Spain Study Guide
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24/8/2015 Guildsomm Study Guides Spain Study Guide Table of Contents 1. Spain 2. North-Central Spain 3. Green Spain: Galicia and Basque Country 4. Castilla y León 5. Catalonia (Catalunya) 6. Southern Spain 7. Review Questions Spain The Phoenicians, one of the first great maritime trading cultures, founded the city of Gadir (modern Cádiz) on the coast of southern Spain around 1100 BCE and established the value of viticulture and wine as a commodity in Andalucía. http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/study/w/studywiki/165.spainstudyguide 1/19 24/8/2015 Guildsomm The wine trade of the eastern Mediterranean owes a significant debt to Phoenician ships: the grapes they carried from the Middle East to North Africa, the Mediterranean islands and the Iberian peninsula represent the genetic ancestors of some of the modern varieties of Spain. However, the Phoenicians did not introduce viticulture in Spain, as primitive grape cultivation reaches thousands of years back in time, and wild grapes preceded mankind in the region. Winemaking continued under the Romans, who improved on the fragile, large amphorae in use, but it remained a secondary pursuit under the conquering Moors, whose religion forbade the consumption of alcohol. Despite the indifference of the Moors—the sale of wine was illegal, but often tolerated—Spanish wine became renowned for its strength, and found its way as a blending component into wines from France and Italy. In 1492, Christopher Columbus and the Spanish explorers opened up a new world for Spanish trade. Wine benefitted greatly from these related occurrences: with the law’s renewed approval, Spanish wine went forth with Spanish ships to supply the nation’s new colonies, and the inherently heavy wines were often made in a deliberately rancio style, or they nonetheless arrived in the West Indies that way. Sherry wines, possibly the first vinous export to North America, became increasingly popular with the English market from the end of the 15th century onward, despite a deteriorating relationship between the two nations that culminated in the English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/study/w/studywiki/165.spainstudyguide 2/19 24/8/2015 Guildsomm The Spanish colonies presented a captive audience for Spanish wines; 17th century Spanish law barred the colonies from producing their own—a move that would impede the nascent New World wine industries and protect Spanish exports like Málaga and Sherry. However, few of Spain’s table wines were of great quality, and Spain was falling behind the rest of Europe in the development of new viticultural techniques. When oidium and phylloxera struck France in the 1850s and 1860s, an abrupt change occurred, particularly in Rioja, where a sudden influx of French winemakers and merchants sought to bridge the interruption of their own disease-ridden vineyards with Spanish wine. During this period the Bordeaux-trained Marqués de Riscal and Marqués de Murrieta returned to Rioja with grape varieties and lessons from the Médoc, including barrique aging (called barricas in Spain) and estate bottling (performed at their newly constructed bodegas). However, a significant alteration to the Bordeaux technique of barrique aging was implemented in Rioja: the Spaniards used American oak (Quercus alba) rather than French—an economic decision based on Spain’s history of transatlantic colonial trade. Many of today’s great traditionalist Rioja wineries got their start in the latter half of the 19th century: López de Heredia, CVNE, La Rioja Alta, and Berceo. The second half of the 19th century also saw the birth of Spanish traditional method sparkling wine —champaña, now known as Cava—at San Sadurní d’Anoia. The ravages of phylloxera and fungal diseases did not spare Spain, and the root louse arrived in Rioja near the dawn of the 20th century. Nonetheless, Spain focused on quality, and Consejos Reguladores were established for the major regions of Rioja, Jerez, and Málaga in the 1930s. Following a bloody civil war, fascism took hold in Spain under Francisco Franco in the late 1930s, and Spain remained the only major fascist country in Western Europe after World War II—a dark period for wine that would last until the dictator’s death in 1975. The suppression of economic freedom under Franco hindered winemakers, although several advances were made. Miguel Torres brought stainless steel and temperature-controlled fermentations to Catalonia in the 1960s, and the Denominación de Origen regulations were finally approved in 1970. Spain responded to its new freedom after Franco with a simultaneous celebration and diversification of its unique regional cultures. Many Spanish winegrowing regions were reborn in the latter decades of the 20th century, as enthusiastic young vignerons sought to showcase their Spanish identity through modern technique, looking both forward and backward for inspiration. Today, Spain is a diverse