A short guide to Spanish wine
Rosa
Everybody thinks that we, the Spanish people, drink lots of wine, at lunch time, with the dinner, eating tapas and so on… the reality is that we do drink wine, yes, but not so much, I would say that beer is the most common drink, specially if you are out. However we do produce wonderful wine, red (tinto), white (blanco), pink (rosado)… and many times students ask me which wine they can buy as a present for their parents or for themselves.
I like wine, I am not an expert at all but I have learned to appreciate its taste in the last years. So today I want to teach you a bit about the different kinds of Spanish wine, so you have some kind of idea about what to buy and what to try.
A wine to have before lunch time and in the Summer, a wine from the South, el Moscatel, a delicious sweet wine, perfect to have as aperitive with a bit of ham and cheese. The best of all, Pedro Ximenez, if you can not find it, look for Cartojal o Málaga virgen and serve them always cold. The perfect present for your grandmother!!!
A perfect wine to enjoy with your dinner and the most famous, the Rioja. A beautiful red wine from northern Spain. This wine is labeled according to the amount of aging the wine has received, these are the categories:
Cosecha wines (meaning “vintage”) are young and are not usually aged in wood.
Crianza wines are aged for two years with at least one year in a cask.
Reserva wines are aged for at least one year in an oak cask and at least one year in oak, with a further year in either.
Gran Reserva wines are aged for at least 18 months in oak, and at least three years in the bottle and a minimum of five years total at the winery.
If you really want to impress your parents when you are back, get them a Gran Reserva of wines such as Marqués de Griñón, Protos, Marqués de Cáceres o Faustino I. These will always be a perfect present.
A wine for after the meal and a catalan wine, the Cava is the name of a type of white or rosé sparkling wine, produced mainly in the Penedès region in Catalonia, Spain, 40 km to the south west of Barcelona. Its name is derived from the Catalan word for cellar. Cava is drunk after the meal with the desserts.
Try a Anna de Codorníu, Segura Viudas or Juve Camps, they are excellent and their price very, very good!
And where to buy them? you can go the old shop Colmado Quílez very near to the school in Rambla Cataluña 63, they have the greatest selection of national wine of Barcelona or you can also visit the wine section in el Corte Inglés which is in the basement inside the supermarket or in the Gourmet section also in the basement.
And where to try them? You can visit la Champañería here in Barcelona and try a good Cava or in the Xampañet in Montcada 22. You can also try in the beautiful bar Va de Vi in Banys Vells 16.
I hope you enjoy!
Rosa
