Spanish Wine Classifications

One of the most confusing aspects of Spanish wine is the Spanish wine classification system, more commonly known as the Denominación de Origen system.

Now it's true, the process used to classify wines in Spain is not the most riveting subject around. In fact, it's very dry and bureaucratic. But bear with us, because if you can get your head around the different Spanish wine classifications, it will really help you when it comes to choosing a wine.

So, take a deep breath and let's see if we can outline the basics in a way that's easy to understand..

The basis of Spanish wine classification

The Spanish wine classification system is based around Denominaciones de Origen (DOs) - Designation of Origin in English. But DOs aren't just used for wines, and they don't just apply in Spain. They are used for a broad range of food and drink products across Europe.

DOs act like a copyright system that is designed to protect the names of certain products, like Camembert cheese or Parma ham. Only authorised people or companies can sell products using a protected DO name.

So, you can't call your product "Parma ham" unless you have been authorised to do so by the governing body which oversees the Parma ham DO, or to give it it's proper name, the Prosciutto di Parma DOP.

DOs guarantee where the product comes from. They can also be used to govern certain aspects of how a product is made. A DO is not an absolute guarantee of quality. But it does at least reassure consumers that a product comes from a certain place and has been made following a certain set of rules.

How DOs work for Spanish wine classification

So we can see that DOs aren't exclusive to wines. But let's look at how they translate to the system for Spanish wine classification.

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. So if a wine is sold as "DO Ribera del Duero", it means all the grapes used were grown in the Ribera del Duero region and the wine itself was made and bottled there.

In addition, each DOP has a list of grapes which wineries are allowed to use.

For wineries who operate in the IGP category, only one of the production stages has to take place in the region. 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 the Spanish wine classifications that 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 classification for 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 classification 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 DOCa Rioja and DOQ 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 make wine within the area for at least five years before they can join a DO.

Vinos de Calidad (VC)

Then at the entry level for DOP wines you have the classification Vinos de Calidad, (VC). Spanish wines in this classification meet the minimum DOP requirements. Vineyards will usually stay at this level 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 an umbrella DOP label to classify themselves.

There is nothing wrong with this. But it's important to remember that if you see a wine labelled  "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 classification 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. Wines labelled VT Castilla y León, or VT Castilla, for example, cover very large parts of the country.

So, the whole thing looks something like this:

Do Spanish wine classifications 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 wine in the Vinos de Pago classification are, by definition, Spain’s "best" wines. And you can find some excellent wines that are classified as VC and VT..

But understanding Spanish wine classifications is another piece in the puzzle that helps you to understand what’s in a bottle. And the more you understand, the better prepared you are to choose a Spanish wine that's right for you.

List of Spain's DOPs

Below you'll find a (pretty) comprehensive list of the various VPs, DOs, VCs and VTs in Spain. You can use it to get a full view of Spanish wine classifications. You can also see where in Spain all those DOPs and IGPs are located. (Sorry, that's a lot of acronyms for one paragraph!)

We're doing our best to keep this list 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)

Name	Where in Spain
Aylés	Aragón
Campo de la Guardia	Castilla-La Mancha
Casa del Blanco	Castilla-La Mancha
Dehesa del Carrizal	Castilla-La Mancha
Dominio de Valdepusa	Castilla-La Mancha
El Terrerazo	Comunitat Valenciana
Finca Élez	Castilla-La Mancha
Guijoso	Castilla-La Mancha
Los Balagueses	Comunitat Valenciana
Pago Calzadilla	Castilla-La Mancha
Pago de Arínzano	Navarra
Pago de Otazu	Navarra
Pago Florentino	Castilla-La Mancha
Prado de Irache	Navarra

 

Denominación de Origen de Calidad (DOCa/DOQ)

Name	Where in Spain
Priorat	Catalunya
Rioja	La Rioja, Navarra, and Euskadi (Basque Country)

 

Denominación de Origen (DO)

