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Wine
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| Sherry Bodega, Jerez. |
If you are an aficionado of fine wine, Spain is the place for you.
With a wine-making tradition spanning more than 2000 years and with more vineyard acreage than any other country in the world, Spain is producing wines of increasingly good quality. There are excellent reds from traditional areas such as Rioja and Navarre, and also from emerging wine-growing regions such as Ribera del Duero and Somontano. Delicious whites are being made with indigenous Spanish grapes in regions such as Rías Baixas in Galicia (home of the Albariño grape) and Rueda in central Spain, where the Verdejo grape is used. Bubbly cava from Penedés in Catalonia, made following the same method as champagne, is the world's best-selling sparkling wine.
The best-known wines comes from the 50-odd Spanish Denominación de Origen areas, equivalent to France's Appellation d'origine controllée. Red wines may be young (known variously as vino del año, vino jovén, vino de cosechero) or aged in oak barrels, followed by a second period of bottle aging. Crianza, reserva and gran reserva indicate the different degrees of aging.
The predominant red grape in Spain is the Tempranillo, introduced by French monks in the Middle Ages and thought to be related to the French Pinot Noir. It can be used on its own to make varietal wines, but is often combined with smaller quantities of other varieties.
Southern Spain produces one of the most famous wines in the world, Sherry, grown in the area next to Jerez de la Frontera in the province of Cádiz. This is one of Andalusia's four Denominación de Origen areas (equivalent to France's Appellation d'origine controllée), together with Málaga, Montilla-Moriles and El Condado de Huelva. In addition, there are several Comarcas Vinícolas (smaller wine making districts), not to mention a handful of innovative vintners who are starting to produce interesting red table wines.
Click here for a fascinating detailed overview of Andalusian wines by Mark Little.
The Vendimia is the festival in September that takes place at the end of the grape harvest. Click here for a report on the Vendimia Festival in Jerez.
Beer
Beer (cerveza) is enormously popular in Spain, which is in fact one of Europe's major producers of lager. In Andalusian bars it is common to ask for draught beer by the type of glass: a caña is a small glass, a tubo is a long glass. Bottled beer comes in quintos (20 cl.) and medias or tercios (33 cl.), as well as litre bottles. The most popular brands of lager include San Miguel (brewed in Málaga among other places), Cruzcampo (brewed in Seville), Alhambra (Granada) and Mahou (Madrid).
Liqueurs and Spirits
Brandy is a favourite digestive to end a meal. Most Spanish brandy is produced in Jerez, where it has a protected trademark, Brandy de Jerez. The production process involves the solera system, also used to mature sherry, where maturing takes place in rows of barrels stacked on top of each other, the lowest being the oldest and closest to the floor, which is suelo in Spanish, from where the name solera comes. Brandy is aged in casks that were once used to mature sherry, the oloroso (full-bodied) type in particular. This imbues the brandy with a similar distinctive nutty taste. According to EU regulations, for a spirit to be officially recognised as a brandy, it has to be matured for at least six months and to derive from grapes.
There are three varieties of brandy, classified according to the time they have matured. Solera is matured in the barrel for at least six months, while Solera Reserva has aged for at least a year. The best brandy is Solera Gran Reserva, which has matured for at least three years in a barrel, although these have often aged for at least 15 years.
Some of the best brandies classed as Solera Gran Reserva are Carlos I produced by Pedro Domeq, Conde de Osborne produced by Osborne and Cardenal Mendoza, from Sánchez Romate. When asking in a bar or restaurant, you can say brandy or coñac in Spanish.
Another national passion is aguardiente de anís or anisado, a clear aniseed-flavoured liqueur that is invariably very strong - with an alcohol content between 30 and 50 degrees - and comes in sweet (dulce), semi-seco (medium dry) or dry (seco). You´ll often see it being drunk in the morning by people in bars, served neat or mixed with water. A quintessential Andalucian drink is sol y sombra made from mixing anís and brandy, giving a layered effect of the dark brandy (sombra) and the clear anís (sol).
Anís is produced in a number of towns in Andalucia, the most famous being those made in Rute, in Cordoba province, and Cazalla de la Sierra in Seville province, where there is an interesting variant, aguardiente de cereza made from cherries. Miura in Cazalla also make cherry brandy. It´s also produced in Zalamea and Cortegana in Huelva province.
Pacharán is popular throughout Spain as an aperitive or digestive and is an aniseed-flavoured liqueur made with blue-black sloe berries with an alcohol content of around 20 to 30 degrees. It is best drunk well chilled, with no ice so the liqueur is undiluted, although you can mix it with juice.
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Tienda.com
USA Visitors can order Spanish wines on-line from this reliable family run store. |
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