WSET4 General Spain Flashcards
Learn the generic elements of wines in Spain to the "WSET-4 diploma" level, an expert level qualification for professionals working in the wine industry. Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) is generally regarded as the world's leading provider of wine education.
<p>What are the Key wine growing regions of Spain?</p>
<p>UPPER EBRO: Navarra, Rioja, Somontano CATALONIA: Catalonia, Costers Del Segre, Penedes, Priorat, Tarragona DUERO VALLEY: Ribera Del Duero, Rueda, Toro LEVANTE: Valencia, Murcia CASTILLA-LA-MANCHA: La Mancha, Valdepenas, Extremadura NORTH-WEST: Galicia, Bierzo, Pais Vasco</p>
What are the 5 tiers of wine quality in Spain?
Denominacion de Origen Calificada (DOCa) DO Pago Denominacion de Origen (DO) Vinos de Calidad con Indicacion Geografica (VCIG) Vino de la Tierra (VdIT)
When were the autonomías of Spain legally established?
1978
In what year were DO regulations approved in Spain?
1970
What are the main grape varieties of Spain?
Red, local: Tempranillo, Grenache, Monastrell. Red, International: C/S, MerlotWhite, local: Airen, Viura, Verdejo, Albariño. White, International: Chardonnay, Savignon Blanc
What means the Spanish term Mistela?
Unfermented grape juice combined with the addition of alcohol
What means the Spanish term Lias?
Lees
What means the Spanish term Hollejo?
Grape skin
What means the Spanish term Heces?
Sediment found in an aged bottle of wine or found in a tank after fermentation
What means the Spanish term Granvas?
Tank fermented sparkling wine
What means the Spanish term Doble Pasta?
Dark, full-bodied Spanish wine produced by running off a proportion of fermenting must after two days and adding more crushed grapes to refill the vat. The ratio of skin to pulp is effectively doubled, producing wines with a deep, black colour and very high levels of tannin. Doble pasta wines have traditionally been made in jumilla, yecla, utiel-requena, manchuela, and alicante, where they are used for blending but they are being superseded by grape concentrate.
What means the Spanish term Casca?
Leftover grape skins and seeds
What means the Spanish term Bodega?
Spanish term for a wine cellar, a winery, or a tavern or grocery store selling wine.
What means the Spanish term Anada?
Vintage
What means the Spanish term Andana?
A stack of wine casks, usually 5 tiers high
What means the Spanish term Almacenista?
Producers and growers who make and age their own Sherry to be later sold to a licensed Sherry house.
What means the Spanish term Aguja?
Wine that has naturally dissolved Carbon Dioxide and gives a slight prickle on the tongue
What means the Spanish term Vendimia?
Vintage or harvest
What means the Spanish term Vino Generoso?
Fortified Wine
What means the Spanish term Vinedo Vina?
Spanish word for vineyard.
What means the Spanish term Tinaja?
large, earthenware vessel, probably developed from the Roman amphorae, occasionally still used to ferment and store wine in central and southern spain and southern chile. Tinajas are used by some producers in La mancha, valdepeñas, and montilla-moriles, although modern versions are mostly made from reinforced concrete. They are relatively cheap, but have the disadvantages that they are not very efficient in terms of space, are difficult to clean, especially if the neck is narrow, and offer relatively poor temperature control unless they are buried underground like qvevri. Increased interest in amphorae in winemaking has led to a certain reprise, however.
What means the Spanish term Barrica?
Spanish term for a barrel or barrique. A barrica bordelesa is the specific term for a Bordeaux barrique, the most common barrel type used in Spain.
What does Vino Joven mean?
Young wine, may or may not have spent time in oak cask. Bottled in year following vintage for release.
What does the term Viejo mean on a Spanish wine label?
Three years ageing, no requirements for oak, but the wine must display a marked oxidative effect.
What would the term Noble mean on a bottle of Spanish wine?
18 months aging in a cask of 600 L or bottle
What does ‘Cosecha’ mean on a Spanish wine label?
year of vintage
What is Arrope?
Syrup used for sweetening wine in Spain, especially Sherry, made by boiling down and thus concentrating unfermented grape juice.
What is Sangria?
A mixture of red wine, lemonade, and, sometimes, spirits and fresh fruit, served with particular gusto in Spain’s tourist resorts. In 2014 the eu ruled that the name should be restricted to the produce of Spain and Portugal.
What does it mean for a wine to be made in a rancio style?
Madeirized, exposed to direct sunlight
What are the standardized aging requirements for red and white Gran Reserva in Spain?
RED – 5 years, including at least 18 months in cask WHITE – 4 years, including at least 6 months in cask
What are the standardized aging requirements for Reserva red and white wines in Spain?
