Wine General Discussion

📖 Our  spotlight on Spain continues with the journey down the Mediterranean coast that covers a wealth of terrains and varieties.

Mediterranean Coast key facts:

• Spain’s Mediterranean Coast runs from Catalonia’s border with France, down through Valencia to Murcia.

• As to be expected in Mediterranean areas, summers are warm and dry and winters mild. Elevation and distance shape the terroir and blends, from coastal Alella to mountainous Priorat. Heading south into the Levante, heat and water scarcity intensify, and quality regions tend to depend on altitude and cool nights.

• Red grapes lead the way: Garnacha and Cariñena (Samsó) in Catalonia, Monastrell further south, and Bobal in Utiel-Requena. The key whites are Xarel·lo, Macabeo, Parellada and Garnacha Blanca, with Moscatel in Valencia and Alicante. International varieties appear mostly in higher, more sheltered sites.

🌍🍷 The next chapter of our ongoing “Wines of the World Series”, Spanish edition, takes us to the islands: the Canaries off in the Atlantic and the Balearics right in the middle of the Mediterranean. 

📖 Spanish Islands key facts:

• The Balearics form two groups: the Gymnesian Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Cabrera) and the Pityusic Islands (Ibiza, Formentera and smaller islets). They are mostly flat, apart from Mallorca, and shaped by the northerly Tramontana wind and the Embat sea breeze, with the red call vermell signature soils.

• Both Balearic DOs are on Mallorca: DO Binissalem and DO Pla i Llevant. Around them sit six Vi de la Terra (PGI) categories: Illes Balears, Mallorca, Serra de Tramuntana, Illa de Menorca, Eivissa (Ibiza) and Formentera. Native grapes include Manto Negro, Callet and Prensal Blanc, plus the rarer Fogoneu, Gorgollassa and Giró Ros.

• The Canaries are subtropical, cooled by Atlantic trade winds and still volcanically…

🌍🍷We are resuming our spotlight on Spain ahead of the upcoming Spanish Wine Scholar course in late November! This week, it’s time to explore Green Spain, where the Atlantic-shaped cooler climes are home to some of the Spain’s star white grapes.

📖 Green Spain key facts:

• ‘Green Spain’ stretches from the Atlantic coastline in NW Spain to the western Pyrenees, comprising four of Spain’s autonomous regions: Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque country.

• This cooler and wetter part of the Iberian Peninsula is best suited for early-ripening grape varieties, yielding exciting styles, from the vibrant, aromatic whites made with Albariño, Godello, Treixadura or Hondarribi Zuri to lighter, extremely elegant reds, made with Mencía and other indigenous, mostly Galician, grapes.

• Its key DOs are DO Rías Baixas, DO Ribeiro, DO Ribeira Sacra and DO Valdeorras (all in Galicia), and the three Txakoli-focused appellations in the Basque Country: DO Bizkaiko Txakolina, DO Getariako…

Following the summer break, we are back with the 🍷🌍 Wines of the World Series and our spotlight on Spain. Ahead of the 🎓 WSG Spanish Wine Scholar course scheduled for November 20-24, we'll bring topics and content to help you explore Spain's diverse regions and wines and prepare for the course if you intend to attend.

Some topics were already posted earlier in the year, so we're resuming the series to complete the spotlight. 📖 You can catch up on all the previous topics in this group. Here's a quick summary:

• Wines of Spain Overview

• Key Grape Varieties (Part I)

• Key Grape Varieties (Part II)

• Andalucia