Why I make wine in Spain

One roaming winemaker, with a passion for small-batch, low-intervention wines, explains why Spain is among the most exciting places in the world to be making wine at the moment

- DARREN SMITH

When I started my nomadic winemaking project, in 2018 at Niepoort Vinhos in Portugal’s Douro region, I had no idea how large a part Spain would go on to play – I certainly never intended to make it the locus of my project. So how did it happen? Yes, there was an element of chance and taking opportunities where they arose. But also, among the talented winemakers to whom I pitched collaborations, I sensed an openness and a readiness to collaborate which seemed particular to Spain.

Held in June last year, the iNNoble wine festival (innoble.es) in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, in southern Spain’s ‘Sherry triangle’ region, was a true smorgasbord of what’s hot and happening in Spanish wine. Named with a certain ironic nod to the relatively staid Vinoble wine festival in nearby Jerez, iNNoble is hosted by wine luminaries Luis Gutiérrez (the moustachioed wine critic with surprisingly good DJ skills) and Barbadillo head of innovation Armando Guerra, alongside Canary Islands producer Rayco Fernández (see p36). The event sees some of Spain’s finest young winemaking talent rubbing shoulders, sharing ideas and generally having a good time.