RED – 3 years, including at least 1 year in cask WHITE – 2 years, including at least 6 months in cask
What are the standardized aging requirements for Crianza red and white wines?
Red must age a minimum of 2 yrs with @ least 6 mth in cask. White and Rosados must age a minimum of 12 mths with @ least 6 mths in cask.
Describe the development of the Gran Reserva category…
Spanish term for a wine supposedly from an outstanding vintage which has been subject to lengthy ageing, the exact period varying from do to DO, before release. Rioja produces the great majority of all Gran Reservas and here red wines must spend a minimum of two years in barrels of approximately 225 l. The wine may not leave the bodega until the sixth year after the vintage. White and rosé wines must spend a total of at least four years in cask and bottle, including at least six months ageing in barrel, to qualify. For much of the 20th century, Gran Reservas represented Spain’s finest and most expensive wines, but many of the country’s most celebrated winemakers are nowadays concerned to preserve more fruit in their top bottlings and do not necessarily equate quality with time spent in wood.
Describe the development of the Crianza category…
Spanish term used both to describe the process of ageing a wine and also for the youngest officially recognized category of a wood-matured wine. A crianza red wine may not be sold until its third (second for whites and rosés) year, and must have spent a minimum of six months in cask. Crianza white and rosé must be aged for at least 18 months, including six months in wood. In rioja and other regions such as ribera del duero, where the term is most commonly used, the wine must have spent at least 12 months in oak barricas. An increasingly frequent, albeit unofficial, category now is semi-crianza, or roble (meaning oak), for wine aged in cask for less time than the crianza minimum. With the term joven fully accepted for fruity young wines without cask ageing, the slightly derogatory description sin crianza had all but disappeared by the late 1990s.
Europe’s largest demarcated region lies within Spain – what is it?
La Mancha DO
What is Spain’s largest autonomias?
Castilla Y Leon (‘The Land Of Castles’). It has many fortifications to protect Spain from the Moors.
Where are Vallodolid, Burgos, and Soria provinces?
Ribera del Duero
What autonomia of Spain was once considered the same region as Rousillon?
Catalonia
What are the 3 autonomias of North/Central Spain?
Navarra, La Rioja, Aragón
What is the mountain range that separates France and Spain?
The Pyrenees
What DO of Spain has a minimum and maximum alcohol, and what is it?
Toro 12.5-15%
The most widely planted red grape of Spain?
Tempranillo
What is supposed to be the first vinous export to North America?
Sherry
What are the 3 DO Pagos to be promoted in 2011? What was the first DO Pago?
2011: Calzadilla (Castilla-La Mancha) Los Balaqueses (Utiel-Requeña) Aylés (Cariñena) First: Dominio de Valdepusa (Castilla-La Mancha)
As of 2004, what grape had the most vineyard acreage in the world?
Airen
What were the first three regions in Spain to be regulated by Consejos Reguladores?
Sherry, Rioja, Malaga
What do VCIG and VdlT stand for in Spain? What EU categories do these fall under.
VCIG - Vinos de Calidad con Indicación GeograficaVdlT - Vino de la Tierra. Both fall under EU’s IGP status
Who introduced método tradicional sparkling wine to Spain?
Jose Raventós of Codomiu in 1872 in Penedès
What was the effect of odium and phylloxera on Spain?
Many Bordeaux winemakers came to Rioja to bridge the interruption in their own vineyards, and introduced grape varieties, Barricas and estate bottling
When were DO regulations approved in Spain?
1970
What do DO and DOCa stand for?
DO, Denominación de Origen, DOCa, Denominación de Origen Calificada
What is a Consejo Regulador?
Spanish term meaning ‘regulating council’. Spanish wine law is administered through a network of Consejos Reguladores representing each and every do. They comprise vine-growers, wine producers, and merchants who between them decide on the ground rules for their region.
Where is the label term DOCa used and what does it mean?
Highest level of quality in Spain (only Rioja and Priorato)
What is the only Spanish DO that covers a style of wine rather than a region?
Cava DO
What does Vino de Pago mean?
Special Spanish category of supposedly exceptionally high-quality, single-estate wines, granted their own appellation. By 2014 there were 15, arguably too many.Theoretically superior to DO. An estate within an existing DO must surpass the basic DO requirements in DO Pagos legislation, through lowered yields and other measures suggestive of quality production. This level of quality is not used much in Rioja, Ribera Del Duero, due to big brands in these areas.
