Spanish wine
Spanish wine includes red, white, and sparkling wines produced throughout the country. Located on the Iberian Peninsula, Spain has over planted in wine grapes, making it the most widely planted wine-producing nation, but the third largest producer of wine in the world, behind Italy and France and ahead of the United States; this is due, in part, to the very low yields and wide spacing of the old vines planted on the dry soils found in some of the Spanish wine regions. The country is second in wine exports and ninth in worldwide consumption, with Spaniards drinking, on average, per person a year. The country has an abundance of native grape varieties, with over 400 varieties planted throughout Spain, though 88 percent of the country's wine production is from only 20 grapes — including the reds Tempranillo, Bobal, Garnacha, and Monastrell; the whites Albariño, Airén, Verdejo, Palomino, and Macabeo; and the three Cava grapes Parellada, Xarel·lo, and Macabeo.
Major Spanish wine regions include the Rioja and Ribera del Duero, which are known for their Tempranillo production; Jumilla, known for its Monastrell production; Jerez de la Frontera, the home of the fortified wine Sherry; Rías Baixas in the northwest region of Galicia that is known for its white wines made from Albariño and Catalonia which includes the Cava and still wine-producing regions of the Penedès as well the Priorat region.
History
The abundance of native grape varieties fostered an early start to viticulture with evidence of grape pips dating back to the Tertiary period. Archaeologists believe that these grapes were first cultivated sometime between 4000 and 3000 BC, long before the wine-growing culture of the Phoenicians founded the trading post of Cádiz around 1100 BC. Following the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians introduced new advances to the region-including the teachings of the early viticulturist Mago. Carthage would wage a series of wars with the emerging Roman Republic that would lead to the Roman conquest of the Spanish mainland, known as Hispania.From Roman rule to the Reconquista
Under Roman rule, Spanish wine was widely exported and traded throughout the Roman empire. The two largest wine-producing regions at the time were Terraconensis in the north and Baetica in the south. During this period more Spanish wine was exported into Gaul than Italian wine, with amphorae being found in ruins of Roman settlements in Normandy, the Loire Valley, Brittany, Provence and Bordeaux. Spanish wine was also provided to Roman soldiers guarding border settlements in Britain and the Limes Germanicus in Germania. The quality of Spanish wine during Roman times was varied, with Pliny the Elder and Martial noting the high quality associated with some wines from Terraconensis while Ovid notes that one popular Spanish wine sold in Rome, known as Saguntum, was merely good for getting your mistress drunk..Following the decline of the Roman Empire, Spain was invaded by various barbaric tribes-including the Suebi and the Visigoths. Little is known about the progress of viticulture and winemaking during this period but there is evidence that some viable form of the wine industry was present when the Moors conquered the land during the early 8th century AD. While the Moors were Muslim and subjected to Islamic dietary laws that forbid the use of alcohol, the Moorish rulers held an ambiguous stance on wine and winemaking during their rule. Several caliphs and emirs owned vineyards and drank wine. While there were laws written that outlawed the sale of wine, it was included on lists of items that were subject to taxation in Moorish territories. The Spanish Reconquista reopened the possibility of exporting Spanish wine. Bilbao emerged as a large trading port; introducing Spanish wines to the English wine markets in Bristol, London and Southampton. The quality of some of these exported Spanish wines appears to have been high. In 1364, the court of Edward III established the maximum price of wine sold in England with the Spanish wines being priced at the same level as wines from Gascony and higher than those from La Rochelle. The full-bodied and high alcohol in most Spanish wines made them favoured blending partners for the "weaker" wines from the cooler climate regions of France and Germany though there were laws that explicitly outlawed this practice.
Colonization of the New World
Following the completion of the Spanish Reconquista in 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World under the sponsorship of the Spanish crown. This opened up a new export market as well as a new opportunity for wine production. Spanish missionaries and conquistadors brought European grape vines with them as they colonized the new lands. During this period Spanish exports to England began to wane as Spanish-English relations steadily deteriorated following the divorce of Henry VIII of England from his Spanish wife Catherine of Aragon. English merchants from the Sherry producing regions of Jerez and Sanlúcar de Barrameda as well as Málaga fled the area due to the fear of persecution by the Spanish Inquisition.The defeat of the Spanish Armada in the Anglo-Spanish War greatly reduced the strength of the Spanish navy and contributed to the country's debt incurred during the reign of Philip II. Spain became more dependent on the income from its Spanish colonies, including the exportation of Spanish wine to the Americas. The emergence of growing wine industries in Mexico, Peru, Chile and Argentina was a threat to this income, with Philip III and succeeding monarchs issuing decrees and declarations ordering the uprooting of New World vineyards and halting the production of wine by the colonies. In some countries, like Chile, these orders were largely ignored; but in others, like Argentina, they served to stunt growth and development until independence was gained from Spanish rule.
