Sweet Spanish wine: Another side of Spain

Spain is most famous for its dry wines. Spanish reds, from top regions like Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Toro, are all rightly heralded for their quality and character. Whites, like Rías Baixas Albariño and Rioja Blanco, are much-loved too. Spanish sparkling wine, particularly Cava, is some of the world’s best!

There is more to Spain than these dry wines, though: Indulge your sweet tooth and immerse yourself in the world of sweet Spanish wine.

The 3 sweet Spanish wine regions you need to know

Sweet Spanish wine is at its best in three key regions: Jerez (or Sherry), Montilla-Moriles, and Malaga. Of these, Sherry is surely the most famous internationally. Its neighbour, Montilla-Moriles produces very similar wines – often at keener prices. Malaga, a popular tourist destination, also produces some deliciously rich sweet wines that are well worth trying.

1. Sherry

Spain’s Jerez region produces Sherry in a vast array of styles, but it’s their sweet wines that we are most interested in now. Here’s what you need to know about sweet Sherry:

• Sherry, like Port, is a fortified wine. Thanks to the addition of alcohol during the winemaking process, these wines are usually higher in alcohol content than ordinary table wines.

• The sweet Spanish wine from the Sherry region comes in many styles, notably Pedro Ximenez Sherry (PX) and Cream Sherry. PX Sherry is naturally sweet, due to the eponymous grape used. Cream Sherry, such as the famous Harveys Bristol Cream Sherry, is artificially sweetened.

2. Montilla-Moriles

The sweet Spanish wines of Montilla-Moriles are often mistaken for Sherry, though there are some differences worth knowing:

• Montilla-Moriles wines are not fortified, though they do have naturally high alcohol content.
• The region is located considerably north-west of Jerez, in the Córdoba province of Andalusia.
• Pedro Ximenez is, however, the most significant grape in the region.

3. Malaga

Best known as a hotspot for tourists, Malaga is also a producer of sweet Spanish wine. Malaga wine is not heavily exported and is hard to find outside of its region of production. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on a bottle, here’s what you need to know:

• Sweet Malaga wines may be either fortified or unfortified. The fortified sweet Spanish wine from the region is known as Vinos de Licor, while the unfortified are naturally sweet grapes that are either picked late in the harvest or dried in the sun.

• The two most important grape varieties are Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel.

• Three subregions grow sweet wine in Malaga: La Axarquia, Montes de Malaga, and Zona Norte.

Which is your favourite sweet Spanish wine? Have you tried any other examples that we haven’t mentioned here? Jump into the fortified wines with the free ebook. 

[cta_generico id=2645]

La entrada 3 Great styles of sweet Spanish wine that you must try se publicó primero en Blog INVINIC.

Pairing Moscato wine

Pairing Moscato wine and food is demanding. An easier way of pairing wine with food is by tasting the meal and later on taking a sip of the wine to feel the outcome. If the end results are balanced and the taste is superb then you have got the perfect wine pairing.

Moscato wine goes well with spicy food. It has less alcohol levels that tend to blend well with huge sweetness levels of spices. Such spices include ginger, cinnamon, cloves and pepper. Dishes such as chicken, fish, lobsters, duck, turkey and pork flow smoothly with Moscato wine. This is owing to the fact that all these meals are light in nature. Therefore a drop of Moscato wine into these will definitely revolutionize the taste of food.

Moscato wine is a type of a dessert wine. Pairing Moscato wine with medium-firm cheese is a great idea. The most preferred cheese type is one that is derived from cow and sheep milk. The sour and sweet flavor of Moscato wine taken alongside sheep cheese produces a yummy taste that is irresistible after finishing the meal.

In terms of vegetables, mangoes, pineapples, carrots and tofu pair well with Moscato wine. Carrots for instance have a crisp taste that matches the close of a Moscato wine glass. Similarly tofu blends well with Moscato wine due to its flat flavor hence the wine is superior. The sponge taste of tofu with Moscato wine is quite amazing.

Must try Moscato wine

There are diverse types of Moscato wine. In Spain for instance the Bodegas Ochoa Moscato wine is doing well in wine retail stores. This wine is one of the many Ochoa Moscato wines on sale in Spain. It has a strong sweet aroma and bitter sweet taste as well. It can be paired with cabrales cheese and fruit dessert. MdO Ochoa is very appealing. It has a beautiful golden yellow glowing appearance.

