SPAIN’S BEST WINES AND ITS APPELLATION SYSTEM

Vega Sicilia in the Ribera del Duero was once definitively Spain’s most expensive wine, leading many to believe that it must be Spain’s greatest. Others can now lay equal claim to be the most expensive and greatest of Spanish wines (Clos l’Ermita, Dominio de Pingus, and Cirsión are likely candidates), and many more are equal in quality if not quite as ridiculously priced, including Pesquera, Rioja Contino, Barón de Ley, Muga Prado Enea, Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva), Penedés (Torres and Jean Léon), and even some nonappellation wines such as Marqués de Griñón.

The Denominación de Origen (DO) system is Spain’s equivalent of the French Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) or Italian Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) systems. The only higher Spanish classification is Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa), and Rioja remains the only recipient of this superior status since its inception in 1981, although other highquality wines may be promoted to DOCa in the future. Ribera del Duero, Navarra, Penedés, and Cava all spring to mind as candidates for such promotion. If there is a lesson the Spanish could learn from Italy, it is not to overlook outstanding nonappellation wines such as Marqués de Griñón’s Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah from south of Madrid. Indisputably two of Spain’s great wines, they should jump from DO straight to DOCa status, if Spain’s regime is to avoid the same fate as Italy’s, whose best vini da tavola were forced to build up reputations at the expense of the official system.