Spanish Wine

Spain may be Old World but it is arguably the least Old World of the major wine producing countries. Christian Davis reports

SPAIN'S WINE POSITION is “not elitist, a fad or muddled,” says Félix Solís Avantis export director Félix Solís Ramos. “In pure volume terms Spain is a major global player and has a strong export tradition from key appellations. Added to this, Spain offers some of the best value-for-money affordable wines to a financially challenged global market,” he adds.

“Spain sits in a unique place offering New World sunshine expressed in the fruit style and supple wine structure, but Spain also offers Old World tradition, diversity and complexity for those who wish to explore,” claims Solís Ramos.

Spain is the third-largest wine-producing country in the world after France and Italy and the country that has most land under vine. Old World can mean ‘old-fashioned’, restricted by rules and regulations – high volume and all quality levels, inflexible to what wine drinkers in other countries want.

An ‘official view’ response to that comes from María José Sevilla (right), director, Foods & Wines from Spain. She states: “I believe the perception of what is called Old World is beginning to change because countries such as Spain, while offering provenance, history and tradition, are also adding reputation to this list, as well as keeping up to date with constant investment in the bodega, the vineyard and in new technology.

“Spain has a plethora of grape varieties and wine styles that have evolved over the centuries, offering breadth and depth of wine choices to the wine drinker. This is an opportunity to be exploited by the Old World as it is something the New World can only aspire to and not easily achieve,” says Sevilla.

Torres is one of the great names and companies of the global wine market. General manager Miguel Torres, tells Drinks International: “I agree with you that Old World can mean ‘restricted by rules and regulations’. I was the general manager of Miguel Torres Chile for three years and now I am back in Spain as general managerof the group. I have to say that Chile is a good example of a well-organised wine country without too many regulations. 

“But, in general, I would say that the difference between ‘New’ and ‘Old World’ in ‘country’ terms has diminished over the years and it is much more a question of style, brand, region, DO and grape variety,” he says. “This is what consumers – especially the younger generation – are looking for and all of this they can find in France, Italy and Spain. What is true is that the wine history, the wine culture, the wine heritage is really older with the Old World wines and that can be an advantage with a certain type of consumer,” says Torres.

A dispassionate, commercial view comes from Beth Willard (right), buyer for Spain at Laithwaite’s, which is part of the global Direct Wines group. She says: “Spain produces some of the best wine in the world in terms of quality for money. However, often Spain also fills the cheapest slots on supermarket and shop shelves. It is important that more wines of higher quality are promoted, at all price points, as Spain offers the best value for money at all levels.”

Fernando González, the sommelier at Iberica – one of London’s leading Spanish restaurants – says: “We need to change the mentality that Spain can only produce cheap wines. For decades, some of the biggest brands have pitched their mass-production wines at very entry levels. There are still some products today, such as cava, that are sold by supermarkets at ridiculous prices. I feel that these strategies quite often have been our worst enemy. Quality is important, but fair pricing is too.”

One of the challenges facing Spanish growers and producers is, of course, the country’s own economy. Spain is one of the ‘sick men’ of Europe, teetering near economic collapse.

Wines from Spain’s Sevilla takes up the theme: “Wine consumption in Spain is declining, especially as the economic crisis bites harder. Therefore Spain needs to invest more in the domestic market on the one hand and to encourage further success in export markets on the other. This is a tough call given the need for investment and expertise to be successful in export.”

Economic crisis

Marqués de Riscal president Alejandro Aznar says: “We have to face the economic crisis, so we have to try to maintain our sales and all the investments done. The export market is so important now, so most of the wineries are focusing their efforts there in order to increase our sales.”

Miguel Torres sees another threat. “The biggest threat I see on a medium-long term is climate change. This is not a specific Spanish problem, but a world-wide problem. Spain can still handle an increase of 1 to 2 degrees in temperature but, if it goes beyond that, we would have to move to higher altitude regions and change the varieties in the existing vineyards.

“This would mean a complete new grape variety planting map. At Torres we have our programme, Torres & Earth, in place, which has a target to reduce CO2 emissions in 2020 by 30%per bottle, compared to 2008 levels. But also on sector level Spain is active: in 2011 the Wineries for Climate Protection symposium was organised in Barcelona, which ended with The Barcelona Declaration, calling for a minimum 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020 and five other environmental action points. More than 150 partly large and well-known wineries are now part of this initiative and several, including Torres, are now in process of certification,” says Torres.

“We are convinced that in the near future consumers will be even more climate change-conscious and will select brands that are working actively with climate change programmes,” he says.

On a more day-to-day level, Gonzalez Byass chief executive Jorge Grosse sees another challenge: “To push the value of Spanish wine up. In comparison with our competitors Spain still offers extremely good value for money in international markets and we need to persuade the gatekeepers – and, as a consequence, the retailers – that good Spanish wine is worth paying that little bit more for. I

“If you consider the quality and complexity of our aged sherries, for example, a Matusalem with 30 years ageing or the Las Palmas range, whose wines range from between six and 40 years in age.  “Few other wines offer such incredible value for their years. Or Rioja Gran Reservas and Reservas, aged for three to five years before their release on to the market. A lot of investment and time goes into the quality of these wines, which remain such good value comparatively speaking when considering their French, Italian or Californian counterparts.”

