In Focus - Discover Spain: Experience the Best of Spain - page 607

nised wine-making area meets certain strict standards for a given period, covering
all aspects of planting, cultivating and ageing, it receives Denominación de Origen
(DO; Denomination of Origin) status; there are 65 such regions in Spain. An out-
standing wine region gets the Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOC). At
present, the only DOC wines come from La Rioja in northern Spain and the small
Priorat area in Catalonia.
Other important indications of quality depend on the length of time a wine has
been aged, especially if in oak barrels. The best wines are often, therefore, marked
with the designation crianza (aged for one year in oak barrels), reserva (two years
ageing, at least one of which is in oak barrels) and gran reserva (two years in oak
and three in the bottle).

A Regional Snapshot
The principal grape of La Rioja is tempranillo,
widely believed to be a mutant form of pinot
noir. Its wine is smooth and fruity, seldom as
dry as its supposed French counterpart. Not
far behind are the wine-producing regions of
Ribera del Duero (Castilla y León, in Central
Spain), Navarra and Aragón.
For white wines, the Ribeiro wines of
Galicia are well regarded, including one of
Spain's most charming whites: albariño. The
Penedès area in Catalonia produces whites
and sparkling wine such as cava, the tradi-
tional champagne-like toasting drink of
choice for Spaniards at Christmas.

Places to Learn about
Spanish Wines

1 DINASTÍA VIVANCO, BRIONES
( CLICK HERE )

2 LAGUARDIA, LA RIOJA ( CLICK
HERE )

3 MUSEO DEL VINO, OLITE,
NAVARRA ( CLICK HERE )

Sherry & Manzanilla
Sherry, the unique wine of Andalucía (espe-
cially around Jerez de la Frontera and El
Puerto de Santa María), is Spain's national
dram and is found in every bar and restaur-
ant in the land. Dry sherry, called fino, begins
as a fairly ordinary white wine of the palomino grape, but it's 'fortified' with grape
brandy. This stops fermentation and gives the wine taste and smell constituents that

4 SHERRY BODEGAS, JEREZ DE
LA FRONTERA ( CLICK HERE )