Spanish wine includes red, white, and sparkling wines produced throughout the country. Located on the Iberian Peninsula, Spain has over 1.2 million hectares planted in wine grapes, making it the most widely planted wine-producing nation, but the second largest producer of wine in the world, behind Italy and ahead of France and the United States. This is due, in part, to the very low yields and wide spacing of the old vines planted on the dry soils found in some of the Spanish wine regions. The country is ninth in worldwide consumption with Spaniards drinking, on average, 21.6 litres per person a year. The country has an abundance of native grape varieties, with over 400 varieties planted throughout Spain, though 88 percent of the country's wine production is from only 20 grapes — including the reds Tempranillo, Bobal, Garnacha, and Monastrell; the whites Albariño, Airén, Verdejo, Palomino, and Macabeo; and the three Cava grapes Parellada, Xarel·lo, and Macabeo.
A glass and bottle of Spanish Tempranillo wine, from Bodegues Ramon Roqueta, Catalunya DOP
Traditional vineyards are common sights in the countryside.
Roman aqueduct built in the Castile and León city of Segovia
Under the reign of Phillip III, Spain became more dependent on income from exporting wines to South America.
White wine is a wine that is fermented without skin contact. The colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured pulp of grapes, which may have a skin of any colour. White wine has existed for at least 4,000 years.
Glasses of white wine
Torrontés wine tasting in Cafayate, Argentina
The Hittite King Warpalawa offering a bunch of grapes to the god Tarhunta. A bas-relief in rock at Ivriz in Turkey from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC.
White grapes in the late Middle Ages