It’s time to hit the Italian wine world. And if I thought France and Spain were huge, well, let’s just say I’ve hit a new hurdle. Luckily, I have a few short answer questions from my WSET tutoring session last month to help get me warmed up. Andiamo…
[Answer(s) based on WSET Level 3 material]
In my last regional overview, we went to Portugal. So, I figured the next natural progression would be to talk about Port, a fortified wine made by adding grape spirit to a fermenting juice to create an alcoholic sweet wine. As I mentioned in my Portugal post, the key Port-making region is the Douro Valley. To learn more about the other grape growing regions of Portugal, please see the original post.
Have your Port hat on?
[Answer(s) based on WSET Level 3 material]
Welcome to Portugal! Due to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, the majority of the country’s grape growing regions have a moderate maritime climate. However, there are inland areas that experience hot, dry weather patterns, thus are categorized as continental. With the various climatic conditions, it comes as no surprise that the range of grapes grown and wines produced vary from region to region.
[Information based on WSET Level 3 material]
I recently posted a Spanish wine Q&A, which did, indeed, cover a lot of information about the country’s wine region. Alas, when writing such posts, there are always a few details that get left behind, and it is those few details that one must be ready for when studying for the WSET Level 3 exam. So, I’m going to do a full wine region overview here.
[Information based on WSET Level 3 material]
INTRODUCTION TO SPAIN:
If you look at the map above, Spain can be divided into three climactic zones: 1) In the North (look at Rias Baixas and even Toro), the country is influenced by the Atlantic weather system—i.e., it has a moderate maritime climate. So vineyard risks here are all about the rainfall and associated issues. 2) To the East (move your eyes toward Priorat), the weather is a warm Mediterranean climate. Thus, there are less seasonal severities. Most vineyards are located where they can receive cooling influences from either the ocean or altitude. 3) In the very center, the Meseta Central is a large plateau that defines the center of Spain (take a look at La Mancha above). This plateau is cut off from any maritime influence by mountains. Thus, the climate here is hot continental and the largest issue is drought. Grape growers within the hot, arid center of Spain tend to utilize low-density bush-trained systems to capitalize on the water available and shading grapes from the heat-o-the-sun.
There is so much to know about Spanish wine—I’ve only now come to realize (and appreciate) the vast diversity of the grapes grown and the wine styles produced. That being said, this is definitely one country that I’m worried will stuff me up on my upcoming exam (one month away, by the way). So let’s take a look at some Q&A and see if we can’t unravel the intricacies of this Old World wine country…
[Answer(s) and information based on WSET Level 3 material]