Spain Flashcards
What is the main white grape of Rueda?
Verdejo.
Who and what facilitated the modern age of Spanish wine making?
Phylloxera in France in 1850’s and 1860’s.
Bordeaux-trained Marqués de Riscal and Marqués de Murrieta returned to Rioja with grape varieties and lessons from the Médoc, including barrique aging (called barricas in Spain) and estate bottling (performed at their newly constructed bodegas)
Where is Vega Sicilia made? Who was the founder? Name of wine.
Ribera del Duero. Don Eloy Lecanda y Chaves. Unico.
What is the most important grape of Bierzo DO? Where is it? Describe the wines.
Mencia. Castillo y Leon. Fruity, aromatic and refreshing red wine with grace and finesse.
What is the most important white grape of Rias Baixas?
Albariño.
What wines go in to making dry, white Ribiero?
Albariño, Treixadura, Loureira, Torrontés, and, increasingly, Godello
Where is Ribeira Sacra? What wines are made there?
Northwestern, inland. White from Godello and red from Mencia. Steep, terraces along the Sil and Miño rivers.
What is the climate of Ribera del Duero?
Hot summers with cool summer nights (94 day/ 54 night).
Good acidity and brightness due to the cool nights. Wines of intense color, fruit and savor.
Harvest in late October.
Name for Tempranillo in Ribera del Duero?
Tinto Fino or Tinta del Pais.
Where is Pingus from?
Ribera del Duero.
Where is Numanthia located?
Toro
What is the name of Tempranillo in Toro?
Tinta de Toro.
What is the altitude of Toro and rainfall? What types of vines?
High altitude, cool nights (to fix color), low rainfall (almost desert like).
Record low vine density (bush vines/ old vines).
What is the white wine of Rueda? Describe it.
Verdejo. Dry, crisp with good acidity. Able to develop its full minerality due to longer ripening time than SB.
What are the red wines of Rueda sold as? Grape?
Vino de la Tierra Castilla y Leon. Tempranillo and some Cabernet Sauvignon.
What are the grapes of Cava?
Parellada, Macabeo and Xarel-lo.
What geological formation allows for viticulture in Rioja? What are the other mountains?
Sierra de Cantabria mountains. Otherwise too buffeted by Atlantic winds.
Sierra de la Demanda and the Sierra de Cameros
What are the 3 regions of Rioja?
Rioja Baja, Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta.
What are the soils of Alta and Alavesa?
Clay in Rioja Alta and limestone in Rioja Alavesa
What is the name for Carignan in Rioja?
Mazuelo
What is the main grape of Rioja? Secondary grapes?
Tempranillo, graciano (Morrastel in the Languedoc, Tinta Miuda in Portugal), Garnacha and Mazuelo.
What is the original wine capital of Rioja?
Haro. Perfect positioning and transportation hub with train station.
What is a well known name known for traditional style whites in Rioja? (Also reds)
Lopez de Heredia- Viña Tondonia. Can challenge the whites of Bordeaux- aged for decades in barrels
What is the main river of Rioja? Tributary?
Ebro. Oja.
How big is a Rioja cask?
225 liters.
What are the five sub zones of Rias Baixas?
Val do Salnés, Ribeira do Ulla, Soutomaior, O Rosal, and Condado do Tea
What are the five DOs of Galicia?
Rías Baixas, Ribeiro, Valdeorras, Ribeira Sacra, and Monterrei.
What are the DOs of the Basque Country?
Getariako Txakolina
Bizkaiko Txakolina
Arabako Txakolina
What is the white grape of the Pais Vascos? Red?
Ondarrabi Zuri.
Ondarrabi Beltza
What are the DOs of Castilla y Leon?
Ribera del Duero Arlanza Cigales Rueda Toro Tierra del Vino de Zamora Arribes Tierra de León Bierzo
What are the DOs of Catalonia?
Priorat Montsant Tarragona Penedès Alella Empordà Pla de Bages Conca de Barberá Terra Alta Costers del Segre
Who introduced stainless steel fermentation to Spain?
