Spanish Wine Vocabulary Cheat Sheet:
Albarino - Albarino is the primary white grape grown in Spain's Rias Baixes wine region. It is a lovely grape that makes highly aromatic white wines with fantastic acidity.
Blanco - White (as in white wine)
Bodega - Spanish term for "winery."
Garnacha - Garnacha (known as Grenache in France) is a red grape that is used in Rioja wines. In its prime it produces a deep colored red wine with ripe red fruit flavors, often raspberry dominates the palate.
Cava - Spain's famed sparkling wine.
Crianza - This is a fresh, fruit-forward red wine that is aged in oak for one year and then spends another year aging in the bottle. The Crianza is well-priced and averages around $10 a bottle.
Reserva - The Reserva ups the ante a bit from the Crianza both in complexity and in price. Tempranillo is the dominant red grape and makes its presence known with remarkable cherry flavors. The aging requirements are a minimum of one year in the barrel and two years aging in either the barrel or bottle.
Gran Reserva - The creme de la creme of the Rioja red wines is the appropriately named, Gran Reserva. These wines require barrel aging for two years and must have an another three years (minimum) of bottle aging before release.
Rioja - Rioja wines come from the Rioja region of north central Spain. They can either be red or white wines, but amazing reds dominate this region.
Tempranillo - The Tempranillo grape is the dominant grape varietal in Spain's Rioja wines. It produces a medium to full-bodied red wine with full fruit flavor characteristics.
Tinto - Red (as in red wine).
