Like everything that glows with a strange energy, this series fully came into existence in the post-pandemic era, namely in 2023.
It was always meant as an article to “celebrate” the general rise in prices across Spain, but it seems that it became unfortunately prescient in seeing that much of the world has become very unaffordable to the majority of people. Thus, with a flip of the calendar, we arrive to a new edition of “La Cuesta de Enero 2026!” This year it’s a selection of 18 wines for 2025 that come in a budget-friendly format for this, the darkest moment of the year, and for those who dutifully wish not to partake in Dry January.
“La cuesta de enero” roughly translates from Spanish as “uphill January”. The reason should be obvious as most everyone is broke after the holidays in Spain given that there are essentially two gift periods of Christmas and Three Kings.
Beyond the spend and purge cycle of gift buying, it’s the start of the calendar year and all kinds of things increase in cost like heating, electricity, postal fees, trains, metros, etc.–and this despite a number of government rebates in place that had been keeping things nearly tenable but have been slowly fading out over the last year, RIP unlimited train pass… Basically, everything you actually need suddenly costs more and this is why it’s an uphill climb out of the seemingly happy pit which holiday celebrations tricked you into believing was actual life. Also, you were probably drinking too much to drown out reality and this, is reality, smacking you back into an undesired sobriety.
In past editions, there was an effort to create a list with wines under 12€ or so. That’s proven to be rather tricky and at this point, but there’s a big line up of wines from 2€ to just under 15€, this upper end being for those who want to ‘splurge’. Do note that there are the larger reports with a tremendous number of options if that is what one is looking for. Again, your Dry January kilometerage may vary and more power to you for whatever you choose.
You’ll find a larger selection at the lower price end this year due to starting the “Drink It or Sink It” series which looks at wines that are available in Spain for less than 5€ in the shop. You can follow along on either Instagram or YouTube. But you’ll not have to worry in that the budget Lambrusco did not make the cut, for reasons that tooootally escape me.
Please see the full “La Cuesta de Enero 2025” and may your uphill climb be the least inclined as it possibly can.
