Spanish Wines

Spanish wine in numbers

by  |  03-02-2023

When writing about why the wines of Spain have lacked fame, I made mention that for 2021, Spain produced the second-largest amount of wine in the world of any country. Again, this begs the question... more »

Why no fame for the wines of Spain?

by  |  18-01-2023 ~ 14 Comments

A few months ago, a wine educator in Texas wrote to me asking who is "influential" in Spanish wine along the lines of writers and educators. Liking a challenge, I started to write up a... more »

Understanding DO Almansa through Piqueras

by  |  16-01-2023

I’m a rather big fan of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver as, amongst many repeating bits within the LWT canon, there are the forceful geography lessons. He’ll start talking about Bolivia with Uruguay highlighted... more »
Photo from Bodegas Montecillo.

A deeper look at Bodegas Montecillo

by  |  14-12-2022

In what now seems like a century ago, I made a lengthy research visit to Rioja in November of last year. My goals were various, but the main one was to taste Garnacha wines in... more »

The tale of two Reservas: Rioja vs. Ribera del Duero

by  |  23-11-2022

Such an article could have easily been titled, “I drank these two supermarket Tempranillos so you didn’t have to” but in all fairness maybe one or the other of these two wines is actually very... more »
Photo by DOP Cebreros

DOP Cebreros hits a noteworthy milestone

by  |  28-10-2022

Most regions in Spain celebrate the end of the harvest with a deep exhalation and a press release celebrating the quality level (always Very Good or Excellent). There is also usually a smaller note about... more »

Sherry gets its newness made official

by  |  24-10-2022

There exists something of a "reg lag" when it comes to changes to European wine region laws. Folks in the wine community will often hear quite big changes announced and it seems that all is... more »

Two very, very different Valdemars

by  |  17-10-2022

Indeed, they’re not truly on opposite ends of the world. Oion in the Rioja region of Spain, and Walla Walla in the state of Washington in the United States are but a “mere” 8,500km from... more »

Coffee and vines and everything changing

by  |  13-10-2022

For those who’ve not been, Galicia is hand’s down, the wettest region in all of Spain. They have average rainfall running from 800mm in the driest areas all the way up to 2,200mm for those... more »

A new Rioja Viñedo Singular… that’s sparkling?

by  |  14-09-2022

Bodegas Valdemar in the village of Oyón in Rioja, Spain have released, “Finca Alto Cantabria Gran Añada” which is the first sparkling wine in the region to be produced with the new single-vineyard, or Viñedo... more »