Spain is one of the worlds top wine-producing countries

Spain has a long history of producing quality wine, 50 percent of all the EECs vineyards are located here.

Wines from Spain are mostly memorable offering a large selection of Reds, White and Rose wines, which thankfully, are mostly inexpensive for the quality on offer.

Rioja ( from the yards around Logrono ) is rightly Spain’s best-known wine and includes wines such as Cune, Berberana, Marques de Caceres and La Rioja Alta

Another top-drawer and currently fashionable region is Ribera del Duero in Castilla-Leon which makes the countries most expensive wine, Vega Sicilia, other outstanding reds to look out for are Pesquera, Viña Pedrosa and Senorio de Nava.

There are also scores of other regional wines – some of the best are Navarra (Chivite, Palacio de la Vega) and Catalunya (Bach, Raimat, Caus Lubis and Alvaro Palacios), a region which also produces the champagne-like cava (Codorniu, Marques de Monistrol).

Galicia too, in the temperate northwest is producing some notable white wines (Ribeiro, Fefinanes and Albariño are prominent producers).

You will find many bars and restaurants in Spain offering great value budget menus for around six to ten Euros, some of which will even include a bottle of wine for two persons.

For the most part, the wine included is adequate in quality, most establishments serve Valdepenas which is a reasonable mass-produced wine from the central plains of El Castile. Of course, if you pay the lowest rates for a decent menu which includes wine you will be given the cheaper brands which will probably taste better when mixed with a dash of lemonade ( Casera ).

Most Restaurants though will offer a thoughtful and varied Carta de Vino ( Wine List ) at very reasonable prices, it is not unusual to see good quality house wines for around 10 to 15 Euros.

As you would imagine though the better wines are only normally found at the more upmarket eateries.