Sipping Across Spain: A Wine Report from the Camino de Santiago

By Robert McGarvey

I never had liked Spanish wine.  Every so often, for many years, I eyed a great price on a Spanish rioja at a supermarket, bought it, and regretted this. The wine – no matter the label, but you probably know the supermarket staples – always seemed stubborn, astringent, the kind of wine that demands to be accompanied by food, lots of food to cover up the taste.

I remember the moment my thinking changed. I was in Villafranca del Bierzo – a stop along the Camino de Santiago – and sat down at a restaurant’s outdoor patio. The very short wine list puzzled me. Most of the wines were said to be of the mencia grape, which I had never heard of. Turns out, Bierzo is ground zero for the grape, which grows in northwestern Spain and Portugal.  If the Camino de Santiago had an “official” wine, it should be a mencia because they share the same geography.

Just one sip and I became a fan. This is a floral wine, you taste the fruit. It sips well without food but can accompany food too. Some call it the Pinot Noir of Spain, although I am unsure that’s much of compliment because post Sideways that wine has been grossly overproduced and much of today’s bottles in the US are tasteless.  

Mencia is a wine with a sure but not pugnacious taste.  By now I have had dozens of bottles, just about always in the $10 – $25 range and that’s in restaurants. 

Here is what Wine Folly says about this wine: “When you look at a glass of Mencía, you’ll notice its deep red color with subtle hues of violet towards the rim. The color tells us that Mencía has high anthocyanin (the red pigment in wine). On the palate you’ll be greeted with peppery flavors of sour cherry, red currant and pomegranate along with a bitter cherry pit flavor which comes from the wine’s tannin.”

The bad news: Mencia is not very available in the US. One place to look: Total Wine. The store near me in Phoenix presently stocks two labels. You might have similar luck where you live.

What about white wine? Two years ago if you had offered me $1000 to name any Spanish white wine – label or varietal – other than cava, I would have failed.  We all know cava, a drinkable sparkler much cheaper than champagne (but not nearly as good in most instances).

Is there anything else? In the past 14 months, I can testify that I had glasses of very pleasant whites on my Caminos but, as often is the case with Spanish wine, not much makes it over to us.  

There are exceptions however. The Washington Post’s Dave McIntyre sings the praises of Rubus Private Selection White Wine Verdejo 2021. He calls it “a racy white, with flavors of apricot, jasmine and honeysuckle, a garden in a glass.”  The wine is a private label of a US importer. If you can’t find it, a similar wine – lacking McIntyre’s stamp of approval – is Palma Real Rueda Verdejo which Total Wine sells for around $15.

Another lavishly praised Spanish white is Daterra Viticultores Manzaneda Gavela da Vila, a Galician wine – meaning Camino territory – that the New York Times’ Eric Asimov says is “a mild orange cuvée, slightly tannic, fresh and alive. It has lingering flavors of dried fruits and flowers and an intriguing texture.” This one is probably tough to locate in a local wine shop but it is available online. Prices for various bottlings run from $20 to $40.

I have a shopping hack for you however that is an easy way to get to know Spanish hooch. Head to a nearby Trader Joe’s.  The one near me in Phoenix reliably has around six Spanish reds to buy.  Occasionally there are whites too. None has cost me more than $9.99 and, for a mind blower, try the La Granja 360 tempranillo which will set you back $3.99. “A great everyday drinking wine.” says Trader Joe’s Sommelier (not affiliated with the company).

Don’t be surprised that TJ’s knows Spanish wine. Germany is the leading importer of quality Spanish wine and TJ’s ownership has deep – and very rich – German roots. We import more Spanish wine but mainly bulk wine for blending. The Germans know good Spanish wine.

Americans who want to tipple good Spanish hooch benefit from the extensive Albrecht family supply chain.

Picture Hemingway in the early 1920s in Spain without much money in his pockets.  La Granja is the kind of wine he drank by the six pack in those years – cheap, drinkable, pleasant.

It’s also prototypically Spanish wine which, I’ve come to believe, is good wine without pretention. With French wines – and even the cult California wines – there are lingering doubts that maybe I am not good enough to appreciate the wine.

There’s none of that rubbish with Spanish wine.  It’s just good wine and good value. Supermarket wine racks be damned. There are good and inexpensive Spanish wines to be had in the US.  If you look for them.