Wine & Spirits

Spain has the largest vineyard area in the world — approximately 950,000 hectares — and is the third-largest wine producer after Italy and France. From the noble, oak-aged reds of Rioja to the oxidative majesty of Sherry, from the volcanic intensity of Priorat to the sparkling elegance of Cava, Spain's wine diversity is extraordinary. With over 600 native grape varieties and 69 Denominaciones de Origen (DO), Spain is a viticultural continent within a country.

🍇 Rioja & Ribera del Duero

Rioja — Spain's most famous wine region, in the Ebro Valley — produces age-worthy reds primarily from Tempranillo (often blended with Garnacha, Graciano, and Mazuelo). The traditional American-oak aging regime (Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva) produces wines of vanilla, leather, and tobacco character that are uniquely Spanish. López de Heredia (whose Viña Tondonia is one of the world's great traditional wines, aged for decades before release), La Rioja Alta, Muga, and CVNE represent the classic style. Modern Rioja — Artadi, Remírez de Ganuza, Roda, Contador (100 points from Robert Parker) — has embraced French oak, single-vineyard expression, and a more concentrated style. Ribera del Duero, the high-altitude plateau along the Duero River, produces Spain's most powerful reds from Tinta del País (Tempranillo) — Vega Sicilia Único (Spain's most legendary wine, blending Tempranillo with Cabernet, released after a decade of aging), Pingus (the cult wine that electrified the international market in the 1990s), and Pesquera are the flagships.

🏺 Sherry, Priorat & The Regions

Sherry (Jerez) — the fortified wine from Andalusia's "Sherry Triangle" (Jerez, Sanlúcar, El Puerto) — is one of the wine world's most complex and underappreciated categories: Fino and Manzanilla (aged under a veil of flor yeast, bone-dry, saline, with an almond note), Amontillado (aged first under flor then oxidatively — hauntingly complex), Oloroso (fully oxidative, walnut-rich), and Palo Cortado (the rarest, combining the nose of Amontillado with the palate of Oloroso). Priorat (Catalonia) — terraced slate-soil vineyards producing intensely concentrated Garnacha and Cariñena — is Spain's most prestigious modern wine region alongside Rioja and Ribera. Alvaro Palacios (L'Ermita, one of Spain's greatest wines), Clos Mogador, and Clos Erasmus are world-class. Rías Baixas (Galicia, Atlantic — crisp, mineral Albariño), Rueda (Verdejo), Penedès (Cava sparkling), and Toro (massive Tempranillo) add further dimensions to Spain's viticultural mosaic.

Rioja — Spain's Most Celebrated Wine Region · With 950,000 hectares under vine — the world's largest vineyard area — Spain produces wines of extraordinary diversity, from the oak-aged elegance of Rioja to the oxidative genius of Sherry.

Spain's DO (Denominación de Origen) system is one of the oldest in Europe, dating to 1932 for Rioja. There are 69 protected wine regions today, with two elevated to the higher DOCa tier (Rioja, since 1991; Priorat, since 2009), and a further growing tier of Vinos de Pago for single-estate wines of exceptional quality.

Beyond these you'll also find Toro (massive Tempranillo), Jumilla (Monastrell, great value), Somontano (Pyrenean altitude wines), Málaga and Montilla-Moriles (sherry-style but without fortification), and the Canary Islands' volcanic-soil wines from Lanzarote and Tenerife.

The Kaufmann Wine Scale (KWS) is my personal 100-point scoring — closer to Robert Parker's palate than Jancis Robinson's, willing to reward exuberance, sceptical of unoaked freshness for its own sake.

Rioja is the easiest region for first-timers: Haro (the historic wine town) is 45 minutes by car from Logroño airport (RJL) or 3.5 hours by train from Madrid. Book López de Heredia (traditional cellars, walk under the vines in 100-year-old caves), Marqués de Riscal (Frank Gehry-designed hotel and winery — the "Guggenheim of wine"), and one modern producer like Contino or Roda. Two nights minimum.

Ribera del Duero requires a car — the wineries are spread along the Duero valley between Valladolid and Aranda de Duero. Peñafiel (with its castle housing the wine museum) is the natural base. Vega Sicilia visits are famously hard to arrange and require months of advance email; Pesquera, Emilio Moro and Aalto are more accessible.

Priorat is the dramatic one — two hours west of Barcelona into a moonscape of terraced slate mountains. The village of Gratallops is the wine capital; stay at Cal Llop or the boutique Trossos del Priorat. Álvaro Palacios's cellar tastings are unmissable if you can get in.

Jerez deserves 3 days. Visit González Byass (Tío Pepe), Bodegas Tradición (small, museum-like), and Bodegas Lustau. Time it with the Feria del Caballo (May) or the harvest festival (September) if you can.

Brandy de Jerez — Aged in the same solera system as sherry, in Andalusia. Rich, raisin-forward, more like Cognac than Armagnac. Cardenal Mendoza and Lepanto are the classics.

Orujo — Grape-pomace spirit from Galicia and northern Spain, similar to Italian grappa. Best from small producers; often served after meals ice-cold or in queimada, a burning ritual with lemon peel and coffee beans.

Pacharán — Navarrese liqueur made by macerating sloe berries in anise-flavoured spirit. Ruby-red, sweet-bitter, a classic digestif. Zoco is the standard brand.

Gin — Spain has a serious gin-and-tonic obsession: gintonics are served in giant balloon glasses with elaborate garnishes. Local craft gins worth trying: Gin Mare (Mediterranean botanicals), Nordés (Galician, with Albariño grape spirit), Xoriguer (Menorca, protected geographical status since 1997).