Name	Where in Spain
Abona	Islas Canarias
Alella	Catalunya
Alicante	Comunitat Valenciana
Almansa	Castilla-La Mancha
Arlanza	Castilla y León
Arribes	Castilla y León
Bierzo	Castilla y León
Binissalem	Illes Balears (Balearic Islands)
Bullas	Murcia
Calatayud	Aragón
Campo de Borja	Aragón
Cariñena	Aragón
Catalunya	Catalunya
Cava​	Aragón, Catalunya, Comunitat Valenciana, Extremadura, La Rioja, Navarra, Euskadi (Basque Country)
Cebreros	Castilla y León
Cigales	Castilla y León
Condado de Huelva​	Andalucía
Costers del Segre	Catalunya
Cuenca de Barberá	Catalunya
El Hierro	Islas Canarias
Empordá	Catalunya
Gran Canaria	Islas Canarias
Jerez-Xérès-Sherry	Andalucía
Jumilla	Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia
La Gomera	Islas Canarias
La Mancha	Castilla-La Mancha
La Palma	Islas Canarias
Lanzarote	Islas Canarias
Málaga	Andalucía
Manchuela	Castilla-La Mancha
Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda	Andalucía
Méntrida	Castilla-La Mancha
Mondéjar	Castilla-La Mancha
Monterrei	Galicia
Montilla-Moriles	Andalucía
Montsant	Catalunya
Navarra	Navarra
Penedès	Catalunya
Pla de Bages	Catalunya
Pla i Llevant	Illes Balears (Balearic Islands)
Rias Baixas	Galicia
Ribeira Sacra	Galicia
Ribeiro	Galicia
Ribera del Duero	Castilla y León
Ribera del Guadiana	Extremadura
Ribera del Júcar	Castilla-La Mancha
Rueda	Castilla y León
Sierras de Málaga	Andalucía
Somontano	Aragón
Tacoronte-Acentejo	Islas Canarias
Tarragona	Catalunya
Terra Alta	Catalunya
Tierra del Vino de Zamora	Castilla y León
Toro	Castilla y León
Txakoli de Álava	Euskadi (Basque Country)
Txakoli de Bizkaia	Euskadi (Basque Country)
Txakoli de Getaria	Euskadi (Basque Country)
Uclés	Castilla-La Mancha
Utiel-Requena	Comunitat Valenciana
Valdeorras	Galicia
Valdepeñas	Castilla-La Mancha
Valencia	Comunitat Valenciana
Valle de Güímar	Islas Canarias
Valle de La Orotava	Islas Canarias
Vinos de León	Castilla y León
Vinos de Madrid	Comunidad de Madrid
Ycoden-Daute-Isora	Islas Canarias
Yecla	Murcia

 

Vinos de Calidad (VC)

Name	Where in Spain
Cangas	Asturias
Granada	Andalucía
Islas Canarias	Islas Canarias
Lebrija	Andalucía
Sierra de Salamanca	Castilla y León
Valles de Benavente	Castilla y León
Valtiendas	Castilla y León

 

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)

Name	Where in Spain
3 Riberas	Navarra
Altiplano de Sierra Nevada	Andalucía
Bailén	Andalucía
Bajo Aragón	Aragón
Barbanza e Iria	Galicia
Betanzos	Galicia
Cádiz	Andalucía
Campo de Cartagena	Murcia
Castelló	Comunitat Valenciana
Castilla	Castilla-La Mancha
Castilla y León	Castilla y León
Córdoba	Andalucía
Costa de Cantabria	Cantabria
Cumbres del Guadalfeo	Andalucía
Desierto de Almería	Andalucía
Extremadura	Extremadura
Formentera	Illes Balears (Balearic Islands)
Ibiza	Illes Balears (Balearic Islands)
Isla de Menorca	Illes Balears (Balearic Islands)
Illes Balears (Balearic Islands)	Illes Balears (Balearic Islands)
Laderas del Genil	Andalucía
Laujar-Alpujarra	Andalucía
Liébana	Cantabria
Los Palacios	Andalucía
Mallorca	Illes Balears (Balearic Islands)
Murcia	Murcia
Norte de Almería	Andalucía
Ribera del Andarax	Andalucía
Ribera del Gállego-Cinco Villas	Aragón
Ribera del Jiloca	Aragón
Ribera del Queiles nota 3​	Aragón
Ribera del Queiles nota 3​	Navarra
Serra de Tramuntana-Costa Nord	Illes Balears (Balearic Islands)
Sierra Norte de Sevilla	Andalucía
Sierra Sur de Jaén	Andalucía
Sierras de Las Estancias y Los Filabres	Andalucía
Torreperogil	Andalucía
Valdejalón	Aragón
Valle del Cinca	Aragón
Valle del Miño-Ourense	Galicia
Valles de Sadacia	La Rioja
Villaviciosa de Córdoba	Andalucía