Spanish Wine: An introduction

Wine. It's a whole subculture of it's own. It comprises an enormous world of knowledge, tastes, flavors, social standards and gatherings, all waiting to be discovered. For some, drinking wine is a way of life, a religion, necessary as a compliment to make any meal complete. For others they may enjoy that sweet, dreamy state it's possible to attain with a glass or two… Some are looking to impress with their knowledge, while others possibly may just hope to improve their social status.

Learning about the large selections of wines while visiting Spain is a must. The quality, taste, and recognition of Spanish wine have all increased considerably in the last few decades. In fact Spain is now rated along the sides of California, France, and New Zealand as producers of the world's best wines. And, with over forty different denominations of origin located in the thirteen regions of the country, wine is considered a very important part of the Mediterranean lifestyle.

At "la comida," or lunchtime, which is the main meal of the day for Spaniards, don't be surprised if you see a glass of wine being enjoyed by just about everyone, everywhere you look. It is very rare to see a Spaniard eating lunch "on the run," as Americans do. Food is to be enjoyed over a period of hours and therefore almost always enjoyed with a relaxing glass of "vino."

"In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary." --Ernest Hemingway

There are very particular ways to examine wine and ascertain their comparative qualities. Professionals use a standardized wine tasting glass called an "afnor." This glass is almost always hand blown giving it a special kind of delicacy and lightness and then is melted with silver and sand at a temperature of 1500 degrees Celsius. After the wine is poured into the glass at one-third of its capacity, the tasting can begin. Experts look for color, brilliance, aroma/bouquet, taste/flavor, the balance/finish and the overall impression given by the particular wine. After the wine is examined, sniffed, and held in the mouth long enough for all of the flavor to pass, the wine is given a rating on a scale from twenty to one-hundred points.

Although there are hundreds of ways to describe the results of this test there are some general guidelines the experts use. The appearance should be brilliant in good light (some say candlelight versus artificial light is the best way to assess) and should have "good clarity," meaning there is an absence of suspended matter in the wine. If there is poor clarity it could mean the process of clarification following the time the wine spent aging in the casks was not properly executed. This clarifier is usually some sort of gelatin or egg white that should keep the color of the wine bright for years after bottling.

And how does the wine get its color? The answer is in the grapes:

• The red coloring comes from the anthocynanin in the skin of red grapes.
• The white grapes have tannins in their skins and the coloring of these are yellow-which explains why although "white" in name, white wines usually appear in varying shade of yellow.

As time passes, the red color of the anthocynanin begins to disappear while the tannins do the opposite, oxidize slowly, and then increase the presence of their color. Therefore a "young" white wine is generally straw-colored where as an older white will have more of a golden color. A young Spanish "rosado" wine is bright pink, while an older "rosado" looks more like a white wine with a sort of onionskin color. A young red wine tends to be sort of purple, an older more of a ruby-red, and a very old red wine takes on a sort of leather-like look to it.

There is no clear way to distinguish between the aroma and the bouquet of a wine but some say the aroma is reserved for just the grape while the bouquet is produced as the odor from the process of fermentation and aging. You will see both used frequently and at times interchangeably in wine descriptions-however, all one really needs to worry about is the wine having an appealing smell. If something smells off, then probably the wine itself is off! But nevertheless, the discussions of aroma and bouquet are interesting. If the smell of the wine is appealing, then the wine is said, quite simply, to have a "good nose."

The taste and flavor again are mainly arbitrary and there are many ways to describe them. Some say taste is the "general feeling," one gets from a wine and that this is the most important way to judge. Better tasting wines tend to have a complexity of flavors that are hard to dissect, but are presented in an agreeable balance with one another. This balance provides a smooth, harmonious impression that should be able to leave your mouth with a pleasant aftertaste.

When you first begin to drink wine, some say your taste buds are more inclined towards sweeter wines like Zinfandels or fruitier whites. As time goes on, you begin to develop a taste for drier whites and stronger reds. Eventually your knowledge and personal taste will lead you into choosing which wine satisfies your palate best with what kinds of food. Stick with it if you are new to the world of wine because not only does tasting wine become a deliciously enticing experience you can enjoy for the rest of your life, but it is a lot of fun as well!

In this article you will find out how to:

• classify wines,
• choose the type you are looking for,
• find out which wines were good, bad, better, and/or worse in which year,
• and even a bit about the grapes used to make the different wines of Spain.
• You can also find out a little bit about what kinds of food you may want to eat with the various types of wine and even some of the best places to go in Madrid to enjoy wine with good food.

Just click on the links highlighted in this list to read on.