Spain: The World's Largest Vineyard

According to the OIV, Spain had the largest vineyard in the world in 2025, 919,000 hectares or 13.1 percent of the global total, and jancisrobinson.com likewise calls Spain the possessor of more land devoted to vines than any other country. Spain's own vine potential register, published by MAPA, counted 961,173 hectares on 31 July 2023, and 97 percent of that area lay in territory protected by a quality denomination. MAPA's 2023 report puts Castilla-La Mancha first among the autonomous communities, with 442,970 hectares or 47.7 percent of the national planted wine-grape area on 31 July 2023, followed by Castilla y León (9.1 percent), Extremadura (8.2 percent) and Catalonia (6.1 percent). The same MAPA release counted 536,359 vine-growing holdings in 2023, with an average of 1.73 hectares each.

• OIV, 2025: 919,000 hectares under vine, the largest vineyard in the world
• MAPA, 31 July 2023: 961,173 hectares of vine potential, 97 percent inside a quality denomination's territory
• MAPA, 31 July 2023: Castilla-La Mancha held 47.7 percent of Spain's planted wine-grape area
• MAPA, 2023: 536,359 vine-growing holdings averaging 1.73 hectares

jancisrobinson.com points to wide climatic diversity between Spain's wine regions, from the green vineyards of Galicia on the north Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean south-east. The same source puts the average altitude of Spanish vineyards at over 600 metres, and notes that relatively low night-time temperatures help many of them produce grapes with good colour and acidity. Irrigation has been officially allowed in Spain since 1996, on a case by case basis, but jancisrobinson.com notes it is expensive and rarely used, so vines are typically planted as widely spaced bushes with low yields. Lower vineyards, notably in the Levante on the southern Mediterranean coast, tend to give wines with excess alcohol and a lack of acidity, according to the same source. Soils differ from region to region. The Consejo Regulador of Jerez describes the Sherry region's albariza, a white limestone soil containing up to forty percent calcium carbonate that stores winter rainfall for the dry months, alongside clays and sands. The Consell Regulador of the DOQ Priorat calls Priorat the territory of slate.

• Average vineyard altitude over 600 metres (jancisrobinson.com)
• Irrigation officially allowed since 1996, case by case, and rarely used (jancisrobinson.com)
• Albariza, a white limestone soil with up to 40 percent calcium carbonate, dominates the Sherry region (Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry)
• Priorat is the territory of slate, per the Consell Regulador of the DOQ Priorat

According to MAPA's 2023 report, red varieties made up 52.8 percent of Spain's planted wine-grape area on 31 July 2023 and white varieties 47.2 percent. Tempranillo led with 199,090 hectares, 21.5 percent of the total vineyard. Behind it among the reds came Garnacha Tinta (59,530 hectares), Bobal (53,452), Garnacha Tintorera (42,321), Monastrell (34,501), Cabernet Sauvignon (close to 17,587) and Syrah (16,385), and MAPA calculates that these seven varieties covered 88 percent of the red area and 46 percent of the national vineyard. Airén, at 190,085 hectares, was 20 percent of the national vineyard and 44 percent of the white area, followed by Macabeo (56,764 hectares), Verdejo (25,309), Pardina (21,492) and Cayetana Blanca (11,985). jancisrobinson.com notes that the Monastrell common in the Levante is the grape known in France as Mourvèdre, and singles out Galicia's Albariño and Rueda's Verdejo as white varieties of class and interest. For Sherry, the Consejo Regulador names Palomino, Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel as the suitable varieties, all white, with Palomino the most widely favoured.

• Tempranillo: 199,090 hectares on 31 July 2023, 21.5 percent of Spain's vineyard (MAPA)
• Airén: 190,085 hectares, 20 percent of the vineyard and 44 percent of the white area (MAPA, 2023)
• Seven red varieties led by Tempranillo and Garnacha Tinta covered 46 percent of the national vineyard (MAPA, 2023)
• Palomino, Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel are the Sherry varieties named by the Consejo Regulador

The Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja traces Rioja's winegrowing back to Ancient Rome. It dates the birth of the Rioja Designation of Origin to 1925, when the territory was delimited and the first official regulation established, with 1926 as year one for the Control Board, and it records the award of Qualified Designation of Origin status in 1991. The Consell Regulador of the DOQ Priorat dates the delimitation of the Priorat appellation to 1932. In Jerez, the Consejo Regulador records that phylloxera first appeared in 1894. MAPA's register of 2 July 2026 lists Rioja and Priorat as the only two names carrying the traditional term DOCa (Denominación de Origen Calificada), a category jancisrobinson.com describes as theoretically superior to DO and known as DOQ in Catalan. Of the register's 106 DOP names, 70 carry the term DO, 27 VP (Vino de Pago) and 7 VC (Vino de Calidad), and all 43 IGP names carry VT (Vino de la Tierra).