Miguel Torres.
Who created the modern day reds of Priorat? Where?
Rene Barbier (Clos Mogador). Gratallops.
Where does the Priorat get it’s name from?
Priorato de Scala Dei, a Carthusian monastery (priory) founded on the site of a boy’s vision of angels ascending to heaven
What are the soils of the Priorat?
Llicorella, a mix of black slate and quartzite
What are the five original Clos of Priorat?
Clos Mogador, Palacios’ Clos Dofi, Clos Erasmus, Clos de l’Obac, and Clos Martinet
What are the historic wines of Tarragona?
fortified rancio or mistela, the Spanish version of vin de liqueur
Where is the Raimat estate located? Who founded it?
Costers del Segre DO. Manuel Raventós
What are the three sub zones of Penedes DO?
Baix-Penedès, Medio-Penedès, and Alt-Penedès
What is the Catalan name of Tempranillo?
Ull de Llebre
What is one of the highest altitude growing regions in Europe?
Alt-Penedes. Perfectly suited to Parellada grape.
What is the historic white variety of Baix-Penedes? Describe it. What did it recently receive?
Malvasia de Sitges. It is a sweet fortified wine. Slow Food “presidia” status.
Where is the birthplace of Cava? By whom?
San Sadurní d’Anoia. Jose Raventós of Codorniú.
What are the aging requirements of Cava?
nine months for basic bottlings, fifteen months for reserva, and thirty months for gran reserva.
What is unique about the Cava DO?
Cava DO is the only Spanish Denominación de Origen that covers a style, rather than a region.
What is Alicante DO famous for?
It is known for dessert wines: a local specialty is Fondillón, a solera-style, oxidative dessert wine produced from overripe Monastrell (Mourvèdre) grapes aged for a minimum of ten years. Unlike Sherry, the famous solera wine of Andalucía, Fondillón is not fortified and it does carry the flavor of wood
What are Doble Pasta wines?
Doble Pasta red wines are macerated and fermented with twice the normal amount of grape skins and pulp, resulting in a wine of intense concentration, tannin and color.
What grape and method are common in Utiel-Requena?
Bobal grape and Doble Pasta method.
La Mancha is Europe’s largest single demarcated wine region. True or False.
True
What are the two most common grapes of La Mancha?
Airén and Cencibel (Tempranillo).
What is the name of the governing bodies responsible for regulating the growing, making and shipping of regional wines?
Consejo regulador.
What is the main white of Rioja?
Viura, aka Macabeo
What are the soils of Toro?
Red clay and sand.
Some Tinta de Toro, constituting 85% of all plantings in the region, is vinified quickly by carbonic maceration and sold young and juicy, but the great majority of the wine is aged in oak, in the case of Reservas for at least 12 months. True or false.
True.
What vines are suited to the hotter climate and clay soils of Rioja Baja?
Garnacha.
What are the aging requirements of red crianza, reserva and gran reserva wines?
Crianza 2 yrs incl. 6 mo in cask
Reserva 3 yrs incl. 1 yr in cask
Gran Reserva 5 yrs incl. 18 mo. In cask
What are the aging requirements for red Rioja?
Crianza 2 yrs/ 1 yr cask
Reserva 3 yrs/ 1 yr cask
Gran Reserva 5 yrs/ 2 yr oak
When did Rioja receive DOCa status?
1991
What is the size of a Rioja cask?
225 l
What are the three DO Pagos of Navarra?
Otazu, Arínzano and Prado de Irache
What are the three DO Pagos of Utiel-Requena?
Chozas Carrascal, Los Balagueses and El Terrerazo.
What are the DO Pagos of Castilla y Leon?
Dominio de Valdepusa, Finca Élez, Guijosa, Dehesa del Carrizal, Campo dela Guardia, Florentino, Casa del Blanco and Calzadilla
What are the best whites from Valdeorras in Galicia?
Godello
When was Ribera del Duero awarded DO status?
