],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4082"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4122,"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082\/revisions\/4122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4082"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}