Spanish Wine Classifications

For many people, one of the most confusing aspects of Spanish wine is the system used to classify it - the Denominación de Origen system.

You may be slightly reluctant to dig into the dry and somewhat bureaucratic process used to classify the various wines in Spain. And we'd be the first to admit that it's not the most riveting subject around. But getting a basic grip of what the different Spanish wine classifications mean can be useful when it comes to making a more educated guess about what's inside the bottle and whether that wine is the right one for you.

So, let's see if we can outline the basics in an easy-to-understand way.

Why we have Denominaciones de Origen

The first thing to understand is that Denominaciones de Origen (or DOs as they are often referred to) aren't just for wines. They exist to protect the names of a broad range of food and drink products and promote their unique characteristics – i.e., where they come from and how they are made. Think of Camembert cheese or Parma ham for example.

On the one hand it acts as a kind of copyright system so that only authorised people or companies can sell products under a protected name. But it also acts as a signal to the consumer that products with a specific DO label have followed a certain set of rules, laid down by governing bodies, when making their products. And whilst it's not an absolute guarantee of quality, it does at least require certain practices and guidelines to be followed.

How does the system work for Spanish wine?

In Spain, wines fall under two umbrella categories:

• Denominación de Origen Protegida, or DOP
• Indicación Geográfica Protegida, or IGP

For a winery to be part of a DOP, every stage of their winemaking has to happen within the designated geographical area, which means that all the grapes have to be grown within the region where the wine is made. And each DOP has a list of grapes which wineries are allowed to use.

For IGP wineries, only one of the production stages has to take place in the area, and only 85% of the grapes have to come from the area where the wine is made.

All clear so far? Good.

DOP Subcategories

The DOP category then gets subdivided into four further categories and these are what you’ll see on the labels of wine bottles. You can think of the subcategories as layers on a pyramid (see the graphic below).

Vinos de Pago (VP)

At the 'top' of the pyramid we have Vinos de Pago or VPs. This is a group of wineries that have been granted their own status covering just very specific vineyards.

Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa/DOQ)

Then it’s Denominación de Origen Calificada, – DOCa – or DOQ in Catalan. This is a sort of DO+ category with stricter rules than standard DOs on how grapes are grown and how wine is made. For the moment only Rioja and Priorat are classified at this level.

Denominación de Origen (DO)

Then you have Denominación de Origen or DO wines. This is where the bulk of DOP wines are classified in Spain. The rules are still fairly strict though. For example, wineries have to have been making wine within the area for at least five years before they can join the DO.

Vinos de Calidad (VC)

Then at the entry level for DOP wines you have the Vinos de Calidad, or VC wines. These wines meet the minimum DOP requirements and are usually where vineyards will sit for an initial 5 years before graduating to DO classification.

Some wineries feel that being a VC can put them at a disadvantage commercially. So, you will sometimes see vineyards, or even entire wine growing regions, using the umbrella DOP category to classify themselves. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this, it's important to remember that if you see a wine calling itself "DOP Sierra de Salamanca" (for example) that is not the same as DO and usually means the wine or region sits at the VC level.

IGP Subcategory - Vinos de la Tierra

In Spain, the Indicación Geografica Protegida category isn't broken down into subcategories. All the wines that fall under this category are labelled Vinos de la Tierra, or VT for short. VTs tend to cover much bigger geographical areas than DOPs. So you'll get wines labelled VT Castilla y León, or VT Castilla, for example, which cover very large parts of the country.

So, the whole thing looks something like this:

Does a classification equate to quality?

The DO system in itself is not a cast-iron quality guarantee. It’s true, the rules get stricter the higher up the pyramid you go. But rules don't make the wine. Few in Spain would say that Vinos de Pago are, by definition, Spain’s "best" wines. And you can find some excellent wines within the VC and VT categories. But it’s another piece in the puzzle that help you to understand what’s in the bottle and decide which wine to buy.

List of Spain's DOPs

To help you get a fix on the differences between DOCs, DOs and VCs and give you a sense of whereabouts in Spain all those DOPs are located, we've put together this (pretty) comprehensive list. We're doing our best to keep it bang up to date, but changes do happen. So if you spot any information on here that is a touch out of date, please let us know.

Vinos de Pago (VP)

Denominación de Origen de Calidad (DOCa/DOQ)

Denominación de Origen (DO)

Vinos de Calidad (VC)

List of Spain's IGPs

And here's our list of all the IGPs that Spain currently has to offer.

Vinos de la Tierra (VT)