Spain: Rest of Spain

2015: Gold 5 Silver 3 Bronze 9 Commended 14
2014: Gold 0 Silver 3 Bronze 7 Commended 6

This section of Spain (made up of wines, broadly speaking, from Madrid downwards) is impossible to predict. Stimulating one year, with great fruit and low prices, the next it can be a car crash of oak, alcohol and tannin. Well, this year was a good ’un.

Entries were up, medals were up, and our tasters loved the juicy fruit flavours. When the prices moved upmarket the quality usually went with it, but even allowing for the odd ambitious bottle, pricing here was still impressive. To have three-quarters of our medal winners (and 80% of the Golds) under £10 marks this out as a must-visit area for any venue looking for great value for money.

FOOTNOTE: Includes wines from Jumilla, Utiél-Requena, Castilla & Mallorca.

From the Tasting Teams

‘We had a couple of good, fresh, food-friendly, elegant Spanish whites, but sometimes you got this old-fashioned, oxidative style too. In the flight, the fresher whites showed much better.’ Robert Tozser, The Rib Room

‘The best whites here had freshness, fruitiness, good balance and really good ripeness.’ Angelo Casali, Duck & Rice

‘One white wine here was just breakfast – apricots, orange blossom and white peaches!’ Oscar Miller, Vinoteca King’s Cross

‘At the lower end, there were just well-made, very simple styles of Tempranillo, but a couple of the more expensive red wines here were showing real class and complexity. It’s a flight that shows just how diverse Spain can be.’ Annette Scarfe MW, team leader

‘The reds were crowd pleasers, steak pleasers and just pleasers. Good, balanced wines, with lots of fruit and really delivering good points of difference.’ Mark Graham, Butlers Wharf Chop House

‘These ranged from easy and juicy to big, goose-bump material, so you can sell wines from both ends of the scale with different dishes. Some of these wines had a real wow factor.’ Peter Bagatti, Bagattis

‘The best wines have lovely, generous fruit and are great value for money. These styles can be a really good way to introduce people to something a little different: approachable wines, not scary but fun. Laura Rhys MS, team leader