quote:
Rioja
Ribera del Duero
Jumilla
Priorat
Alicante
Thirstyman - How did you pick those particular regions? They don't have a lot to do with each other.
"Typical" can mean many things but do you want wine that is like it has been done for many years or something that has generated recent buzz and press? I suspect the latter. Jumilla definitely was not a prestigious area, although in recent years, there have been some wines that have garnered a great deal of media attention. A lot of that is due to the work of a couple families, one or two importers, and an Australian winemaker or two.
There aren't really a lot of wines brought in from Alicante, which is a small region. The region is probably most known for Fondillón and most people don't know that. There are some good wines in the region, but since they're not imported, I'd be surprised if people on the board could recommend many. It's a beautiful area tho.
In Rioja on the other hand, there are many. If you want something "traditional", try one of the centenary wineries, i.e. Riscal, Heredia, C.V.N.E., Alta, Lacuesta, Palacio, Riojanas, Murietta, Valdemar, and a few others. And include Muga, Vina Real, even Caceres. I can't think of another region that produces such good wines so inexpensively. Those wines of course, will be based on Tempranillo, unlike some of the other areas in your list, and in terms of longevity, there aren't many other grapes that have the lifespan of Tempranillo. I suppose you could get some good cru Beaujolais, or some decent Chianti Classico and those might evolve and age nicely over the years, but's hard to think of other wines that you can pick up for reasonable prices and actually age to their benefit.
In Ribera, there are increasing numbers of bodegas and it's getting too difficult to list them, much as it is with Rioja, although there will never be so many. Do a search - I listed a number at one point. Alion was a great wine but it was supposed to be a $25 wine and it's now hitting $70 or so, which is just insane. But any of the Garcia's wines are worth owning - Aalto, Astrales, Mauro, etc. Also look for Arrocal, Callejo, and Arzuaga. Moro was mentioned. Smaller producers but wonderful wines - Cillar de Silos, J.C. Conde, J.A. Calvo Casajus (I have a relationship but I also drink the wine) Torremilanos, Fuentespina, Acon, there are just so many and these at least are imported, many great wines aren't.
Surprised nobody mentioned Pintia from Toro - I always find it hot and overpriced but since it gets high points, I'm sure some people love it.
I'll let someone else recommend Priorat wines - they're very popular with WS and WA readers so there are plenty of fans. But you might want to save a few bucks and look for wines from Monstant - they're often as good in blind tastings and usually a bit less expensive. Alejandro Fernandez is of course, the man who makes Condado de Haza and Pesquera, so I don't know why he was listed separately, but you might want to try his wine from La Mancha - El Vinculo, which is cheaper and isn't really too bad.
For sweet wines, I don't know. Spain makes some really good moscatel and some good moscatel sherry as well as some other sweet wines based on monastrell or garnacha or tempranillo or PX or whatever. But to me, they're nice and never really brilliant. They can be quite good but I've yet to have one that hits the peaks of a good wine from the Loire or Austria or especially Tokaj. But of course, Spain has brilliant dry sherries and also Madeira is close by. . .
Cheers.
