Spanish Wine Education

If you have hung around Woodhaven Ramblings for any length of time, you know that Rob and I are wine fans. We drink wine, we make wine, we talk about wine, we travel for wine. We realized long ago that the more we learn about wine, the less we really know about it. Nevertheless, we keep trying to crack the code on la vida de vino.

Driving our desire to travel to Spain was to learn about its wine. We didn’t know much about it before we got here. Now that we’ve spent about a week touring the northern wine-making regions, we know a bit more. We hung out in two main areas: the Ribera del Duero and Rioja. Here’s what we know!

• The world of Spanish wine is a LOT less complicated than, say, French wine. Or even American wine.
  
  

  

  That's Rioja behind us!

  
  
• There’s basically one grape that dominates Spanish wines. It’s a red grape, called Tempranillo. It accounts for about 40% of the grape vines planted in Spain.
  
  

  

  The vines already had little teensy grapes on them!
  Everyone was saying the harvest is going to be 
  early this year.

  
  
• Tempranillo is an early-ripening, early-harvested grape. The grape is named after the Spanish word “temprano” which means “early.”
  
  

  

  Rob checking out the tiny clusters.

  
  
• Since there’s really only one grape in Spain, the winemakers pay a LOT of attention to things like soil and fermentation vessels and aging techniques. They experiment and play with these factors to try to distinguish their wines. They also care a lot about the differences between tiny plots of vines, determined to suss out which plots yield which wine characteristics.
  
  
• The main soil types in the areas we visited are clay, limestone, and sand.
  
  
• Spanish winemakers ferment and age their wines in a variety of materials including stainless steel, cement, oak, and clay.
  
  

  

  Sadly, these cement eggs do not come in
  home-winemaker sizes. I desperately
  want a mini one to name Mork.

  
  

  

  We have stainless steel tanks in the US, but these
  look more European for some reason. Or like a
  blender base. Very kitcheny. Speaking of which,
  I still don't have one. A kitchen I mean.

  
  
• There are 96 designated wine regions in Spain (called DOCs). They all have pretty strict rules. Like France, Spain controls how much grapes farmers can harvest per hectare (in weight) in order to concentrate the quality. The typical restriction is about 7,000 kilograms per hectare which translates to about 3 tons of grapes per acre (shout out to Rob and his mad calculator skillz!). Basically, they are focusing on quality over quantity.
  
  
• The designations of Crianza, Reserve, and Grand Reserve for Spanish Tempranillos do not necessarily indicate quality. Instead, they only tell you how long the wine was aged before being bottled. A Crianza is aged for less than 2 years; a Reserve is aged for 3-5 years; and a Grand Reserve is aged for more than 5 years.
  
  

  

  It smelled wonderful in this barrel room!

  
  
• The Tempranillos Rob and I have had made from grapes grown in the United States (or South America) are not nearly as good as the Spanish versions. Now that we can compare, American Tempranillos tend to be lighter, chalkier, and more tannic. Spanish Tempranillos are all about red fruits (strawberry, raspberry, cherry) but can also have the weight and dark fruitiness of a Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. Nevertheless, Spanish Tempranillos are a great BBQ or pork or fancy pizza wine -- lighter than a Merlot, heavier than a Pinot Noir.
  
  
• Spanish Tempranillos tend to have a subtle undertone in their nose (smell) of Magic Marker or a light, sweet chemical smell. This isn’t a bad thing. It’s just a really cool discovery that will help us identify Spanish Tempranillos in the future!
  
  

  

  This photo doesn't really have anything
  to do with Magic Markers. I just love
  the photo and the memory of us being
  in a wine cave standing next to an
  enormous barrel that was well over
  100 years old.

  
  
• There ARE some other grape varieties in Spain. Most of the red ones are used to blend with the Tempranillo. Main red blending grapes are Garnacha (Grenache), Graciano, and Mazuelo (Carignan).
  
  
• The main white wines we tried were Verdejo (as the name suggests, this wine had grassy notes) and Albillo (my notes included descriptors of pickle, barnyard, and litter box. Yeah, not a fan). I also tried a few rosés made from Tempranillo. I wasn’t a fan of those either. They were more farmy and less fruity and floral than my preferred rosés made from French Rhône varietals.
  
  

  

  Super cool winery architecture! And our most
  fabulous guide -- and now friend -- Itzi!

  
  

Cheers to traveling for educational purposes!