Drinking wine is healthy but drinking Moscato wine has unsurpassed benefits. A toast to Moscato wine! 

[cta_generico id=2645]

La entrada Moscato wines are quite intimidating se publicó primero en Blog INVINIC.

Where is Malaga wine made?

Malaga wine comes from the city of Malaga in Andalusia, Spain. Within the Malaga denomination, there are three distinct regions that grow the grapes for sweet Malaga wines: La Axarquia, Montes de Malaga, and Zona Norte. The two main grapes grown here, Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel, are very common in the production of Spain’s most famous fortified wine, Sherry. Other grapes grown here to produce sweet Malaga wine include Romé, Lairén and Doradilla.

How is Malaga wine made?

The sweet wines of Malaga may be fortified – like Sherry and Port – or unfortified and naturally sweet. The fortified wines, known as Vinos de Licor, have a distilled spirit added during the fermentation phase of the winemaking process. The resulting wines routinely reach between 15% and 22% of alcohol content. The unfortified sweet Malaga wines, can fall into two categories:

• Naturally sweet wine produced from overripe grapes, deliberately picked late in the harvest for maximum natural sugars, known as Dulce Natural.

• Naturally sweet wine produced from very concentrated grapes that have been sun-dried.

There is a hierarchy applied to sweet Malaga wines, classifying them according to the ageing they have undergone, in cask and bottle. The youngest Malaga wine is classified simply as “Málaga”, having been aged for between 6 months and 2 years. Wine aged between 2 and 3 years is labelled “Málaga Noble”, between 3 and 5 years is “Málaga Añejo” and over 5 years is “Málaga Trasañejo”. A final category is “Málaga Pálido”, which has been aged in the Solera system. This ageing technique famous in producing the very finest Sherry wines, such as the absolutely stunning Pérez Barquero 1905 Pedro Ximénez Solera Fundacional Lote B.

What should you eat with Malaga wine?

Sweet Malaga wine is a dessert wine that goes very well with a wide range of sweet desserts. Aim for the wine to at least match the level of sweetness in the food. Cheesecakes, apple pies, fruit tarts and toffee cakes are all great pairings with sweet Malaga wine.

What should you drink instead of Malaga wine?

Let’s be honest: Malaga wine is not easy to find. Unless you are in Malaga or the surrounding areas, you’re probably going to have a difficult time finding a good bottle at a fair price. As a result, you’ve got two options: Take a trip to the beautiful Malaga region, taste to your heart’s content and stock up, or else look for alternatives. Luckily, high-quality alternatives to Malaga wine are quite easy to find. The obvious choice to look for is a high quality sweet Sherry, ideally one that has a lot of Pedro Ximénez (PX) and Moscatel. Gran Barquero Pedro Ximénez is a tasty example of pure PX at a reasonable price, while Colleción Roberto Amillo Pedro Ximénez is a more decadent example that will have you forgetting all about Malaga and planning a trip to Jerez instead!

[cta_generico id=2595]

La entrada Malaga wine: An Introduction se publicó primero en Blog INVINIC.

Tokaji wine is produced in the region of Tokaj-Hegyalja, placed between Hungary and Slovakia. This type of wine is unique in the world due to its aszú variety (“dry”), which is the oldest variety of botrytisised wine, whose origin dates from the XVI century.

When we talk about this type of wine, first we must mention the Botrytis Cinerea, a fungus that affects the grape, making it dry and reducing its amount of water. As a result, we obtain a rotten grape, full of sugar. This bad state is called “noble rottenness”.
In ancient times, the grapes with noble rottenness, were gathered in containers known as Puttonyos, with a capacity of 25 kg of grape and then between 3 and 6 puttonyos were thrown into the 132-litre barrel where the wine was elaborated before its fermentation.
By means of this actions, the resulting wine was sweetened. The more puttonyos where added the sweeter was the wine.
Nowdays, this method has changed and the amount of puttonyos does not match the amount of grape with added botrytis, but it matches the amount of sugar contained in the resulting wine.
It is said that a puttonyo equates to 25 grams of sugar per litre of wine. To give an example, a tokaji of 6 puttonyos contains 150 grams of sugar per litre of alcohol.

In Spain the Tokaji Oremus is well known, whose ownership belongs to Vega Sicilia Winery, which during the postcomunist privatisation process purchased a winery in order to elaborate Tokaji wines.

La entrada Tokaj and Puttonyos se publicó primero en Blog INVINIC.