The wines of Spain…my Roman Empire
A few of my favorite bottles and producers from around the country
Hola, people of the world! I hope you are thirsty, because today’s Chef’s List is a list of my favorite wines and wine regions of Spain! Of course you know I love wine, and I will take any excuse to enjoy it either with food or without (Cava is definitely the best breakfast wine you could have, and if you haven’t tried it with some tapas in the morning, I think you should). And I know I am biased, but come on—Spain has some of the best wines in the world. We have a long history of producing wine, dating back thousands of years, before even the Phoenicians landed in Cádiz around 1100 BC. So people, fill up your glasses, because I’m about to give you a history lesson.
When the Romans conquered the Iberian Peninsula around 200 BC, they saw a lot of value in Spanish wine, and began exporting it. Most of it was produced in Tarragona and Andalucía and exported throughout what is the modern-day European continent…to Rome of course but also to the soldiers at the frontlines of many battles, and to Gaul…which today of course is France. I wonder what my friend Eric Ripert would have to say about French soldiers drinking Spanish wines!
One of the things that makes Spanish wine so interesting (besides how good it is, of course) is that it has seen a lot of ups and downs over hundreds of years. For example…the al-Andalus dynasty ruled in Spain for almost 800 years, and while its leaders openly followed Islamic law, many of them loved to drink wine and actually owned their own vineyards.
In the mid-1800’s, the pest known as phylloxera, which is devastating to vineyards, wiped out many of the other wine-producing regions in Europe, especially France. Phylloxera eventually made its way over to Spain as well, but not before winemakers from those other countries discovered the terroir that makes Spanish wines so amazing…laying the groundwork for some of the best producers in the country to this day!
The wines of Spain reflect the spirit and character of Spaniards…they are creative, they are romantic, they are whimsical, and they are RESILIENT. I am so proud to share with you some of my favorite wines from some of my favorite places and producers, some of whom are like family to me. It is my hope that when you open a bottle of Spanish wine, you can feel the sun on your face, you can smell the soil, and you can picture yourself enjoying tapas. No matter where you are in the world, our wines will always bring a little bit of Spain to you.