• Rioja DO born in 1925, with 1926 as year one for its Control Board (Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja)
• Rioja awarded Qualified Designation of Origin status in 1991 (Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja)
• Only Rioja and Priorat carry the DOCa term in MAPA's register of 2 July 2026
• Phylloxera first appeared in Jerez in 1894 (Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry)

According to the OIV, Spain remained the world's largest vineyard in 2025 at 919,000 hectares, 13.1 percent of the global total, after a decline of 1.3 percent on 2024. Spain's own vine potential register, published by the Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación (MAPA), put the national vineyard at 961,173 hectares on 31 July 2023, of which 97 percent sat inside the territory of a quality denomination. The OIV puts Spanish wine production at 28.7 million hectolitres in 2025, the third largest volume in the world, down 7.7 percent on 2024 and 17 percent below the five-year average after a third consecutive year of drought and heatwaves. Spanish wine exports fell to 19.6 million hectolitres in 2025, worth 3.0 billion euros, with Germany the leading market by both volume and value (OIV). MAPA's register of protected Spanish wine names stood at 149 names on 2 July 2026, made up of 106 DOP and 43 IGP. The register records a traditional term against each name, with DO, DOCa, VC and VP all sitting at DOP level and VT at IGP level (MAPA). According to MAPA, Tempranillo was the most planted wine grape in Spain at 199,090 hectares on 31 July 2023, followed closely by Airén at 190,085 hectares, with red varieties holding 53 percent of the planted area that year and white varieties 47 percent.

• According to the OIV, Spain held the world's largest vineyard area in 2025 at 919,000 hectares, 13.1 percent of the global total
• According to MAPA, the national vine potential register stood at 961,173 hectares on 31 July 2023
• According to the OIV, Spain produced 28.7 million hectolitres in 2025, third in the world, down 7.7 percent on 2024
• MAPA's register listed 149 protected Spanish wine names on 2 July 2026, 106 DOP and 43 IGP

Decanter lists Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Rías Baixas and Priorat as Spain's key regions and names Garnacha and Tempranillo as two of the most widely grown grapes in the country. jancisrobinson.com counts Rioja and Ribera del Duero among Spain's top regions and notes that the best examples of Cava, Spain's own answer to champagne, are made in Penedès in north-east Spain. The same source calls sherry, from its homeland Jerez, Spain's great gift to the world of wine in one sense. According to the Consejo Regulador, ten municipalities have vineyards inside the Sherry denomination, from Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda to Lebrija in the province of Seville, and Sanlúcar is the origin of Manzanilla. Decanter notes the tradition of ageing Spanish wines for a long time in oak barrels, with many wines defined by minimum barrel and bottle ageing under the Joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva categories, and jancisrobinson.com adds that American oak has been used extensively in Spanish cellars since the colonisation of the Americas.

• Key regions named by Decanter: Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Rías Baixas and Priorat
• Cava: the best examples are made in Penedès, north-east Spain (jancisrobinson.com)
• Sherry: ten municipalities hold vineyards within the denomination (Consejo Regulador)
• Ageing categories: Joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva (Decanter)

Primary sources (MAPA vine potential release and 2023 report, MAPA register of Spanish wine DOPs and IGPs, OIV State of the World Wine Sector in 2025, Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja, Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, Consell Regulador DOQ Priorat): https://www.mapa.gob.es/es/prensa/ultimas-noticias/detalle_noticias/el-97---de-la-superficie-de-vi-edo-en-espa-a-est--en-territorio-de-alguna-denominaci-n-de-calidad/37c96471-0263-43cb-8f54-e28342e4a510, https://www.mapa.gob.es/es/dam/jcr:f9643333-ef75-4a2f-8864-afd1ade63fd1/02_vinos.pdf, https://www.oiv.int/sites/default/files/2026-05/OIV-State_of_the_World_Wine_Sector_in_2025.pdf, https://www.mapa.gob.es/es/agricultura/temas/regulacion-de-los-mercados/240418informepotencialviticola2023def__tcm30-682046.pdf, https://riojawine.com/en-gb/the-designation/history/, https://www.sherry.wine/sherry-wine/production/viticulture, https://www.sherry.wine/sherry-region/sherry-wine-region, https://www.sherry.wine/sherry-wine/production, https://www.doqpriorat.org/en/doq-priorat/, https://www.doqpriorat.org/en/territory/. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/wine/wine-regions/spain/, https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/wine-regions/spain. Last verified 2026-09-25