Imbibing for Science... Across Spain.

Admittedly, my only experience with Spanish wine prior to our trip was walking into Trader Joe’s looking for a good/cheap bottle of wine to use in our Sangria recipe in the summer. Because… what better wine than a $5 bottle of Spanish wine for homemade Sangria?

Little did I realize just how much of a wine culture existed in Spain! After spending 3-4 weeks in Spain it is very apparent that wine is an integral part of the dining and socializing culture here. As you walk past restaurants and cafes around lunch time (typically 2-4p) wine is ever present on the tables of the patrons. And of course, wine is the perfect accompaniment for your tapas (or maybe that’s the other way around) between 7-9p. And when you sit down to dinner at 10p, what better way to refresh your palate than Cava followed by wine with the meal. Of course, it’s not just about wine… there is a fair bit of beer and cocktail consumption as well, but more on that later.

As I learned, Spain has a huge breadth of wine producing regions throughout the country. The map below highlights the wide variety of areas which produces micro-climates that tend to be better for growing one varietal or another. For example, a lot of white wines come from the Northern coastal region and more full-bodied reds (Merlot, Cabernet, Syrah) coming from the inland areas. However, one varietal that is pervasive throughout is Tempranillo. At home in CA, we can find Tempranillo however often in a blend. In Spain, it very often stands alone, and I'm quite ok with that.

That said, we were taught early on by a guide that you don’t really order wine by varietal or for that matter by the winery. Wine in Spain is typically ordered by region and this is especially true during the tapas or pinxos course. For example, one might say… “I’d like something full bodied but easy to drink from Rioja” or “Do you have an elegant drinking wine from Ribera?”. At which point the waiter or waitress might offer options. Or, it’s possible they have a house wine from that region to offer as well.

And very conveniently, there are also a plethora of local wine shops (at least one every couple blocks) that will help you navigate these regions and preferences. If we were living here, I could easily see the wine store owner becoming my new bestie! On second thought, maybe I should BE the wine store owner… or maybe that is a little like the fox guarding the hen house. Hmmm.

Back to the wine…

From Madrid, we went north on a wine tour to Ribera del Duero. Technically, it was part of a tour to Segovia, but the winery in Ribera del Duoro started the day so that seems like the important part here.  We tried a number of wines from this region, but really liked a Pradorey Crianza 2020. It was a full bodied Tempranillo, but drank very smooth.

FYI, we tended to like the Crianza wines we tried… this is a designation that means it spent more time in the barrel, which is probably why we liked it. But they also tend to be a younger wine so there is a bit of a cost benefit there as well.

The most well known wine making region of Spain is probably Rioja (south of the Basque region), which is again heavy Tempranillo but also a fair amount of Grenache. We definitely liked the blends we were finding from this region. Most of our Rioja wine tasting was done at restaurants such as the bottle of Sierra Cantebria 2020, that we had at the 3 Michelin star restaurant Arzak in San Sebastián; that wine list required a small forklift to bring to the table.

Last, but far from least on the wine front my favorite wine was one we discovered in a small, vegan Valencian restaurant our second to last night in Spain. It was a Venta del Puerto 12 D.O Valencia a blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, Tempranillo from north of Valencia and at a whopping €16 on a restaurant menu by the way. It might’ve been one of the best wines we had in Spain actually, good body and complexity but smooth and elegant. I’m not surprised we liked this considering this is the type of blend we might find back home in Palo Robles, CA area.

Ok, I get it… that’s enough of the wine discussion, bring on the cocktails! Well, guess what? We ran across 5 unique to Spain drinks while we were here, but technically speaking they are all wine-based. Of course!

As I mentioned at the beginning, when I think of Spain I think Sangria. Indeed Sangria could be found on many a menu in both a white or a red sangria. Though I was informed by our Madrid guide early on that Sangria is really a summer drink and never really ordered at restaurants by locals. In fact, it’s more something to drink at home. Fine, but we are tourists and can over pay for cheap wine with fruit if we want!

Just to continue flaunting our ignorance we moved on to what became Ilene’s favorite drink, as I mentioned in a previous blog, the Tinto de Verano which translates to “summer red wine”. This is red wine mixed with a lemon-lime spritz and served on ice. To quote Ilene “This is yummy!” We weren’t technically in Spain in the summer, but could see how this would very refreshing in the summer heat. And, you can’t go wrong with yummy!

That brings us to something a highly dedicated reader brought to our attention as a must try while in Spain… Spanish Sherry. What is Sherry you ask? Well, Sherry is a fortified (aged) white wine from the Jerez region of Andalusia. Jerez translates as “sherry” in Spanish and the wine is named after the region.

Fortified wine?!?!? Just like Port?… No way I’m missing this! And, just to make sure we do it properly we switched up our plans and made a day trip to the heart of the Jerez region and visited one of the oldest Sherry makers in Spain… Tio Pepe.

After talking a tour of the winery, built literally in the middle of the old town, we sat down to try the Sherry. Turns out, Sherry can be made in bunch of different styles with different techniques involving variations in the fermentation process and they range from 15% to 18% alcohol. So basically, not much more than some wines.

We tried 3 different styles at Tio Pepe

• Fino Palomino: which was sharp and dry white a 15% and tasted almost like sour Pinot Gris

• Alfonso: caramel color and oaky on the noise, more alcohol forward @ 18% but pretty bland on the palette and tasting nothing like it smelled

• Solera cream palomino: sweet white with a raisin or prune flavor @ 18% and made to have more sugar content. It was slightly more “Port like” in that way.

Of the 3, the Solera Cream was the only one we felt was drinkable. But honestly, something about the taste of Sherry really didn’t work for us. So much so that we went to a bar to try some other brands and styles… consensus was the flavor was just not for our palate. We had a Pedro Jimenez that was very sweet with a consistency like syrupy prune juice. So, unless you are into dry and tasteless (like my sense of humor) or sickly sweet I wouldn’t recommend Sherry.

However, saving some of the best for last. When we reached Valencia, our last stop in Spain, we were introduced to Agua de Valencia. This easily translates to “Water of Valencia” and oh, how we wish this came directly from the faucet! This drink uses orange juice from the Valencian sweet oranges, mixed with Cava (a sparkling wine), Gin, and Vodka! Let’s just say, Ilene very much approved of this drink especially when made at a bar. They also sell this pre-made in bottles which didn’t have quite the same kick as the hand crafted version.

Lastly (and saving what I think is the best for last), at the suggestion of another dedicated fan who is closely following our journey I was encouraged to look for Vermouth in Spain. Ok, you’re probably thinking, isn’t that the stuff you use to make a Martini? And, you’d be right except that is a dry, white Vermouth.

In Spain, the best Apéritif (in my opinion) is the Rojo Vermouth. We tried a couple, but I liked the one from Izaguirre. This is a sweet red Vermouth with hints of cherry and orange served on the rocks or really over one big rock. It is really easy to drink, refreshing, and made a perfect pre-lunch cocktail, yes you read that correctly. I’m definitely going to be adding this to the repertoire when we return home!

Augua de Valencia and Rojo Vermouth

Well, that’s it for Spain and for that matter, Europe for the time being. We are heading into a period of darkness as we visit a number of countries that have, shall we say, a “de-emphasis” on alcoholic drinks.

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