The curse of Spanish wine: foreigners still see it & apos; from supermarket & apos;

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A recently published phrase has caused surprise and alarm in the world of national wine: "The lost honor of Spanish wine." And the questions jumped among the fans, perhaps more novel: how? What has been dishonored? When, how, by whom? Was it before it was big and now it is discredited? What happened to him?

Well, essentially there has been no dishonor, but it comes from a long past of scarce fame in the markets - both national and international - but since the beginning of the 21st century it only improves, with the difficulty of a situation of brutal world competition , although having already shaken much of its past shortcomings.

Less than half a century ago, in the 70s, the only wines in the world that cost appreciable money because they enjoyed universal fame were those from four regions of France: Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and - a few - from the Rhone. Gone are the brief days of glory, in the nineteenth century, of sweet and generous wines from Jerez and Tokaj ; they resisted those of Porto , in very limited markets like the British.

The veteran gourmet will remember what it was then to buy wines in the world. In the mid-70s, the correspondents of Spanish newspapers in New York liked to meet to eat in a restaurant two blocks from the UN headquarters, specialized - the thing is funny - in cheese fondues , because it cost 4 dollars there a bottle of Imperial from CVNE . In the New York stores, such as Sherry-Lehman, you could find the Monte Real Reserva de Bodegas Riojanas for $ 1.80.

But it was no Spanish curse . Outside the four famous French regions, wines from Languedoc-Roussillon, Cahors, Beaujolais or the Loire were also sold very cheaply, such as the Spanish. And in Italy , the other major European producing country, things were no different. In Piedmont, Barolo's greatest wines were sold, even at the end of the 80s, for about 10,000 lire - about 6 euros now - just a little more than the modest barbera and dolcetto. Now a barolo - of the same brand then - can cost 10 or 20 times more.

The history of wine in these last 40 years has been the effort of those undervalued regions to be more appreciated ... and profitable . To the regions that were struggling in France, Spain, Italy or Portugal were added those of the New World, and in all that movement the influence of American critics led by Robert Parker proved decisive. Great wines earned points, glamor ... and quotation. Spaniards included.

In that movement, Italy went ahead to Spain because it did not insist on growing its wines in bulk - that they do not give or take away fame to a country because they are anonymous, but leave a very large margin of benefit to their producers and the wine growers - and overturned to the wines of the brand , with many more small and medium-sized wineries than Spain, which are the ones that create a varied and appreciated block to support the famous: Sassicaia and Gaja had many more interesting domestic competitors behind them than Vega Sicilia or Pingus in Spain. And who could not buy a bottle of Sassicaia in Stockholm had a quasi- cheaper Sassicaia at their fingertips.

That advantage worked by the Italians, supported by the international press, and that the French of the less famous areas have failed to match, has not begun to be cut by Spain, with the support of that American criticism, more than in the last decade . Even so, the typical problem of this country in the world of gastronomy, which is to opt for mass production at the cheapest levels of each sector, has delayed its consolidation , despite the effort of this growing number of small wineries and medium.

The problem is not the large groups, usually family, dedicated to quality in all price segments: there are the Towers, the Riscal or the Alvear. Nor is it directly that of the anonymous bulk wines, as we have said, although these - for which the administrations of the southern half of Spain have been betting for so long - are discouraging the wine growers with their hilarious grape prices and will end up having Serious repercussions in the Spanish vineyard. The commercial problem - already old, and that therefore has nothing to do with a "lost honor" - is that of the enormous production of vulgar and very cheap bottled wines by private groups of enormous dimensions , such as Félix Solís or García Carrión, which are those that flood the shelves of Germany or Great Britain of Rioja at two euros and wheels at one and maintain that image, that of 40 years ago, of Spain as a producer of supermarket wines and enough.

In spite of all this, the recent recognition of good Spanish wines is slowly correcting that image, as the Italians knew how to do before us. What is still missing is a vigorous and unitary presentation of the great wines of Spain, instead of isolated efforts from Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Rías Baixas . In Italy, the Tuscan Piero Antinori and Piedmontese Angelo Gaja are fierce competitors, but when presenting in New York a tasting of the great wines of their country we have seen them sitting together at the same table and toasting for their country. Until such a unit of action does not occur in Spain we will not reach a level of appreciation like the one our Italian friends have achieved.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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