The Wines of Green Spain

By Sarah Jane Evans

This short ebook comprises a guide to the most northerly wine regions of Spain: Galicia, Asturias and the Cantabrian coast. Sarah Jane Evans MW explores all the major subregions of this part of the country, from Rías Baixas and its attention-grabbing Albariños, to Ribeira Sacra, with crisp reds made from Mencía, and Txakoli in the Basque country, where distinctive and unique wines are made. Each section covers the history and geography of the region in question, along with details of its winemaking culture and important grape varieties. Boxes provide key facts at a glance and a selection of producer profiles from each region introduce readers to some of the most interesting, innovative and influential winemakers in the area. This handy book is ideal for anybody planning a trip to green Spain or those looking for wine-buying inspiration.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Académie du Vin Library
• Release date: Oct 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781917084291

Sarah Jane Evans

Sarah Jane Evans MW is an award winning wine-writer, journalist and speaker at conferences worldwide. She is co-Chairman of the Decanter World Wine Awards panel for Spain and for sherry. She judges at wine shows internationally. She is currently Chair of the Institute of Masters of Wine and she was made a member of the Gran Orden de Caballeros de Vino. She has twice been named Communicator of the Year for Spain, and last year received an Outstanding Contribution award from Wines of Rioja.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Spain is the most exciting country in Europe for wine lovers, and one of the most exciting in the world. In the last 30 years it has lived through an exceptional period of change – cultural, social and political, as well as vinous. It now offers us wine styles of every kind. This is the country where you can find wines of glorious maturity, polished in oak barrels to a fine complexity, where people talk fondly about ’45, ’64 and ’70, through to 2001, ’04 and ’05. It is also home to the new reds, the fresh, zesty Atlantic styles; the aromatic whites; the pale-coloured rosados; the ‘traditional method’ sparklings; the sweet Moscatels; the wines aged under flor; and the wines from vines grown on slate, clay, limestone or sand, all expressing their origins.

In this ebook I focus on the wines of just the northernmost part of Spain, ‘green Spain’, which covers Galicia, the Asturias and the Cantabrian coast. It is taken from my book The wines of northern Spain, which also covers in detail the wines of Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero, Rioja, Navarra and Aragón. That book also takes a more detailed look at the important grape varieties of northern Spain and offers suggestions on where to eat, drink and stay when you visit this beautiful part of the world. For details on where you can get your copy (with an exclusive discount) please turn to the end of this ebook.

Every DO featured here has an ‘at a glance’ box which gives systematic information on permitted and experimental grape varieties, specific aspects of winemaking legislation, and data on the vineyard area, the number of growers, and the number of wineries. These last three items are particularly useful for comparing the size and style of the different zones. Look at Rías Baixas, for instance, and the structure of minifundia is apparent, with many growers and few wineries. The information was correct at the time of original publication, in 2018.

1

GALICIA: PILGRIMS, PARRALES, PAZOS

In 1845, Richard Ford, author of A hand-book for travellers in Spain, compared the green meadows of north-west Spain to Switzerland’s pastures. He recognized the quality of the wines and their potential, but was altogether less complimentary about the winemaking saying, ‘Rich wines are produced; of these the best are those of Valdeorras, Amandi [Ribeira Sacra], Rivero [Ribeiro], and the Tostado of Orense [Ribeiro], and they would rival the vintages of Portugal, were the commonest pains taken in the making; but here, as on the eastern coast, everything is managed in the rudest and most wasteful manner.’

Almost two hundred years later, how things have changed! Galicia’s wines have undergone a remarkable transformation. There are wines produced here that rank with the world’s best. It would be enough to explore the wines of Galicia without travelling further into Spain. Possibly the new ‘traditional method’ sparklings do not measure up to the best Cavas, and sweet wines are scarce, but there are wines, both white and red, to charm, to cellar and to enjoy. What’s more, Galicia is a wonderful region for the visitor. For centuries Galicia was the forgotten corner of Spain. As a result there are still kilometres of unspoilt beaches, and lovely walking country. This is not tower-block tourism. As for the food, the seafood is of the freshest, and the Galician beef is exceptional.

Santiago de Compostela is the magnet for tourism, perhaps explaining why there are more airports per square kilometre here than anywhere else in Spain. If you want a budget flight, then there are plenty on offer. The religious significance of the city for pilgrims following the historic camino to the Cathedral of St James also means that you are very likely to come across senior clerics – I once spotted the Archbishop of Canterbury in the queue for boarding.

RÍAS BAIXAS

The Albariños of Rías Baixas are the wines that alerted the world to the fact that Spain could produce fine white wines. These fresh, unoaked whites, made for drinking young, and with seafood, captured a new audience. What’s more, the grape was a local variety, and therefore more interesting than Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay.

Since then other Spanish grapes have gained international acclaim: Verdejo, Viura, Garnacha Blanca, Xarel·lo and Godello, among others. More are demanding our attention: Treixadura, Albillo, Listán, Palomino, Merseguera. Spain has entered a phase of real excitement where its winemakers are recovering old varieties, and working hard in the vineyard. However Albariño is still head and shoulders above the rest.

Yet there is a risk to this international acclaim. Retailers require ever lower prices, and producers increase their yields to satisfy demand. More vineyards are planted, not always in the best places. The young vines lack character. When the wines are quickly and cleanly fermented with reliable yeasts in stainless steel, the result is too often anonymity, often with an element of residual sugar thrown in. This is what has happened to Rueda, and Rías Baixas is teetering on the edge of that same precipice. Increasingly there is a division of reputation, with a selection of wineries at the top which are outstanding and an increasing number outside producing ‘commercial’ wines. Furthermore, the DO is dedicated to the single varietal; 96 per cent is Albariño. Some of the most fascinating wines in Rías Baixas are blends. Yet at the moment they are still regarded as poor relations. The DO has a future with creative blends.

Rías Baixas can never be a source of cheap wine. This is not a region for economies of scale. What defines Rías Baixas is minifundia; it’s a land of very many small growers with tiny plots. The large estates with expansive vineyard holdings common elsewhere in Spain are scarce here. Only six companies produce more than 500,000 litres. The average land ownership per grower is just 0.6 hectares, divided up into 3.7 parcels. You will see farmers on tiny tractors beetling up and down the roads. Few of them have any use for hefty tractors, especially where the vines are trained into parral or pergola canopies.

Rías Baixas first became a denomination in the 1980s and was then called DO Albariño. However upon Spain’s entry into the European Union, it had to change to a non-varietal name and in 1988 chose Rías Baixas. This was much more accurate, clearly describing the style of the terrain, with its ‘low inlets/firths’. The growth since then has been remarkable: in 1987 there were just 14 bodegas and 492 growers, with a vineyard area of 237 hectares, making 5,850 litres of wine. Fast forward thirty years and,