What makes a great wine?

Recently it seems to be apparent that what makes a great wine or better said the best wine has come into question. It has always been common knowledge in the wine world that for the best wines you must be talking about Chateau Lafit, Chateau Latour, Sassicaia, Opus One, Screaming Eagle, Vega Sicilia, or L'Ermita. True that these are wines that should lead any list of the greats of the world, but certain revelations have come out that might put this into question. This does not mean that any of these wines have dropped off in quality recently, to the contrary they remain wines of orgasmic proportions.

The true crux of this thought is that when a wine sells literally 100's of millions of bottle it must be for a reason as in Yellow Tail Shiraz from Australia. It is the number one selling wine in the world. So who is to say that it is not the best. Even though I think it sucks like toilet water the masses leave you with something to think about. I guess it is like movie critics, every time I open my local newspaper and see the top ten by the critics and the top ten by sales and there might only be one movie that is on both lists. I think that theses critics don't know shit most of the movies they picked probably put the producer out of business because of the lack of sales. Then a movie that has a billion in ticket sales is terrible in the critics eye. Something just ain't right with this.

Well as for me I am still in the critics mind when it comes to the best wines and a sure as hell would love to drink Vega Sicilia from the worst year on record before Yellow Tail.

Why I love Spanish wine.

Aside from the fact that I currently reside among the beautiful olive groves of Andalucia, Spanish wine will always have a place in my heart. As the say around here “Why don't we chat a glass of wine”, I know it sounds weird in English but it is true. Having a glass of fine wine with friends is a medium to talk about whatever is pressing in the world today. Religion, politics, war, or anything else that will lead to a heated debate. However we add in the sensory enjoyment from the wine to the emotional enjoyment of debate and well we are chatting a glass of wine.

Drinking, sipping and smelling a fine wine from any part of Spain can provoke sure ecstasy especially in the right place at the right time with the right people. A little anecdote, when we walk in to a nice tapas bar with a decent selection of wines we begin to order a round of food not much but 8 or 10 tapas or 4 or 5 raciones and a bottle of wine. Well that bottle lasted all of 1 minute so we order another and so on and so on for about 5 hours. When arriving at the end of this adventure we move on to pay, the correct way in Spain is to take the bill and divide it equally between all in the group regardless of what you might have actually ordered, then pay. But when you find out that included in the bill is TEN bottles of wine and 40 tapas and then you realize that the total per person is about 15 euros (20 dollars) you might be on to something. Well the truth is we don't do that everyday but when we do “skies the limit” and when is the last time you could say that about where you are today.

Taste, discover and for God sakes come visit Spain. You won't regret it “OK maybe you will” but lighten up and have fun.

Why is Spanish wine SO CHEAP!

Considering all the factors when it comes to making a great wine, of which Spain has most of them and when you add in the value then we are getting a some of the best wines in the world. Maybe it is just that the Spaniards have failed to see the true value of the wine they produce or maybe it is just because the average Spanish person thinks that a top tier wine should cost around 4 bucks. Whatever the reason the value of Spanish wine to the rest of us is something that just can't be passed up.

So I thought we should take an in depth look at some of the costs that go into making a wine in Spain. Actually these numbers probably hold true for the rest of the world but I just don't know. First we will look at the average white wine. Take into consideration that in Spain white wine production has been the forgotten step child until only recently, so the idea of a winery spending a lot of money for white is rare. So here we go:

Grapes: 0.40 cents for 1.1kg. (more or less the amount needed for 1 bottle)
Bottle: 0.25 cents
Cork: 0.12 cents (usually synthetic)
packaging: 0.18 cents
misc winemaking stuff: 0.45 cents
markup: 0.40 cents (usually around 30%)
Total: $1.80 per bottle plus distribution and retail markup.
Gran total about 3.50 per bottle retail price. (remember this wine has not been put into any oak which would increase the price.)

OK, so you outside of Spain are now thinking that why do I pay at least twice that much, that is not a good value. A couple of things, first if it is albariño realize that the grapes are much more expensive so the retail price would at least double and secondly remember that when you come to Spain and see all the white wines in the supermarket priced at around 1euro you might want to think twice about what you are buying.

Red wines in Spain are a little different as far as the winemaker is concerned. At least 90% of the wine sales within Spain are red so with much more competition the wines will cost a little more.

Grapes: $1.30 average for 1.1kg. (more or less the amount needed for 1 bottle)
Bottle: 0.25 cents (up to $2.00 for thick high quality glass)
Cork: 0.35 cents (usually real cork can cost up to $1.50 for high quality)
Oak aging: between $0 and $2.50
packaging: 0.20 cents
misc winemaking stuff: 0.45 cents
markup: between $1 and $2.50 (usually around 30%)
Total: between $3.50 and $12.50 per bottle plus distribution and retail markup.

A couple of things to watch out for, If you find a crianza wine for $1, $2, $3, or even $4 and its cost to produce without the distribution or retail markup is $4.5, then there is something fishy going on. Either the winery is a front for mafia activity or somebody is losing money. This is where the real problem lies the average Spaniard still thinks about the price of wine before technology and thus think that a good bottle of wine should cost around $4 when it should really cost around $20 like the rest of the world. This inevitably makes the wine business in Spain difficult to say the least but it also means the those of us wine lovers can find exceptional wine for rock bottom prices. As a forgein wine expert living in Spain I will tell you that at least within Spain you do not need to spend more than $15 or $20 to find a wine that will easily compete with the best and most expensive of California or Bordeaux. So enjoy the excellent value that Spain offers now because you know the saying that “all good things must...”.

Take a vacation

What better way to enjoy Spanish wine

Imerse yourself in the culture where every glass of wine is a waiting surprise of aroma and flavor.

Visit a bodega

Complete your travel to Spain with a visit to one of the beautiful wineries in any part of the country.

You can find some bodegas that could be considered works of art, some that are in castles or monastaries. All of which will leave you breathless as well as feeling happy.

Get tipsy on wine and tapas

Spain offers great tapas that can never go without a fine glass of wine.