1982
Where is Pesquera from? Who made?
Ribera del Duero. Alejandro Fernández.
What grape is responsible for the Rosé wines of Navarra and Rioja Baja?
Native Garnacha
What does the climate of Rioja Baja tend towards?
Mediterranean. In summer, drought can be a problem.
All of Rioja’s wineries grow, make and bottle their own wines. True or false?
False. There are more than 20,000 growers who sell their grapes to the coops or bodegas to make, bottle and sell. Some bodegas have started growing their own grapes. Two estates, Remelluri and Contino, have emerged that grow, estate bottle and market.
What accounts for the strength and intensity if the garnacha based wines of Priorat?
Llicorella soil and low yields do the old vines- average of.3 ton/acre!
What DO surrounds Priorat?
Montsant DO (was sub zone of Tarragona)
What were the traditional grapes and wines of Bajo Penedès?
Malvasia and Muscat of Alexandria for sweet fortified wines.
Warmest of the three regions and lowest altitude at 825 ft.
The Medio Penedès, at 1600 ft above sea level, is the most productive zone of Penedès providing much of the base wine for the Cava industry. True or False.
True. Along with increasing quantities of Chardonnay and Tempranillo
What is one of the main grapes of Jumilla?
Monastrell
Ribera del Duero produces reds, rosados and whites. True or false.
False. Whites are not allowed.
Cigales DO, in Castilla y Leon, is known for Nuevo wines…similar to primeur of France. True or false.
True.
Catalonia has a shared lineage with what French departément.
Rousillon.
Name 3 DO within Castilla-Leon
Ribera del Duero: ribera means riverside
Toro: 100% Tinta de Toro (Trempranillo)
Rueda: aromatic whites from Verdejo (similar to SB), plus SB and Viura, most with no oak
Name a region that is both a VdlT and a DO
Valencia
Name some top Ribera Del Duero Producers
Aalto Abadia Retuerta Alion Condado de Haza Dominio de Pingus Emelio Moro Mauro Pesquera Vega Sicila
Name the 5 districts of Navarra
Ribera Alta - finest wines; Viura important too
Ribera Baja - finest wines; very hot and dry; Garnacha predominant
Tierra Estalla - rosados from Tempranillo
Valdizarbe - smallest
Baja Montana - highest and wettest
Name some top Rioja Producers
Baron de Ley Marques de Crinon Marques de Murrieta Marques de Riscal Bodega Muga La Rioja Alta CVNE (Compania Vinicola del Norte de Espana = Wine Company of Northern Spain)
Name the best recent vintages for Ribera Del Duero
1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001
How does climate affect wine?
Cool climates result in High Acid and Low Alcohol
Hot climates result in Low Acid and High Alcohol
Name the 3 subzones of Rioja
Rioja Alta - best subzone; structure and ageworthy; clay soils with chalk (whites) and iron (Tempranillo)
Rioja Alavesa - Tempranillo predominant; soils; chalky soils; maritime climate
Rioja Baja - Garnacha predominant; overlaps Navarra; clay soils; warm and dry
Name the DOs of Murcia
Yecla
Jumilla
Bullas
What is considered the best DO of Castilla-La Mancha?
Valdepenas
Name the grapes of Sherry
90% Palomino
PX and Moscatel are raisinated and used for sweeting and color
All white grapes
What is Rueda DO (Castilla-Leon) known for?
Aromatic whites from Verdejo, Sauvignon Blanc, and Viura
What is Montilla-Moriles DO (Andalucia) known for?
Fortified and Unfortified wines similar to Sherry
Airen, Baladi, Moscatel, Pedro Ximenez, Torrontes (more famous in Argentina)
Soutomaior is a sub region of __________.
Rias Baixas
Ribera del Duero DO is for red wine only. True or False
True
The main grape variety of red Rioja is…..
Tempranillo
Which do the following Rioja wines should be the oldest?
Crianza, gran riserva, joven, reserva, noble
Gran Reserva
