Live life with fine Spanish wines

MAPA, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Food has announced Ribera del Arlanza and Tierra Del Vino de Zamora as Spanish wine appellations. The two regions are now official wine D.O. (denomination of origin).

Being in the Wine biz I, of course, immediately after having read this ran to my map of Spanish appellations to try to figure out where these two regions are situated. The D.O. Ribera Del Arlanza is situated some 40km south of Burgos city. The main grape variety (95%) is …tempranillo (tinta del pais), not so surprising. Then the second most planted grape is Garnacha (2%). There is a little bit of Mencia, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Albillo for their rosé wines. For the white wines they use Viura, but very little white wine is produced. (more…)

We regularly have clients asking us what the difference is between a Denominación de Origen / Denomination of Origin (D.O.) and a Denominación de Origin Calificada / Qualified Denomination of Origin (D.O.Ca.). The short answer is that the D.O.Ca. is a higher category for the truly great wine-making areas. There are currently two D.O.s within this category: Rioja and Priorat. (more…)