The Spanish (White Wine) Revolution

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Map Courtesy of Cellar Tours

The last quarter of the twentieth century saw many revolutions, large and small, in the wine world. One of the more interesting, to our way of thinking, has been the amazing transition, from absolute mediocrity to stunning brilliance, in the quality level of white wines from Spain. A mere twenty-five or thirty years ago you would have seen few if any Spanish whites on our shelves, while today the wines in that section equal or surpass in number those we carry from many other regions of the world . . . and they are very, very good!


+/- The Spanish (White Wine) Revolution

Let’s make it thirty years, for discussion’s sake; that puts us back in 1983, only eight years after the death of Generalissimo Franco, who had ruled Spain with the proverbial iron hand since 1936. His dictatorship kept the country largely isolated from the rest of the world, and his death, and the subsequent transition to a democratic form of government, brought winds of change in winemaking as in many other areas. It quickly became apparent that what had been thought adequate for the domestic market would not be competitive in the international market. Younger winemakers saw what needed to be done . . . and eventually funds from the EU gave them the wherewithal to invest in the necessary modern technology to make it all happen.
Count among the pleasures of Spanish whites their diversity. Unlike New Zealand, say, with its “Johnny one-note” dependence on Sauvignon Blanc, Spain offers great variety in white wine, largely because young winemakers have enthusiastically embraced their unique native varietals. And so, when Alex opted to put together his “Spanish whites” this month, he was able to highlight not only six different regions of the country but six (or more) different grape varieties as well. Brief tasting notes are available on the sampler; for background, here’s a brief tour of the regions being featured, from west to east.
1. Rias Baixas: This is home territory for the Albarino grape, and the words translate as “low estuaries” or fjords; this is the stretch of the Atlantic coast just north of the border with Portugal. The grape itself was rescued from near-extinction back in the 80s by a few far-seeing winemakers; today it represents 90% of what is planted in the region, there are more than 200 different producers, and Albarino is widely regarded not just as Spain’s best white but as a wine that has achieved world-class status.
2. Valdeorras: Head east from Rias Baixas and you will shortly find yourself in the region called Valdeorras, or “Golden Valley,” possibly so named because it was the site of Roman gold mines a couple of thousand years ago. The viticultural star here is the Godello grape, another varietal the enjoyed a last-minute rescue from extinction. Most critics rank it (with Albarino and Verdejo) in the top three of indigenous white varieties and point to it as an example of how the new technology has shown winemakers the unexpected treasure in their midst.
3. Rueda: We have moved further inland and dropped down south a bit, and it is here in Rueda, a white-producing island in the middle of a sea of red, that we encounter the third grape in that trinity of native varietals, Verdejo. As British wine writer John Radford famously said, this is a grape that was waiting for technology to catch up with it. Yes, Verdejo is a class-act grape, but it has one problem: its juice has a tendency to oxidize rather quickly. Fifty years ago, the wines coming from here were unappealing to say the least; transformation came at the hands of the head of Marques de Riscal, who was searching for someplace besides Rioja to make white wine; his erstwhile instructor, Professor Emile Peynaud, counseled cold fermentation in stainless steel and covering the juice and the wine with a layer of inert gas, and thus modern-day unoxidized Rueda was born.
4. The Basque Country: We are back in what is called “Green Spain” but have moved halfway across the country and are now on the northern coast, in the home of Spain’s fractious Basque population. Everything here is virtually unpronounceable, starting with the wine, Txakolina (Chacoli to us). The grape is reasonably pronounceable, Hondarrabi Zuri, and the grapes are grown along the coast between Bilbao and San Sebastian. During the phyloxxera plague of the late 19th century the wine almost completely died out, but the Basques, zealous of their culture, did everything they could to keep production going.
5. Costers del Segre: We have now completely crossed the country and reached the foothills of the Pyrenees. The region is known as the Costers del Segre, after the Segre canal that crosses the province, and it owes its existence as a winegrowing region to one company, Codorniu, and the estate that was originally founded here by the Raventos family in 1900. Over the last century many other classy wineries sprang up, producing wines that more than matched those coming from the founding company. And here, at long last, it’s time to admit the presence of international (read “French”) grape varieties, for our wine of choice is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Verdejo, and Gewurztraminer.
Are these six regions of Spain the only ones to look to for good white wines? No, but they are among the best. And if you have not yet discovered the pleasures of Spanish whites, perhaps it’s time you did!