Wine General Discussion

🌍🍷This week, our spotlight on Spain takes us to the Duero River Valley, a historic part of Spain known for its powerful reds and refreshing whites, flourishing in this vast land of extremes.

📖 Duero River Valley key facts:

• The Duero River travels approximately 740 km from the Sistema Ibérico, forms part of the border between Spain and Portugal, and empties into the Atlantic at Oporto. The wine region shares territory with the administrative area of Castilla y León.

• Covering a vast area in the north of Spain, the Duero River Valley is made up of a high-altitude plateau (the northern part of the meseta) with mountains flanking the north and south

• This results in a clear continental climate with diurnal temperature swings of up to 40°C. It also means overall higher altitudes: 650 to 1000m across its regions, a slower ripening rate and firm acidity in the grapes

Spotlight on Spain:  Andalucía

We’re excited to continue the 🌍🍷 “Wines of the World Series” with a spotlight on Spain, exploring its key regions and varieties with resources from Foods and Wines from Spain. Today, we are focusing on the ancient regions of southwestern Spain, home to famed fortified wines and some other surprising discoveries: Andalucía.

📖Andalucía key facts:

• This part of Spain has been planted to vineyards for nearly 3,000 years, with the exception of the Moorish domination period (711–1492), when winemaking was discouraged.

• The Mediterranean climate with some Atlantic influences, mild average temperatures, long sunshine hours, and minimal frost creates rather optimal conditions for winegrowing. 

•  Over 70% of vineyards fall under one of its six Denominaciones de Origen: DO Condado de Huelva, DO Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, DO Málaga, DO Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda, DO Montilla-Moriles, and DO  Sierras de Málaga

In our ongoing 🌍🍷 “Wines of the World Series”, Spanish edition, we continue our wine journey through this fascinating country, and today is the turn of the second part of our A-Z grape guide of the main varieties from Spain, along with their tasting profile and key regions.

Monastrell

A seriously ancient grape, it is thought to have originated in medieval Morvedre (today’s Sagunto, Valencia), but is known as well in France as Mourvedre and in the US and Australia as Mataró. Shaking off its more recent reputation of a high volume variety destined for bulk wines, it is coming into its own in several appellations of southeastern Spain, yielding wines rich in colour and flavour. Flavours range from meaty smoky notes to fresh plum and pepper, especially when planted at higher altitudes. 

🌍Key regions: Alicante, Almansa, Bullas, Jumilla and Yecla

Moscatel

A catch-all Spanish translation for Muscat. Moscatel de…

We’re excited to continue the 🌍🍷 “Wines of the World Series” with a spotlight on Spain. Today, we are exploring the dazzling diversity of Spanish grapes, starting with 12 grapes to know and to try in the 12 months of your wine year. Get to know this A-Z of the main varieties from Spain, along with their tasting profile and key regions, in our two-part grape guide.

Albariño

Hailing from the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula, this lively white grape has established itself as one of Spain’s most notable ambassadors. Crisp and aromatic, it’s often floral and citrusy, and is known as Alvarinho in northeastern Portugal

🌍Key regions: DO Rías Baixas (Galicia)

🔎Did you know? Thanks to its acidity and freshness, as of 2019 Albariño became on the permitted grape varieties to be used in basic white blends in Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur.

Bobal