Spain is ninth in worldwide consumptions with Spaniards drinking, on average, 10.06 gallons (38 liters) a year. The country has an abundance of native grape varieties, with over 600 varieties planted throughout Spain though 80 percent of the country's wine production is from only 20 grapes—including Tempranillo, Albariño, Garnacha, Palomino, Airen, Macabeo, Parellada, Xarel·lo, Cariñena and Monastrell.

Major Spanish wine regions include the Rioja and Ribera del Duero which is known for their Tempranillo production;Jerez, the home of the fortified wine Sherry; Rías Baixas in the northwest region of Galicia that is known for its white wines made from Albariño and Catalonia which includes the Cava and still wine producing regions of the Penedès as well the Priorat region. Spain has a long history of producing fine wines, 50 percent of all the EECs vineyards lie in Spain and offers an excellent and memorable selection of Reds, White and Rose wines.

HISTORY
The abundance of native grape varieties fostered an early start to viticulture with evidence of grape pips dating back to the Tertiary period. Archaeologists believe that these grapes were first cultivated sometime between 4000 and 3000 BC, long before the wine-growing culture of the Phoeniciansfounded the trading post of Cádiz around 1100 BC. Following the Phoenicians, the Carthaginiansintroduced new advances to the region-including the teachings of the early viticulturist Mago.Carthage would wage a series of wars with the emerging Roman Republic that would lead to the Roman conquest of the Spanish mainland, known as Hispania.