Spanish wines appellations
D.O.Ca. = (Denominacione de origen Calificada) - the highest quality designation used for Spanish wines. So far this quality has been applied only to Rioja.
D.O.= ( Denominacione de Origen) – Spanish wines from geographically designated production areas, whare only selected types of vines are grown. Cultivation techniques as well as the number of hectolitres of a hectare are legally set in advance. The quality of the produced wines is controlled by means of tasting and laboratory analysis.
Classification of the quality Spanish wines according to their age and process of ageing :
VINO DE CRIANZA
Ageing process: 1 year in an oak cask and 6 months in a bottle
VINO DE RESERVA
Ageing process: red wine - 1 year in a cask and 2 years in a bottle
white and rose wine- 24 months, including 6 months in a cask
VINO DE GRAN RESERVA
Ageing process: red wine -2 years in a cask and 3 months in a bottle
white and rose wine – 4 years, including 6 months in a cask
VINO DE RESERVA ESPECIAL
It is the producer’s special reserva, ageing in casks like the ordinary reserva yet it is produced with very carefully selected grapes.
Other Spanish wines:
JOVEN – name applied to young wine that does not age in a cask
ROBLE – wine ageing in a cask for a shorter than the required minimum period of time for the crianza category ( usually less than a year)
VINO DE MESA – (VdM) – table wine
VINO DE LA TIERRA – (VdT) – regional wine ( an equivallent of the French vin de pays)