From phylloxera to modern day
The 17th and 18th centuries saw periods of popularity for various Spanish wines, namely Sherry, Malaga and Rioja. However, the Spanish wine industry was falling behind those of other European countries who were embracing the developments of the early Industrial Age. A major turning point occurred in the mid-19th century when the phylloxera epidemic ravaged European vineyards – most notably those of France. With the sudden shortage of French wine, many countries turned to Spain, with French winemakers crossing the Pyrenees to Rioja, Navarre and Catalonia, bringing with them their expertise and winemaking methods. One of these developments was the introduction of the oak barrica. Phylloxera eventually reached Spain, devastating regions like Malaga in 1878 and reaching Rioja in 1901. Its slow progress was due in part to the wide tracts of land, including the Meseta Central, that separated the major Spanish wine regions from each other. By the time the Spanish wine industry felt the full force of phylloxera, the remedy of grafting American rootstock to the European vines had already been discovered and widely utilized.The end of the 19th century also saw the emergence of Spain's sparkling wine industry with the development of Cava in Catalonia. As the 20th century progressed, the production of Cava would rival the Champagne region in worldwide production. Civil and political upheaval would mark most of the 20th century, including a military dictatorship under General Miguel Primo de Rivera. One of the measures instituted by Primo de Rivera was the early groundwork of the Denominación de Origen appellation system first developed in Rioja in 1926. The Spanish Civil War saw vineyards neglected and wineries destroyed throughout Spain with regions like Catalonia and Valencia being particularly hard hit. The Second World War closed off European markets to Spanish exports and further damaged the Spanish economy.
It wasn't till the 1950s that domestic stability helped to usher in a period of revival for the Spanish wine industry. Several large co-operative wineries were founded during this period and an international market was created for generic bulk wines that were sold under names like Spanish sauternes and Spanish chablis. In the 1960s, Sherry was rediscovered by the international wine market and soon Rioja wine was in demand. The death of Francisco Franco in 1975 and the Spanish transition to democracy allowed more economic freedom for winemakers and created an emerging market with the growing middle class of Spain. The late 1970s and 1980s saw periods of modernization and a renewed emphasis on quality wine production. The 1986 acceptance of Spain into the European Union brought economic aid to the rural wine industries of Galicia and La Mancha. The 1990s saw the influence of flying winemakers from abroad and broader acceptance of the use of international grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. In 1996, the restrictions on irrigation were lifted which gave winemakers greater control over yields and what areas could be planted. Soon the quality and production volume of premium wines began to overtake the presence of generic Spanish bulk wines on the market and Spain's reputation entering the 21st century was that of a serious wine-producing country that could compete with other producers in the world wine market.
Geography and climate
One of the dominant geographical influences of Spanish viticulture is the vast plateau known as the Meseta Central that covers much of central Spain. Several of Spain's principal rivers that are at the heart of many Spanish wine regions flow to the sea from that central area. These include the eastward flowing Ebro river that runs through the Rioja and several Catalan wine regions; the Duero which flows westward through the Ribera del Duero region in Spain before crossing the border into Portugal's Douro Valley which is at the heart of Port wine production; the Tajo which runs through the La Mancha region; Guadalquivir which flows into the Atlantic at the Sherry producing village of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. In addition to the Meseta Central, several mountain ranges are known as cordilleras serve to isolate and influence the climate of several Spanish wine regions. These include the Cantabrian Mountains that spur westward from the Pyrenees and protect regions like the Rioja from the rain and the cool of westerlies coming from the Bay of Biscay. The Cantabrian Mountains act as a rain shadow with the coastal regions of the Basque Country receiving an average of while the winemaking region of Rioja, near Haro, around away receives only. In Galicia on the northwest coast, the region receives annual rainfall that ranges from on the coast to near the mountainous border of Castile and León.The climate gets more extreme further inland towards the Meseta Central and is characterized by hot summers with temperatures that can reach with drought conditions. Many regions receive less than of rain annually with most of the rain falling during sudden downpours in the spring and autumn that can pose the risk of flash flooding. Winters in these regions are characterized by cold temperatures that can often fall below freezing around. Towards the southeast, around Valencia, the climate is more moderate with the strong Mediterranean influence. In the south, the Sherry and Malaga producing regions of Andalusia contain some of the hottest parts of Spain. North of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Guadalquivir Valley, temperatures often reach in the summer. To adapt to these high temperatures, many Spanish vineyards will be planted on higher elevations, with many vineyards located over above sea level. These high altitudes create a large diurnal temperature variation with low night time temperatures that allow the grapes to maintain acidity levels and colouring. Regions with lower altitude vineyards, such as along the southern Mediterranean coast are suitable for producing grapes of high alcohol levels and low acidity.