![]() ![]() On the northern city of Burgos, it gets as high as 850 meters (2,800 feet). ![]() On the South, in Jaen, it is located at 570 meters (1,800 feet). Madrid sits at the center of this plateau and the capital city is located at an average of 600 meters above sea level. Spain consists of a large central plateau known as la Meseta. Both latitude and altitude need to be considered to understand Spanish vineyards and wines. This is very important when we think about wine. Spain is the third most mountainous country in Europe (first if we consider the percentage of mountains over the total surface) and the second-highest after France. Over 80 million people arrive every year in Spain and most of them seek to relax at one of Spain´s sandy beaches. The most common image people have of Spain´s landscapes could be summarised as “sandy”. Tinajas are part of the Spanish wine culture, and despite they were neglected for decades, some young wine makers are reintroducing tinajas to once again make wine in Spain with them. Tinajas have narrow openings on the top which leave a very small surface in contact with the air, and oxygen. In Spain, wine was put in clay in what we know as tinajas (made famous by Cervantes in Don Quixote´s book). The Greeks had already thought of sealing the amphorae wine pine resin. Problem solved!īut there were other possible solutions. A solution for this problem, the most obvious one, was to develop rancio style wines and to acquire a taste for those. In all cases, oxidation posed always a great problem. But the wines that were produced inland, far from the Mediterranean coast (more driven towards commerce) could have had a bigger resemblance with wines we know today. Wines were heady to following the Mediterranean tradition. Rancios wines were totally oxidized and heavily reduced, becoming safe in terms of storage. We can think of them as either sweet or rancios (rancid). The first wines produced in Spain were strong. As the Reconquista progresses from north to south the role of wine increased all over the country. It took seven centuries to reconquer the territories and during those centuries wine was still produced by local farmers but alcohol was mainly used for medicine, perfumes, or cosmetics. The Godos followed Romans after the Western Roman Empire fell in the VI century but at around 711 Spain was invaded by the Moors that arrive from Afrida and that by 722 had occupied most of what we know today as Spain. ![]() Romans invaded areas where local Iberos and Celts lived and Romans introduced the fermentation of wine in stone troughs (rests of such throughs can be still found in many areas in Spain), and the conservation of wine in clay containers like amphoras. Why travel wine from so long if it could be produced there? Not far from the coasts of Gadir Phoenician traders found a perfect place to harvest grapes and this gave bright to the “triangulo de Jerez de La Frontera”, the golden triangle of Jerez, which consists of San Lucar de Barrameda, Jerez de la Frontera, and El Puerto de Santa María and which today the sherry wine route.Īfter the Phoenicians, the Romans ruled in most of Spain and Romans enjoyed the pleasures of Baco so much… vineyards were planted, wine was produced in many different areas of Hispania. When the Phoenicians arrived they brought wine from other parts of the Mediterranean. ![]()
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