The wine sector is in a tremendously dynamic moment and increasingly oriented towards the consumer to adapt to tastes that change more and more quickly”. This is stated by the general director of the Spanish Wine Federation, José Luis Benítez. He adds that, without obviously being a new category, "we observe that the consumption trend towards white wines and promoting the cooling of the product is becoming increasingly clear." Perhaps precisely for this reason, José Luis Benítez affirms that sparkling wines are also experiencing a moment of boom that was already taking place in other countries but now it seems that it is also reaching Spain. The president of the FEV points out that "sustainability or wines with lower alcoholic content are also trends that must be taken into account, on which more and more work is being done." Benitez assures that "consumers are eager to try and the wine sector has the advantage of having a very wide offer, so that even the most classic wineries or denominations have more innovative wines, from the way they are made to the varieties used.
The truth is that a multitude of wines are emerging, made looking for a moderate alcoholic content, easier to drink, refreshing and sharp, thanks to better acidity. Avoid over-extractions and aging in new wooden containers with high toasting. Hungarian and even Spanish oak barrels have been added to the traditional French or American oak barrels. The old chestnut wood barrels are also being recovered, and there are those who opt for acacia or cherry. They also work with cement tanks, stainless steel, with concrete eggs, with ceramic containers or demijohns. It seems that there is a look to the past for wines with new trends, both in the vineyard and in the cellars. The growing commitment to ecological, biodynamic or regenerative agriculture, which avoids chemical pesticides and herbicides, has no turning back. To promote a change in the management of vineyards that is based on the carbon cycle to regenerate soils, stop erosion, promote biodiversity and fight climate change, the new Regenerative Viticulture Association has been created in Spain.
There has also been a revolution in the wineries. The winemakers in white coats who did not leave their laboratories have been replaced by professionals who give maximum importance to the vineyard. Even pruning is being more respectful, and animal traction has been reintroduced for work in the fields or grazing in the vineyards. Wineries have seen the benefits of fighting with natural preparations against vineyard pests, or favoring the presence of bees and bats while life has returned to the exhausted and compacted subsoil for many years due to the practice of conventional agriculture. And in the winery, more and more work is done with lower levels or with the absence of added sulfur, and with indigenous yeasts to achieve fermentation.
The commitment to the autochthonous varieties that are more resilient to climate change or to the recovery of pre-phylloxera varieties that were almost extinct are a trend. And at the same time, old artisan elaborations are being reissued and becoming fashionable, such as brisado wines (whites fermented like reds, that is, in contact with their skins), rancid and oxidative wines or ancestral sparkling wines (a single fermentation in the bottle ). And the search for greater creative freedom far from the corsets of the denominations of origin is driving people to work outside the normative dictates.
