Description

Spain is such a diverse wine-producing country that one person can’t cover it all. That’s why most wine writers stick to the headline regions: Rioja, Ribera and Rías Baixas.

I myself have published in-depth overviews of these three Denominaciones de Origen in the last 12 months. My team has also written special reports on Aragón and Navarra (Beth Willard), Toro (Margaret Rand), Catalunya (Fintan Kerr), Rueda (me and Beth) and Catalan Sparkling Wines (Tom Hewson). Later this year, we will add Bierzo (Beth again) and Jerez (Wojciech Bońkowski MW). We’re also considering future studies on the Spanish islands, Gredos and the rest of Galicia. A big ask, as I said.

These are not the only wine regions in Spain, of course, which is where this mini report comes in. This provides us with an opportunity to taste interesting things that don’t have a report of their own or that we missed first time around. Our aim is to expand these tastings to make them more comprehensive and increase our coverage of Spanish wines in future.

Over the space of a happy and fulfilling week in Logroño, my team and I tasted 648 samples covering the regions of Cantabria, Castilla y León, Extremadura, La Mancha, the Levante, Navarra and the País Vasco. This report also contains my tasting notes from a solo trip to the Sierra de Salamanca in April.

Overall, 205 wines scored 90 points or more. These were divided between reds (108 wines), whites (75), rosés (8), sweet wines (4), sparkling wines (7) and fortifieds (3). Our choices truly illustrate the diversity as well as the quality of the current Spanish wine scene. This mini report is our invitation to discover some fanatic, lesser-known wine regions.