Spanish wine

The country is second in wine exports[3] and ninth in worldwide consumption, with Spaniards drinking, on average, 21.6 litres (5.7 US gal) per person a year.

Spanish wine was also provided to Roman soldiers guarding border settlements in Britain and the Limes Germanicus in Germania.

Little is known about the progress of viticulture and winemaking during this period but there is evidence that some viable form of the wine industry was present when the Moors conquered the land during the early 8th century AD.

While the Moors were Muslim and subjected to Islamic dietary laws that forbid the use of alcohol, the Moorish rulers held an ambiguous stance on wine and winemaking during their rule.

While there were laws written that outlawed the sale of wine, it was included on lists of items that were subject to taxation in Moorish territories.

English merchants from the Sherry producing regions of Jerez and Sanlúcar de Barrameda as well as Málaga fled the area due to the fear of persecution by the Spanish Inquisition.

In some countries, like Chile, these orders were largely ignored; but in others, like Argentina, they served to stunt growth and development until independence was gained from Spanish rule.

A major turning point occurred in the mid-19th century when the phylloxera epidemic ravaged European vineyards – most notably those of France.

Its slow progress was due in part to the wide tracts of land, including the Meseta Central, that separated the major Spanish wine regions from each other.

By the time the Spanish wine industry felt the full force of phylloxera, the remedy of grafting American rootstock to the European vines had already been discovered and widely utilized.

Civil and political upheaval would mark most of the 20th century, including a military dictatorship under General Miguel Primo de Rivera.

The Spanish Civil War saw vineyards neglected and wineries destroyed throughout Spain with regions like Catalonia and Valencia being particularly hard hit.

The death of Francisco Franco in 1975 and the Spanish transition to democracy allowed more economic freedom for winemakers and created an emerging market with the growing middle class of Spain.

The 1986 acceptance of Spain into the European Union brought economic aid to the rural wine industries of Galicia and La Mancha.

Several of Spain's principal rivers that are at the heart of many Spanish wine regions flow to the sea from that central area.

These include the Cantabrian Mountains that spur westward from the Pyrenees and protect regions like the Rioja from the rain and the cool of westerlies coming from the Bay of Biscay.

[4] The climate gets more extreme further inland towards the Meseta Central and is characterized by hot summers with temperatures that can reach 104 °F (40 °C) with drought conditions.

Regions with lower altitude vineyards, such as along the southern Mediterranean coast are suitable for producing grapes of high alcohol levels and low acidity.

In the province of Toledo, Australian flying winemakers[citation needed] helped to popularize the use of underground drip irrigation to minimize the effects of evaporation.

In years past, most harvesting had to be done in the early morning with wineries often refusing grapes after mid-day due to their prolonged exposure to the blistering heat.

It is known throughout Spain under a variety of synonyms that may appear on Spanish wine labels including Cencibel, Tinto Fino and Ull de Llebre.

[7] The advent of temperature control stainless steel fermentation tanks radically changed the wine industry in warm climate regions like Andalucia, La Mancha, and the Levante, allowing winemakers to make fresher and fruitier styles of wine-particularly whites.

The use of oak has a long tradition in Spanish winemaking, dating back even centuries before the French introduced the small 59 gallon (225 liter) barrica style barrels.

Gradually Spanish winemakers in the late 19th and early 20th century started to develop a preference for the cheaper, and more strongly flavored, American oak.

The tradition of long barrel and bottle ageing has meant that most Spanish wines are ready to drink once they hit the market.

While the wine is aging in the barrel, a naturally occurring yeast native to the region, known as flor, will develop and distinguish certain styles of Sherry.

The definition of Cava is Vino Espumoso de Calidad Producido en una Región Determinada (VECPRD).

The early Cava industry was nurtured by the phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th century, which caused the destruction and uprooting of vineyards planted with red grape varieties.

Inspired by the success of Champagne, vineyard owners started to replant with white grape varieties like Macabeo, Parellada, and Xarel·lo to use for sparkling wine production.

Today use of the term "Cava" is restricted to production around select municipalities in Catalonia, Aragon, Castile and León, Valencia, Extremadura, Navarre, Basque Country, and Rioja.