Give more context to the term Bulk Wine…
Or wine en vrac, as the French call it, is wine that is ready to drink, but has not been put into smaller containers such as bottles. This may be because it is about to be packaged, or because it will be sold to another producer. Most of the wine that is sold in bulk is marketed at less than 10 US dollars per bottle, and is not meant for long term ageing. bulk transport is by far the cheapest way of moving wine and it is common for wine to move in bulk between producer and blender or bottler, possibly between continents and hemispheres.In Europe, Germany has emerged as the major importer of bulk wine from the New World, buying mainly red wine from Chile, Argentina, California, Australia, and South Africa. Most of this is sold through importers/bottlers in Germany and then bottled for various discount chains. China has emerged as a significant buyer of bulk wine, sourced wherever it is cheapest. The UK remains a significant market for bulk wine, both for brands and for private labels, a continuation of the country’s wine bottling tradition.When surplus production became an increasingly geographically widespread phenomenon in the early 21st century, the bulk wine market became an important feature of international wine trade, helped considerably by online trading.Brokers of bulk wine have become inceasingly important and their business is strongly influenced by factors such as the weather during flowering where large quantities of wine are grown, currency movements, and fashions in varietals (see sideways, for example). They follow the bulk markets daily and provide information to their client base. The internet has been a significant tool in managing and communicating up-to-date market information but few of the companies formed in the internet boom days, in the hope of replacing more traditional brokers, survived because ebuyers need more information than simply price and location.Bulk wine may even be sold in measured quantities drawn off from some form of bulk storage. In southern Europe it is still commonplace to take a container, perhaps a bonbonne or large plastic container, to be filled with bulk wine, which is charged by the litre.
When are VCIGs eligible to apply for DO status? When are DOs eligible to apply for DOCa status?
5 years 10 years
Under what EU quality category does Spain’s Vinos de Calidad con Indicacion Geografica (VCIG) fall?
DOP
How does Spanish wine law differ from French wine law?
They rank individual estates, as well as have aging requirements.
What was the second region to be promoted to DOCa status?
Priorat
What are the two highest tiers in Spanish Winemaking?
DO and DOCa (Denominacion De Origen and Denominacion de Origen Calificada. Vinod de Calidad con Indicacion Geografica (VCIG)- once considered a stepping stone to DOP in the near appellation scheme.
What is the lowest level of quality wine made in Spain?
Vino de la Tierra (VdlT)- IGP scheme in the EU
When were the Consejos Reguladores established?
1930s
What was the first DOCa?
Rioja
Describe the typical Viti of Spain?
Spain has largest area under vine, third in volume.Low yielding, still predominately low density planting, bush trained vines, widely spaced in arid regions.New v/yards are planted with wire trained vines.Many small holders sell to merchants or co-ops.
Climate and weather?
North: Maritime or Continental. Continental in the Centre and away from coastSouth and East: Mediterranean. Little variation in vintages
DO that makes good quality reds from Monastreil
Jumilla
In which Spanish DO is Fondillon produced?
Alicante DO
Where is Verdejo mostly grown?
Rueda
In which region of Spain do we come across, almost exclusively, the grape Parraleta?
Somontano
Describe in general the wine History of Spain…
Long production history, important wine producer in Roman Times, supplying most of the wine drunk in Rome.Important influence of French wine making techniques (especially barrel ageing) introduced in mid 19th Century.Many recent changes in viticulture, winemaking and laws while keeping of the traditions.
What was the first wine that was shipped to North America and England from Spain?
Sherry. This is despite the Spanish Armada in the 15th Century.
What prevented Spanish colonies from producing wine in the 17th Century?
Laws from the Spanish government. This protected Malaga and Sherry. It also prevented and slowed New World wine production in Spanish colonies.
International Varieties- Spain
Often well suited to the climate/ soil type. High quality potential, produced varietally or in a blend with local grapes. Commonly grown are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay.
Which famous winemaker returned back to Spain in the 1860s?
Marques De Riscal and Marquis De Murratta came back with Bordeaux grape varieities and barrique aging (called barricas in Spain), plus estate bottling
What sparkling wine style in Spain started in the late 19th Century?
Champana- cava (as it is now known) at San Sadurni d’Anoia
What caused quality to go down in Spain from the 1930s to 1975?
Francisco Franco’s rise to power in fascism until his death. This hampered developments. But Miguel Torres bought stainless steel in 1960s, and DOC laws were finally approved in 1970.
Who introduced stainless steel fermentation in the 1960s to Spain and where?
Miguel Torres, Catalonia
When did Phylloxera hit Spain?
Dawn of the 20th Century in Rioja
What autonomia of Spain never has had Phylloxera?
Canary Islands
What DO resisted phylloxera until the 1980s?
Jumilla, sandy soils (nearly 100 yrs after the louse hit Spain)
Where does the Phylloxera Festival take place?
San Sadurni d’Anoia
Old Spanish term for Table Wines.
Vino de Mesa
What is the scientific name of American oak?
Quercus Alba
Who is the world’s largest producer of sparkling wine?
Freixenet
