Spain Part 2

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:01][Music] Spain has many wine growing regions for this class however we will focus on three of them Rioja pet as and Kaba cava is not a geographical location but a designation it is sparkling wine produced method traditional 95 percent of all Kaaba is produced in Catalonia however there are eight total regions that are designated as cava growing regions throughout Spain [Music] rioja is one of Spain's most famous wine growing regions and produces some of its best red wines there are three sub regions within Rioja [Music] and just a few quick facts first this was the first region to earn the do status high quality status in 1925 for the country of Spain it was the first region to earn the DOCA status in 1991 it's located in north-central Spain in the Ebro River Valley it has warm sunny summers and mild winters I suggest renting a car if you're in Spain and driving through the area it's beautiful with some very unique wineries [Music] you can see the three sub regions of Rioja laid out by this wonderful society of one educators map Rioja Alta which is in the western half of Rioja has high altitude and is hilly rioja alavesa which is north of the Ebro River and Rioja Baja it's the eastern part of Rioja it is a lower flatter terrain keep in mind while all three of these sub regions are in the major region of Rioja they do differ by soil type in climate Rioja Baja is very hot and dry while Rioja Alta and rioja alavesa have more mild climates in comparison in general the best grapes grow on the cooler slopes in Rioja Alta an rioja alavesa however most Rioja wine grapes blend from these sub regions to create more consistency throughout Tempranillo is going to be the main grape varietal let's take a quick look at the varietals in this region and the wine styles 90% of the grapes grown in Rioja are Reds and Tempranillo is going to be the major red grape grown this is the base of traditional Rioja blends usually aged in American oak barrels high tannins and they can age for decades other grape varietals include Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon come in the air etc but the main one is Tempranillo [Music] with the white wines by aura also known as macabeo is the principal white grape of Rioja usually cold fermenting and releases young some vineyards use barrel fermentation and oak aging and Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc have recently been a grooved for plantings in the Rioja region [Music] well there are not a lot of roses produced there are some and they're becoming more popular with the majority of garnacha grapes used and blended with other red grapes such as Tempranillo newsela garnish yo and keep in mind that much of the wine styles and some of these Bordeaux grape varietals come from the French and what happened was the French wine industry was pretty much decimated and destroyed by falak surra and so the French winemakers started moving south into Spain and they brought with them extensive winemaking experience and they set about really in this area to make a Bordeaux style wine from the indigenous grapes that they had available [Music] when pairing you might want to choose a marquis de Murrieta reserva Marquis de Marietta was the first commercial bodega in Rioja and this gentleman actually brought in the French winemaking methods and was the first one in Spain to do so this would be a wine that has a notes that are spicy and of ripe plums this wine also has a subtle tasting of the toasted and oak from the barrel-aging that it goes through for two and a half years [Music] in addition you would want to pair this with something like beef tenderloin asparagus and carrots so nice hearty meal but not any interfering flavors heda's produces sherry which is a fortified wine exported worldwide sherry is one of the two best known fortified wines in the world port being the other one from Portugal though not as popular in modern times as it once was sherry is still exported widely and it is well received in Britain and the Netherlands [Music] the climate is perfect for producing sherry well Andalusia is hot and dried the atlantic ocean makes head asses climate slightly cooler and particularly in the vineyards closest to the water it cools it down there is no rain in the summer again a reminder June July and August are dry for the most part throughout Spain [Music] taking a look at varietals there are three major varietals used to produce sherry in the head as region Palomino is indigenous to Spain and it's the primary grape used in most Sherry's Pedro Jimenez or px as it's known on the label frequently acts as a sweetener in the sherry it is very fruit forward with a high sugar content and muscatel adds a sweetener or gives a fruity flavor in young cherries [Music] soils in the region are albariza soil for the Palomino grapes which is like a limestone rich chalky clay and sand battle soil for the Pedro Jimenez grapes again this is a clay soil with iron oxide chalk and sand and the arena soil for the muscatel grape which is a sandy soil each of these soils would have these types of grapes generally grown in it and it is conducive for producing really good grapes in that soil [Music] I have four basic steps of sherry production we could spend the whole entire class on sherry production but just basically they produce a base wine they use stainless steel tanks for Herman tation [Music] step two would be fortification basically the base wine and alcohol are mixed until the alcohol level reaches the desired percentage which is higher than a table wine would be so fortified wines gonna have to hire ABV [Music] [Music] the third thing which is really important is the aging and this maturation system takes place in what's called the Solaris system it's layers of barrels and they are arranged by age and the oldest wine is layered and the Solera at the bottom and the youngest at the top and they take different barrels and blend them at different times the maturation helps to create different characteristics when they blend these wines through the Solaris system it reduces the differences between the vintages and and makes for standard product [Music] and then the fourth step is going to be bottling and sometimes wines are sweetened colored or blended before bottling and then they're bottled and sealed [Music] [Music] as I mentioned before Sharri is produced in a wide range of styles from light and dry to rich and sweet and is found in a wide range of colors from pale yellow tan and brown to near black as mentioned before the majority of sherry is based on the Palomino grape varietal and is produced using a base wine and the fortification the blending process and the bottling process there are four styles of sherry the first two listed here are the major styles of sherry that you would see the pheno style sherry and the hollow Rosso style sherry there is also a hybrid style and a dried grape sherry and you can see the differences as you read through [Music] [Music] when Perry and Cheri you might want to choose a Sandeman Cherie this is a Fino always serve the pheno well-chilled Sandeman is famous for their port made in Portugal but they also make sherry produced in head ass brandy and Madeira and this caped man on the front is named Don he actually has a name this wine is light fruity and delicate and it has a dry finish you'll want to pair that with traditional Spanish tapas or seafood such as calamari sardines variety of olives etc enjoy [Music] so when you are ready to celebrate Spanish style you might want to have some kava kava definitely denotes a higher quality of sparkling wine because it's made traditional method as far as the geography and terroir remember that about 95 percent of kava is produced in Catalonia but there are seven other regions for a total of eight regions that by law can produce kava in Spain [Music] as mentioned before the heart of cava is west of Barcelona this Catalan land is low lying close to the Mediterranean coast and this is going to mean that it has a slightly cooler temperature and more humidity the soil is predominantly chalky it's not quite the same soil as the chalky soil in the Champagne region of France however it does fall under chalky soils [Music] the three classic varietals used in producing cava are macabeo which is a white varietal Zarrella which is a white varietal and it's basically the base for most cava blends and then peraleda which is a right parietal [Music] a quick note other varietals have recently been approved for the production of kava including Chardonnay Pinot Noir and tree pot some of these are used in the production of kava the only red grape allowed in the production of kava would be the tripod a red grape belief to be native to Catalonia again this may only be used in the production of kava Rose Otto or Rose a [Music] [Music] the term kava refers to the process by which the wines are made since this is matado traditional or method traditional sparkling wines are aged in a cellar in a cave and they must be aged for at least nine months this is because the second fermentation process takes place in the bottle [Music] most cabo wine is made as a dry white wine however Cabo risotto styles and sweeter styles are also allowed [Music] there are four cava designations kava-kava reserva Coppa Gran Reserva and cava de perak hey caliphs kado this is a designation or these are designations that require increased aging so the minimum aging requirements will increase as you go up in stature so again the Cabo reserve Oh will require more aging than the basic nine-month cava would require [Music] when going to pair you might want to try this who've AE comps it is an $18 bottle of Rose a cava and it is Brut which means there's not much in the way of sugar so it'll be dry it has a bright berry fruit with a bright acidity and a spicy finish which will pair well with the smoked salmon crostini