[中英字幕] 西班牙白葡萄酒指要｜Alti Wine Exchange_西班牙05

Hello, bonjour and welcome to your new Alti Wine Exchange video. Welcome to this channel where we explore together, we learn about and we taste the wonderful world of wine. If you're not familiar with the Alti Wine Exchange, it is a wine investment and trading platform, as well as a wine club. You should definitely check out the link in the video description to learn more about it. We're continuing our exploration of all the best wines made in Spain in particular. Have a look around the channel if you want to check out our video series about the finest vinos from France, Italy or Portugal. You can catch up on previous episodes of our ongoing Spanish wine series right here as well. Today we're talking about Spanish white wines. Yes, because I want you to discover perhaps some hidden white gems that you may not have heard about ever before. So let's go. Spain is of course most famous for its red wines. And I guess it's really fair enough since Spanish reds are absolutely fantastic. No questions there. And we've explored quite a few fantastic red gems from Spain in this series, like Rioja, Priorat or the Ribera del Duero. But I want to introduce you to at least two Spanish whites you can't go on your wine journey without trying, or at least hearing about and finding out whether they sound like something that you want to explore and taste. Because they're, number one, some of the best and most reputable white wine styles in the country. Number two, they're absolutely delightful and really unique, simply. Starting with a wine region called Rias Baixas. If you don't recognize the Spanish accent when I say Rias Baixas, and if that may sound more like Portuguese to your ears, well, you've got this right. You've heard this right because Rias Baixas is a very corner of Spain, just north of the Portuguese border, in fact. And so the local language, the local dialect and the local names are closer to Portuguese than Spanish. The climate here is not like what we know from Spain either because it's north of the country to start with and on a rocky coast by the Atlantic Ocean. So it's an oceanic climate here rather than Mediterranean. It's rainy in spring, in autumn and in winter. And it's quite cool in summer. It's green, it's hilly. It's like Spanish Ireland, if you wish, or Scotland. And that's why they can produce these very crisp, zingy and refreshing styles in this Spanish region that is called Galicia. If you've never heard of Rias Baixas, which is the name of the appellation, you may have heard rather of the grape they use here called Albariño. Ask any wine expert about the best wines from Spain, Albariño will probably be the first name that comes to their mind. It is that famous among wine connoisseurs around the world, and that delicious as well. Albariño wines have two, well, maybe three main characteristics that work extremely well together. Firstly, they're very textural, very oily, somewhat creamy to the palate. Number two, they're still zingy and acidic, so fresh and playful, but their oiliness balances out the tartness of the wine very well, rendering them sharp, yet smooth in palate coating. Number three, they're quite aromatic, very floral wines, notes of elderflower, fresh apricot and peach, melon, a little bit of lemon, and a bit of grassy characters as well. So, the texture, the balance, the playful fruity notes that it has are really quite unique in the world of white wines. Full stop, really. They're like a textural Chardonnay, if you wish, with fruity elements of Sauvignon Blanc and a bit of Viognier, mineral like some rustlings perhaps, so very, very unique combination of different features. They're not all that easy to find because the production is not massive in Rias Baixas. They can be a little pricey as well because they're renowned, but it's certainly all worth the money for an absolutely unique style in the world of white wines. The second most famous white wine appellation in Spain is called Rueda, an area a lot more central in Spain this time, with landscapes and a climate that are much more conventional and usual for Spain. We're in the historic Castilla y León region near historic cities such as not far from Salamanca as well, just northwest of Madrid. The queen grape here is called Berdejo, which forms the heart of the white wines from Rueda, although they are sometimes a little blended with small proportions of Sauvignon Blanc, just to lift up the flavours a little bit, and Biura, but Berdejo is the backbone and of the top Rueda wines in particular, the best ones are 100% Berdejo. The climate is quite arid and harsh here, as per the majority of the Spanish central plateau, soils are really poor, so vines