Spanish wine between two extremes

In the El Pais newspaper of May 29 was an interesting article on the domestic market trends for Spanish wine.

Sales of quality wines (that is to say, D.O. or denominación de origen wines) are increasing, while table wine sales are dropping. This is leading producers of the latter to try and enter into the higher quality sector. Current statistics estimate that every day a new winery is built in Spain!

According to the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, per capita consumption in Spain was 26.2 liters (6.9 US gallons) per person in 2004, while in the 1970's the figure was more than 60 liters (nearly 16 gallons) per person. Even though the trend of drinking less but better has been evolving over time, the Ministry has noted a certain level of stabilization at the lower price segment of the quality wine market.

The two extremes of the Spanish wine market as seen by the Ministry are D.O. wines, which are generally seeing increases in volumes despite increases in price, while table wines, which include bulk sales, and are by and large produced by cooperatives, are seeing demand fall. The main sales mediums for table wines have been tetra-brik and bulk. It is still fairly easy to find neighborhood wineshops that have tanks of wine that the locals come to with empty water jugs to be filled. For bulk wines that go unsold from the winery, an important means of absorbing the excess production are EU distillationn programs.

In between these two extremes of D.O. and bulk is the emerging phenomenon of Vinos de la Tierra, which is akin to the Vin de Pays concept in France. Vinos de la Tierra are managed by regions and have much looser rules than do D.O.s, allowing the producers much greater freedom to create wines as they wish, free from the interference of the D.O. governing body. Two noted examples of Vinos de la Tierra wineries are Abadia Retuerta and Guelbenzu.