mix of experimental, modern, and traditional winemaking technique, and the country’s wine laws are some of the most adaptable in Europe. In Spain, Denominación de Origen (DO) and the superior Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa) represent the two highest tiers of quality wine, equivalent to the EU’s Protected Designation of Origin (DOP) status. Vinos de Calidad con Indicación Geográfica (VCIG), once considered a steppingstone to DO, is also considered DOP in the new European appellation scheme. The lowest level of quality wine, Vino de la Tierra (VdlT), falls within the EU’s Protected Geographical Indication (IGP) scheme. The DO Pago (Vinos de Pago) estates represent a theoretically superior appellation to the basic DO. An estate within an existing DO must surpass the basic DO requirements in DO Pago legislation, typically through lowered yields and other measures suggestive of quality winemaking. In order to apply for DO Pago status, an estate should show international critical praise and a decade's worth of quality production, although some young Pagos have sped through official http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/study/w/studywiki/165.spainstudyguide 3/19 24/8/2015 Guildsomm channels with astonishing speed. Interest in Pagos is notably absent in Spain's top quality appellations, such as Rioja and Ribera del Duero, where producers have nothing to gain from distancing themselves from a well-known brand. Spanish DO wines are generally eligible for a series of aging designations, provided the below requirements are met. Despite a suggestion of quality, these terms are rapidly disappearing from labels in a new, forward-looking Spain that perceives terms like crianza and reserva as old- fashioned. With the exception of a few major regions (Rioja, Ribera del Duero) that have adapted more stringent requirements, the following label definitions are consistent throughout Spain. Age Category Red Wine White/Rosado Wine 2 years (including 6 months in 18 months (including 6 months in Crianza cask) cask) Reserva 3 years (including 1 year in cask) 2 years (including 6 months in cask) 5 years (including 18 months in Gran Reserva 4 years (including 6 months in cask) cask) Additionally, any DOP wines may use the following aging terminology: Noble: 18 months aging in a cask of less than 600 L or bottle Añejo: 24 months aging in a cask of less than 600 L or bottle Viejo: 36 months aging, demonstrates marked oxidative character BACK TO TOP North Central Spain North-Central Spain essentially comprises the three autonomías of Navarra, La Rioja, and Aragón. Sheltered by the Pyrenees Mountains to the northeast, which divide France and Spain, and the Cantabrian Mountains to the northwest, the region’s highlands are in a rain shadow, and summer temperatures rise further inland. The Ebro River emerges from the western Cantabrian Mountains, and flows on a southeasterly course toward the Mediterranean, passing though the historic Rioja DOCa, Spain’s premier red wine region. Rioja, named not after the Ebro but for the Oja, a smaller tributary, was the first region in Spain to be christened as Denominación de Origen Calificada—in http://www.guildsomm.com/TC/learn/study/w/studywiki/165.spainstudyguide 4/19 24/8/2015 Guildsomm 1991—and has been a viable wine-producing area for over 2000 years. Here, as in the other many of the other major winegrowing regions of Europe, Christian monks guided viticulture in the Middle Ages. The 13th century Benedictine clergyman Gonzalo de Berceo, whose name is commemorated in Berceo’s reserva and gran reserva bottlings, extolled the virtues of Rioja wine in verse. Although he penned his theological works in Latin, he preferred to write his poetry in the “vulgar vernacular” of Spanish, hoping to reach the less educated peasantry. His short verses represent the first Spanish poetry committed to paper, more than a century after the king’s legal recognition of Rioja in 1102. Further decrees protecting the wines’ regional identity were issued by the 17th century, and in the 19th century the style of Rioja wines shifted, subject to French influence. Aging in American oak barrels became a standard, and the red wines started to resemble what is now considered the classic style: soft, with muted red fruit, firm acidity and the unmistakable oak aromas of dill, vanilla and cedar. Today, however, a new spectrum of styles emerges from Rioja, as many producers are emphasizing French oak, more extraction, and riper, darker fruit. A similar dichotomy exists in the region’s white wines: some are produced in a clean, fruity, modern style, whereas others are wood-toned, oxidative and textural. Occasionally, Rioja white wines may be off-dry. Tempranillo is the main grape of red Rioja; its traditional blending partners are Mazuelo (Carignan), Graciano, and Garnacha. Together, these four grapes (along with Maturana Tinta, authorized for Rioja in 2007) must comprise a minimum 85% of the red Rioja blend, or 95% if destemmed.