struggle quite a bit, they grow slowly and age for a long time, so you'll find many vineyards that are quite old in Rueda. The best Berdejo wines are also extremely textural, but more concentrated, I would say, than the Rias Baixas, and not as playfully floral or fruity. They're citrusy and lemony and zingy, rich in crystalline acidity, features clearly there, an acidity comparable a little bit like a good Sauvignon Blanc, with notes of butter as well, macadamia nuts, a wonderful balance overall. Their wines are so good and concentrated that they can sometimes be fermented and matured in oak barrels, really successfully, like some Bordeaux wines or Burgundies, resulting in extremely oily, yet acidic wines, with grassy notes, limey notes, nutty notes as well, absolutely fascinating, with this incredibly deep balance of texture. If you've never experienced a good Rueda, well, definitely try them. The less high-end cuvées are less spectacular, but still very enjoyable and quite serious. The cheap wines are still enjoyable. Let's say, go for mid-range, for a real taste of what Rueda wines are all about, and then invest in a single vineyard and or a barrel-aged flagship cuvée, if you like the style. Try them first, from mid-range, say $20, $25, $30, and then invest with a better cuvée, if you enjoy the style and want to experience the real thing. Rueda is this little island of white wine production of exceptional quality, right in the middle of Spain and surrounded by red-producing areas. Not necessarily all that famous outside of Spain, but definitely a must-look into region for white wines in Spain, very famous within Spain. I know about them because I lived there for a while, but now you know too. Beyond those two staple names that you need to have in mind if you want to pretend you know a little something about your Spanish white wines, there are a few other whites that are really notable and interesting, if you'd like to dig a little deeper. Of course, Rioja not only makes fantastic red wines, but also delicious whites. Those can be very interesting indeed. I covered them in a dedicated Rioja wine video right here. I'll let you check this out to learn more about them. Now, the region of Catalunya that's around Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast makes some excellent whites as well, since it's a very important and rather big wine-producing area for Spain. Most notably is the Penedès Appellation, a large wine area going from the coast to higher altitude vineyards going further inland onto more hilly terrain, so a variety of altitudes and topographies. They famously make a lot of grapes for the local Catalan Cava, Sparklings, but they also produce still white wines in Penedès, often from the same grapes as for Cava, namely Charalot, Macabeo and Perellada, but also some attractive rest lengths or Gewurztraminer on the highest altitude vineyards there. Also in Catalunya is the Terra Alta, famous for its Garnacha Blanca whites, understand White Grenache, or Grenache Blanc, as we would say in French. I really love those for the fruity and oily texture that they have as well. White Grenache is very distinctive, the abundant flavours of stone fruit, a bit of white peach, apricot, very textural and yummy too. Baldeorras is the other rising star of Galicia, the same oceanic region as Rias Paisas we talked about earlier, but Baldeorras is more inland than Rias Paisas there, and they work with a different grape, namely Godello. More and more people enjoy the traits of Godello that is sometimes compared to Chardonnay, yes, nothing less, acidic yet creamy and mineral, it's excellent when matured in barrel, with typical notes of green apple, a bit of lemon, white peach. So Godello has been making a name for itself in the world of wine, justifiably. Finally, in the Basque Country, around Bilbao and San Sebastian, you can't ignore a wine style called Chacoli. It's a very light and acidic style that is also slightly fizzy. Very simple in flavours, it's very fascinating, refreshing and very festive, more than anything. If you go to the Basque Country, you'll notice that people love to go from pub to pub, go tasting different types of variety of tapas from bar to the next bar. And Chacoli is the wine for this. It's the party wine, it's the fiesta wine in this part of Spain. And such a delightful one at that. And there you have it. This was pretty much everything that you needed to know about the best Spanish wines. Make sure to check out our complete series talking about all the best Spanish wine regions here. Subscribe to the channel to continue the wine learning experience and journey with me. And I will see you soon in the wonderful world of delicious vino. Salud! Cheers...