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In this brief introduction, prior to the main fiesta, Christopher Burr, MW recalls the dark days of Spanish wine drinking comparing them with the far more rosier picture that we enjoy today...
Once upon a time, back in the dark ages when I first started in the wine business, some of the biggest brands of wine sold in the UK came from Spain. Names long forgotten, like Don Cortez, Rocamar, Corrida, all of which had red, sweet white, dry white (in fact it was semi sweet) and rose in the range. The trouble was they were all pretty disgusting wines guaranteed to put a new to wine consumer off wine drinking for a long time. Thank goodness these brands have long since died, probably along with anyone who drank a lot of them!
That is what is so wonderful about the astonishing developments of wine production in Spain over the last 25 years. The famous areas which have always made good wine, like Rioja, Penedes, Ribera del Duero, have gone on to do even better, raising every producers standards and now making some new classics. Some new areas, unheard of before, where wines were never exported have emerged making stunning wines, like Priorato and Terra Alta and right down south in Bullas. There are also some wonderful fresh white wines being made in areas like Galicia's Rias Baixas, and Rueda, and excellent commercial and better wines in La Mancha, Somontano and Navarra, to name but a selection.
The joy is not only different regions and climates, from cool coastal northern Spain to baking hot southern, and warm upland plains with cool nights; different soil types; but also different grape varieties to those so often drunk in the UK, new flavours, exciting tastes to enhance the gastronomy of these areas. We will, over the next months explore some of the regional Spanish wines on offer in the UK, together with a flavour of each unique and interesting region. I am excited by the quality and variety of these wines, they are a wonderful experience, and often some of the best value on offer in a world crowded with so much well marketed but quite frankly boring stuff.
Viva Espagna!
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