When it comes to wine producing powerhouses around the globe, Spain is one of the top three producers of wine in the world. With nearly 3 million acres of land devoted to grape plants, Spain has more wine producing land than any other nation in the world. Surprisingly, it is only number three, but this is due to the unusually wide spacing between grape vines and the dry and infertile soil that is found in many regions of the country.
Although this has led to some complication when it comes to growing suitable wine grapes, it has not stopped Spain from producing some of the most popular wines in the world. Wines from Spain are also some of the most highly exported in the world.
One of the reasons that Spain has enjoyed such great success in wine making is that there are over 600 varieties of grapes that are native to the region and that grow across the country. Although 80% of the wines from Spain are made out of only 20 of those varieties, there is still a wealth of different wine choices available. Spanish wine is typically made in a much more traditional fashion, with as little human intervention as possible. Spaniards are among the largest consumers of wine in the world, drinking an average of almost 11 gallons of wine per year per person.
Sherry and Cava
One of the most distinctive types of wine that come from Spain is their sherry. Sherry is a specific type of fortified wine that is made by combining wine with distilled liquor, such as brandy. The brandy is added to the wine as the fermentation process is complete, which effectively kills the yeast, and leaves behind a residual sugar. This results in the wine being sweeter and stronger than most other wines, with up to 20% alcohol by volume. There are about seven different varieties of sherry wines from Spain, which are exported around the world and typically enjoyed as a dessert wine.
Sherry is just one of the many different types of wines from Spain that are enjoyed across the globe. Cava is another variety, which is a sparkling wine, similar in production to the Champagnes of France. Regardless of what kind of wine you are looking for, Spain has a variety that available for you to enjoy. Producing nearly 4 million tons of wine per year, Spanish wine accounts for a substantial percentage of the wine consumed around the world today.
