Spain

Spain

Spain has more land under vine than any other country on earth. Its real magic, though, lies not in size but in age and in altitude.

Ungrafted old vines of more than a century, spared by phylloxera, still root quietly in the red earth of Toro, on the parched plateaux of Murcia and across the granite slopes of the Gredos — nowhere else in the world is so richly endowed with old-vine treasure.

Vineyards climbing towards 1,000 metres cut a vivid line of acidity; green, Atlantic Spain gives whites with a saline edge; and traditions such as Sherry and Txakoli exist nowhere else on earth. This is a land where the pilgrim road and the memory of the Armada cross, and it is living through a historic transformation at the hands of a young generation of growers.

To the clamour of the bar, to the steam rising from a slow-cooked stew. We bring you the deep flavours of this passionate country, region by region, story by story.