Galicia, Rueda and Rioja all make world class white wines today, but so too do some much less well known areas like Terra Alta in Catalunya which produces blindingly good Garnacha Blanca / Garnatxa Blanc / Grenache Blanc. Torres led the way with modern whites in the 1960s and ’70s and today the white wines of Spain are amongst the most exciting of all. Look out for red wines from Valencia and Utiel Requena made from the Bobal grape and wines from Alicante and Jumilla made from Monastrell – aka Mourvédre and Mataro. Rioja has got better and better and high quality reds are now made in more and more unlikely places and the reds of the south are now at least as exciting as the more traditional regions of northern Spain.

During my 34 years in the wine business the wine revolution has spread out throughout Spain and produced startlingly good results. Once upon a time only the reds were really good and even then only from one or two regions – principally Rioja of course. Over the years I have seen huge changes in Spanish wine. It certainly made me like wine, but I am not sure that is entirely the same thing. I am only in this business because of my misspent youth in Spain and the healthy relationship – I hope – that gave me to alcohol. I love wine from all around the world and am passionate about wines from everywhere and about the countries and regions that spawn them, but I always return to my first love – Spain.

Spanish wine maps