Spain

Spain has more land under vine than any other country, and usually finishes third by volume. Both facts are true at once because much of the vineyard is old, dry-farmed, untrellised bush vine on the high central plateau, planted far apart because there is not enough rain to support closer spacing. Yields per hectare are among the lowest in Europe. That is also why Spain remains the best source in Europe for genuinely old vines at ordinary prices.

Tempranillo is the national red grape and changes name as it travels: tinto fino and tinta del país in Ribera del Duero, cencibel in La Mancha, tinta de toro in Toro, tinta roriz across the border in Portugal. Garnacha, which the rest of the world knows by its French name grenache, is Spanish in origin and is the backbone of Priorat and of much of Aragón and Navarra.

Spain built its reputation on ageing rather than on vineyard hierarchy. The Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva ladder is a legal statement about time in oak barrel and time in bottle before release, and it applies across most regions. It is the reason a mid-priced Rioja can arrive on the shelf already five or six years old and ready to drink, which almost no other country offers at that price.

Sherry is the outlier and the country's most misunderstood wine. It is a dry white wine from Andalucía, made from palomino, fortified, and aged under a film of living yeast or in contact with air, through a system of fractional blending called the solera. The sweet styles that gave sherry its dessert-wine reputation are a small part of what is made. A dry fino or manzanilla is a savoury, saline table wine.