Spanish wines are as diverse as they are delicious, making them a great choice for your wedding. Whether you’re planning a Spanish destination wedding or you’re looking to bring some Mediterranean flavour to your matrimonials, here’s all you need to know about choosing the perfect Spanish wines for your big day.
Best wines for a wedding aperitif or grazing board
The welcome drink usually comes directly after the wedding ceremony, so that guests can mingle before the meal is served. Some typical wedding aperitif or aperitivo in Spanish are grazing boards, canapes or pica-pica, meaning little plates of tapas. Whatever you choose, it’s sure to be light and varied. So, you want light, versatile wines. Here are some suggestions.
Cava
Spain’s equivalent to champagne, DO Cava is light and bubbly, with aromas ranging from citrus and fruity (younger Cavas) to toasted (aged Cavas). Cava is the perfect reception wine for a wedding in Spain and is great for amuse-bouche snacking!
Red, white and rosé
No matter if you are adding white or red (or rosé) wines to the welcome drink list, just remember to keep it light and dry (sweet-tooth options coming up after). If yours is a Spanish destination wedding, choose local – there’s nothing so classy as tasting a wine that comes from the same region as your wedding venue.
My next tip – avoid barrel-aged wines for now – keep them for the show-stopping mains later on!
Light white wine options include Garnacha, Albariño and Sauvignon Blanc. Light reds could be a Garnacha Tinta, Merlot or the Catalan wine Trepat, which is a bit like Pinot Noir in that it’s light-bodied, red-fruit forward and earthy.
Sangria
A great summer cooler at weddings, sangria can come in the traditional red variety, the white sangria style, or even as bubbly Cava sangria. Served over ice with fruit on a hot day, this Spanish punch is a real crowd-refresher. And it’s light enough to combine with a wedding grazing table. What’s more, sangria is usually served in jugs or on tap, meaning it can be self-served!
Want to learn how to make homemade sangria for your big day? Sign up for my Sangria & Tapas workshop at Savour Academy in Barcelona.
Picking Spanish wines for the salad course
By salad course, I mean the first, light dish at the start of the wedding meal – usually vegetable-based. Think about a fresh white or even a dry Spanish rosé for the salad course.
One of my favourite white wines with veggies is a Catalan Xarel·lo, with complexity and herbal aromas. Or an easy rosé option from La Rioja is the fresh and fruity Clarete.
But there are other options, as long as the dish doesn’t have smoked elements (smoky fish, grilled veg etc. – more on that later). When pairing wines, you pair with the sauce. A dish with vinaigrette wants a young white wine with acidity (try a Garnacha Blanca). Likewise a creamy sauce – like in caesar salad – may require something like an unoaked Chardonnay.
Best Spanish wines to pair with meat or fish
Why do I categorise meat and fish together for wine? Isn’t it red for meat and white for fish? Well, there are exceptions – if we’re talking about pairing wine with a wedding main, chances are that main will be served with a sauce. And therefore…pair with the sauce!
For example, meat with a tomato-based sauce needs a complex fruity red to balance it. A DO Montsant would be perfect. Yet, for a herbal chicken dish, a crisp white such as sauvignon blanc or a blend with Viognier would work best.
Seafood with citrus pairs perfectly with the Spanish white wine Verdejo from DO Rueda, while umami-heavy fish dishes such as tuna or salmon would be great with a heavy white from Priorat or a light Spanish red – try a young Tempranillo.
Best Spanish wine for a paella or BBQ wedding
My best advice for this – when cooking over fire and pairing wines, just remember that smoke likes oak! Therefore, barrel-aged wines (with their smoky aromas) are great when combined with BBQ, be it meat, fish, or even the very popular Spanish dish paella that you might be serving up at your wedding.
It is said that fish pairs with white wine. However, if we’re talking about a smoky surf’n’turf paella, a light red also works well – look up that Trepat variety!
Grilled meats are good with barrel-aged red wines from DOCa Rioja such as Tempranillo, or the Catalan DOQ Priorat – the herbs, silky mouthfeel and dark fruit minerality are on point!
My final say on the BBQ thing – for grilled and smoky fish and seafood, a complex barrel-aged white or rosé works well.
But one of my favourite and more unusual pairings to try is an orange wine. If you know orange wines you will know that they’re not made with oranges! Instead, these are white wines that have macerated, or soaked, in their skins. They usually have more body than a typical white and, if it’s a barrel-aged orange wine, some wonderful smoky undertones.
If you are considering a seafood BBQ or seafood paella for your wedding, an orange wine would be great to surprise your guests.
Pairing Spanish wines with your wedding cake or dessert
Getting your dessert pairing right will be the icing on the cake!
Depending what type of cake or dessert you are offering will define what wine pairings make sense.
For example, a cake or dessert with fruitiness will work well with fruity off-dry wines, including semi-sec Cava – an easy choice. But you could also go with brut (dry) Cava for crisp contrast and bubbles that go so well with the creaminess and crunch – of almost any dessert!
Spanish fortified wines such as sherry are a hit with the more seasoned wine drinkers, and when it comes to pairing, save this for a dried fruit cake or something with caramelised, nutty tones.
Best Spanish wines for a cheese course
There are lots of cheeses and lots of wines so let’s keep this one simple. Aged reserva red blend wines compliment aged hard cheeses such as manchego – think Ribera del Duero or Rioja.
You’ll want a zingy white, so have a look at Verdejo or Albariño varietals as easy pleasers to tangy and medium-soft cheeses.
Serving blue cheese at your Spanish wedding? Sherry, Port and Marsala are rich and sweet, giving the cheese a lovely contrast.
Finally… if you’re looking for wine for a Spanish wedding and you decide on soft cheeses, the Cava gets a mention again – but pick an aged Guarda Superior Cava.
There now, wasn’t that easy?!
Spanish wines for your wedding: FAQs
What are the most popular Spanish wines for a wedding?
The most popular Spanish red wines for weddings are from Rioja and Priorat regions, namely Tempranillo and Garnacha wines.
Cava is popular as a Spanish wedding drink as it is versatile and bubbly, making things extra special!
Verdejo, Albariño and Garnacha Blanca are all fresh and fruity whites that are extremely accessible wines for your wedding.
How many bottles of wine do you need for a wedding?
This really depends on the drinking habits of your guests! But to give you a ballpark figure, you should plan for around one bottle of wine per four or five guests for each course. That means one large glass or two small glasses each.
Is there a good budget Spanish wine for weddings?
If you have a tight budget, you could save money by trying different wines from the supermarket or bodega wine store, ranging from around 5€ for a quality wine that people will enjoy.
Between 5-10€ is a reasonable amount to pay for a nicer dinner wine, and 10-20€ if you have a bigger budget, will get wines to wow the crowd.
What does “D.O.” mean in Spanish wine?
DO stands for “Denominación de Origen.”
These are the official wine-growing regions with their own rules and regulations about what wine can be made in each growing area in Spain.
Would you like more help learning about Spanish wines for your group or wedding in Spain? Or maybe you’d like to join me at Savour Academy for a wine-tasting and pairing class? Then please get in touch. Cheers!
