Spanish Wine Experience – Details, episodes & analysis

Time for a weird grape double edition. Huelva, an episode we have been to before years ago, known for its sherry-esque wines and sweet vinos. We have a bottle of Líbero, a fascinating 50/50 blend of two grapes only found in this Andalusian hideaway: Zalema and Listan de Huelva. Enjoy!

Regions, grapes, statistics, numbers, facts and figures; over the last few years we've covered a lot. So, over a bottle of very alcoholic red wine (Loxarel OPS) this week we have decided to compile all the main stats of the Spanish wine world. ALL of them! Lots of pub quiz answers to be found.

Another year in the shop, another year in wine, and other year in the world of wine. What’s changed? What have we enjoyed drinking and what have been the highs and lows of this most bizarre year! Roque and Luke have already been drinking as they dive headfirst into the 2022 round up. See you in 2023!

This week Roque and Luke sample an utterly unique style of wine that they picked up from
Bodegas Oliveros down in DO Condado de Huelva. A bottle of Vino Naranja, orange wine. What is this bizarre wine and why is it orange?? They also talk the minutiae of jamon and old vines!

Today Roque and Luke get stuck into a real unknown classic. Habla del Silencio... from VT Tierra de Extremadura. This big juicy blended red from Bodegas Habla is worthy of more fame than it has. They chat conquistadores and festivals and get some breaking crime news!

Another day, another island. This week Roque and Luke try a super hard-to-find bottle from the little hilly island of La Gomera; another gift from their intro man Jim Paluzzi! A bottle of Los Roquillos by Vinos Roque Cano from DO La Gomera. They chat about Roque’s upcoming visit to the island as well as wine thefts!

On this week’s pod the SWE team head south to one of the most beautiful corners of Spain. Granada! But more specifically the Alpujarra region. A bottle from VT Cumbres del Guadalfeo called Noladós from the Buenavista winery in Ugíjar. A big sexy Bordeaux style blend that gets Roque and Luke reminiscing about the area.

This week Roque and Luke dive into a bottle from DO Gran Canaria; a gift from their voiceover man Jim Paluzzi! La Montaña by Francisco Marrero Hernández: a mysterious possible blend from the island of Gran Canaria. Info was hard to come by. They also chat about Spanish wine and wildlife holidays an varietal variety. Cheers!

This week Roque and Luke sample a bottle from their first Vino de Calidad, from Lebrija in the southwest of Spain. But what is this unusual denomination? Frasquito, a sherry style drink from a range of wines by the only winemaker in the area: Gonzalez Palacios. They chat DOs, winemaking and silly wine traditions! Salud!

This week Roque and Luke share a bottle from one of the most difficult regions to find. Hiding in plain sight they drink to DO Tierra del Vino de Zamora, the only ‘land of wine’. Today it is the turn of Bodega Malandrín and of a bottle of their Malandrín Superior; a throaty Tempranillo. They chat about this quiet corner of Spain and also discuss, much to Luke’s delight, barrels!