Spanish Wines

My first taste of wine happened in Italy in 2012 when I was a study abroad student in the beautiful province of Tuscany. Since then, I have loved and still love wine dearly. When I started drinking wine, I started with white wine and over time, I changed to red wine and now, its very hard for me to drink anything else besides red wine. I have been lucky because I now live in California and this state is filled with wine that is endless especially when you live in North California. 

But for today's discussion, I wanted to tell you guys about my latest favorites - Spanish wines especially wine produced in the province of Crianza, Ronda and Granada. I love Bordeaux that's why I love Justin Winery so much but ever since I spent 3 weeks in Spain and enjoyed their wines, thought I would talk about them. 

For those who love Cabernet Sauvignon and the fruits of Grenache then welcome to the love of wine mostly grown in the famous region of Rioja. Over those three weeks, I learned a thing or two, one being that Rioja classifies their wine using a system especially for their red wines.

The first one being Crianza which is what i drank the most. They are cheap and can be found for less than $15. That's why I was drinking so much wine for less than $2. So Crianza is basically created for high-quality daily drinking. Not too rich but just a lot of body more than your typical Merlot.

After the Crianza, you have the Reserva. They are aged for about 3 years. They have some serious tastes and for those who love good wines, go for the Rioja Reserva.

Then finally, you have the Gran Reserva. The cream of the best. They experience the best aging and hey select the best grapes for this. Which means, more money but excellent wine. 

So if you happen to be in Ronda, make sure you do a wine tasting. BTW, you wont find the long lines that you have to deal with in Napa. Make sure you stop by Chinchilla and also Joaquin Fernandez. For me they offered the best wine and I would love to try some of their wines when I visit a wine store here in California.

Cheers!