I really do enjoy Spanish
wines. There are wines from high end
prices, moderate and down-right cheap for good quality wines. Not every cheap bottle is a hit, but many are
surprisingly tasty – maybe not ones to cellar for many years, but good enough
to buy several bottles to enjoy. You
don’t have to be an expert to enjoy Spanish wines – sometimes it is better not
worrying what region it came from, just does it taste good.
The oldest known region is Rioja
and the most basic grape grown is tempranillo. There are others grown, most
notably Garnarcha (known in the US and France as Grenache) along with white
varietals not grown in many other areas.
Actually, tempranillo is known by various names in Spain, as well as
Portugal. The more known varietals are
also grown, but in surprising low numbers. Spain has a lot of acres of
vineyards, but they tend to keep the volume low on the vines. This creates
better tasting wines.
There are very young wines from
Spain, that are fruity and fun and there are aged wines that are complex and
deep. I could write a whole chapter on the basics of wines from Spain, but I
want to talk about a couple of areas. The first area to speak of Rioja – a very
old, prestigious area that still has a surprising number of affordable wines. The second is Prioirat – there aren’t nearly
as many affordable wines from that area, though the wines are really good. My
personal favorite is an inexpensive wine called Onix, which is a $10 to $16
range and has always been very sturdy and deep.
Another area is a large area called
La Mancha – yes, the same as Don Quixote. Near the southern end is Valdepenas. I had a couple of aged tempranillo’s – one 5
years and one 10 years. They didn’t have
the depth of similar wines I’ve had from Rioja, although they were relatively
inexpensive ($ 12 to $22).
One
of the newer upcoming areas is north of Rioja, called Bierzo. There has not
been a long history of wineries in the area, but that helps in two ways. One,
the wines are affordable and two, experimenting is part of the fun. Many of
the wines are made from Mencia – different from Garnarcha and Tempranillo but
along the same wines. I lost the picture of my bottle a 2009
Alvarez de Toledo Mencia Roble, Bierzo, Spain.
