Spain has been called "the land that time forgot." Sadly when it came to wine, this adage rang true throughout much of the 20th century. Spain has been the world's third largest producer of wine for decades (after Italy and France) and it has more acreage under vine than any other wine producing nation. Yet, with the exception of Rioja and the lovely, affordable Cava of Penedes, Spanish wines were little known in the United States until quite recently.
In comparison to France, Italy, and other leading wine-exporting nations, Spain had failed miserably in the decades of the 1970s and 80s to exploit its fine array of ancient vines and indigenous grape varieties. It failed, too, in marketing her wines in the United States and elsewhere. In addition, most Spanish producers had steadfastly refused to modernize their wine making operations or spend money to improve the quality of their wines, leaving Spain behind other nations in the overall quality quotient. Furthermore, Spain, who had long prided herself on great, old style reds, had become locked in a stereotype that it seemed incapable of obliterating. Spain was seen almost exclusively as the world's purveyor of 19th century style reds, period. These were wines that spent years in old American oak barrels, and they tasted like it, only occasionally for the better but more often for the worse. Moreover, for generations only one name was synonymous to most of the world with fine Spanish reds -- Rioja -- much to the detriment of other excellent Spanish reds and an intriguing number of white wines from lesser-known locales.
Fortunately for Spain and American consumers, the decade of the 1990s saw a renaissance in winemaking in Spain that has quickly ushered in that nation's second Siglo d'Oro (Golden Age). Aided by such forward thinking and able importers as Classical Wines of Spain, De Maison Selections, and the redoubtable Jorge Ordonez, the sleeping giant has awakened at last, bearing both new and old styles of interesting, high quality wines to our shores. Spain, the land that not so long ago time seemed to have forgotten, has definitely been rediscovered. Bierzo, Jumilla, Castilla y Leon, Montsant, Priorat, and Rias Baixas are just a few of the Spanish wine regions whose wines have been reborn in the contemporary age of enological exploration. And this is only the beginning. Savvy consumers take note: Spain is a veritable wine lover's paradise, and there has never been a better time to hunt for affordable treasure and liquid gold among its vineyards than now.
Catalonia : Ribera del : Duero Rioja