Key markets

The key export markets for Spain are: The UK, Germany and the US. With the strong historical, colonial and linguistic connections, South American countries and Mexico are doors that should be easily pushed against.

Spain’s flag-bearer in still wine is undoubtedly Rioja, one of the world’s most famous wine styles with the Tempranillo grape at its heart. There is also the country’s fortified wine, sherry – a unique style mainly sought after by aficiendos these days. Sevilla says: “Rioja is a fantastic ambassador for Spain and the only downside is when people do not realise there is ‘life beyond Rioja’ – ie a whole spectrum of other wines and regions to try alongside Rioja.”

Oscar Urrutia, export director for Rioja’s generic body, the CVNE, says: “The biggest challenge is to increase quality and to enhance authenticity attributes. For others, positioned in low segments, cost-cutting and finding prospectively valuable attributes related to sustainability could be an interesting way forward. “The downside of Rioja is that all Rioja wines are Rioja, and there are vast differences in quality. On top of that, categorisation within Rioja in Crianza, Reserva etc fixes pricing beyond real quality.”

Torres rejoins: “Rioja is a good example of a top-quality region, a top-quality DO which did a great job in building its DO into a brand. But also other DOs such as, for example, Ribera del Duero have been active in this sense and catching up with Rioja. “I think DOs play an important role in today’s world of wine, which is a global marketplace in which it is important to show specific attributes and differences to the consumers. 

“So if you do this in a good way, I don’t see a downside to it – on the contrary, it helps all wine producers to open doors and to put Spain as a wine category on the world map,” says Torres.

But there is more to Spain than just Rioja and Tempranillo. Carlos Romero, export director for the Roqueta winery in Catalunya says: “Everybody knows that Rioja is the strongest appellation in Spain, in terms of image and knowledge worldwide.  

“But now in Spain you can find around 65 appellations and most of them are fighting to get a place in the world. In our case, recently we launched our winery Lafou Celler in Terra Alta – one of the richest areas for the grape variety Garnacha.” 

Iberica ’s Fernando González says: “Rioja is a brand and can sell at any market. Quality can reach outstanding levels but there are other regions and climates that can produce great wines too. At the moment I particularly love Atlantic wines from Galicia, Albariños, Godellos, Ribeiros and Mencia.”

Félix Solís Ramos perceives two patterns in planting: “Autochthonous grapes and international varieties. Spain has a rich terroir and superb weather conditions for vineyards, so we can talk about successful stories of adaptation. 

“Wine style and consumption is moving to ‘simpler’ wines. This means young, fruity wines and slightly oaked. Of course, our reservas and grandes reservas are appreciated but in much lower volumes.” As to regions, he says: “Ribera del Duero and Rueda are ‘younger’ DOs that are active in their national and international campaigns.”

Delfi Sanahuja (below left), chief enologist at Castillo Perelada, says: “The challenge for wineries based in appellations other than Rioja, like us, Castillo Perelada in Empordà, North Catalonia, is to make us known and one of the means is to produce wines that always have to ‘over deliver’ in order to find a place.

“Priorat, for example and, more recently, Empordà are the perfect examples of areas where strong investments and research have been undertaken to create high-quality wines as well as excellent value wines. In our case, in order to ‘exist’ and be put on a map, we are working hard on the following three elements: variety/soil/climate adequation,” says Sanahuja.

“To do this, we have undertaken more than 10 years of experiments in our vineyards. We have invested in a weather station and we are constantly experimenting with other forms of vinification. Each experiment is a different wine that is never repeated. This is how we are trying to show there is a vibrant and exciting life beyond more famous appellations in Spain.” 

Willard says: “One of the most pleasing trends at the moment in Spain is the protection of old bush vines and indigenous grape varieties. There is so much lovely old bush vine Garnacha in Spain, as well as exciting white varieties such as Albillo. This is the country’s vinous heritage and more and more growers are keen to show the world what they can do.

“It is interesting to see lighter styles of rosé, more Provence-like in colour, in Spanish bars. An interesting development for Laithwaite’s has been the introduction of a frizzante-style low-alcohol Moscatel Rosado. We have only just launched this in the past few months but it is proving popular, finishing at the top of Laithwaite’s customer sales from our various tasting events throughout the country. 

“The ability of Spain to adapt to different consumer styles with products which are still regional and show varietal typicity is a strong point in its favour,” says Willard. “We have launched a low-alcohol white, made from Moscatel, and a rosé, made from Tempranillo, called Fragrantia. They are naturally sweet and with a slight spritz,” says Grosse at Gonzalez Byass.

Dynamic

Fernando González from Iberico concludes: “Spain to me represents the most dynamic wine country in Europe. Now there are important challenges that I think Spanish growers, producers and marketers have to face, with fair pricing being an important one, consistency of quality another, and, finally, embracing the diversity of styles from our different climates, regions and indigenous varieties.”

Willard adds: “For me, Spain is the most exciting wine-producing country in the world. No other country can offer the diversity of styles, regional difference and value for money that Spain offers. There are so many grape varieties and regions currently unknown in the UK and in other global markets so it is exciting to be able to look out for these gems to offer to Laithwaite’s customers.”