Spain - Denominación de Origen

Spain is the largest wine land in the world. She produces much of her wine in value for money quality.

http://www.whatsoever.hk/wine/Spain.Wine.Map.gif
map source: vinovixenz.com

Denominación de Origen (Designation of Origin - DO) is a five-tier classification system for Spanish wines, which was firstly developed in Rioja in 1925 and created in 1932.

Starting from the bottom to the top, the five-tier classifications are

1/ Vino de Mesa (VdM)
2/ Vinos de la Tierra (VdlT)
3/ Vino de Calidad Producido en Región Determinada (VCPRD)

http://www.whatsoever.hk/wine/Mas%20de%20Valdona.Alicante.JPG http://www.whatsoever.hk/wine/Mas%20de%20Valdona.Alicante.back.JPG
Mas de Valdona, Alicante @ HKD 25

4/ Denominación de Origen

http://www.whatsoever.hk/wine/Pleyades.Carinena.JPG http://www.whatsoever.hk/wine/Pleyades.Carinena.Back.JPG
Pleyades, Cariñena @ HKD59

5/ Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa/DOQ - Denominació d'Origen Qualificada in Catalan)

In fact, more than a half of the distinct wine-producing regions are having Denominación de Origen (DO) classification. The rest are classified as Vinos de la Tierra (VdlT).

DO and DOCa wine regions of Spain

Abona
Alella
Alicante
Almansa
Arabako Txakolina
Arlanza
Arribes
Bierzo
Binissalem/Mallorca
Bizkaiko Txakolina
Bullas
Calatayud
Campo de Borja
Cariñena
Catalunya
Cava
Cigales
Conca de Barberà
Condado de Huelva
Costers del Segre
El Hierro
Empordà-Costa-Brava
Getariako Txakolina

Gran Canaria
Jerez-Xerès-Sherry
Jumilla
La Gomera
La Mancha
La Palma
Lanzarote
Málaga & Sierras de Málaga
Manchuela
Madrid
Méntrida
Mondéjar
Monterrei
Montilla-Moriles
Montsant
Navarra
Penedès
Pla del Bages
Pla i Llevant (Mallorca)
Priorat
Rías Baixas

Ribeira Sacra
Ribeiro
Ribera del Duero
Ribera del Guadiana
Ribera del Júcar
Rioja
Rueda
Somontano
Tacoronte Acentejo
Tarragona
Terra Alta
Tierra de Léon
Tierra de los Vinos Zamora
Toro
Uclés
Utiel-Requena
Valdeorras
Valdepeñas
Valencia
Valle de Güimar
Valle de Orotava
Ycoden-Daute-Isora
Yecla


As lots of the Spanish vineyards are located on poor land, much of the productions tend to be encouraged for quantity instead of quality. Therefore, the usual price tags of them are fairly consumer-friendly.

data source: espavino.com

Comments

  1. And what about Cantabrian wines?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cantabria is not a great wine-making province, and has no denominación de origen. In fact, tostadillo is the only wine produced in Cantabria.

    ReplyDelete

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