'Super' wines from Spain (Cross-posting from Rogov's forum)

I figured the Spanish experts might not spot the original post. Their input to this question would be of interest I'm sure.

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=29932

regards

Ian

There seems to be a paradox at work in the Spanish wine scene. On the one hand, there is a an exciting search to revive regions and local grape varieties. On the other hand, there often appears to be a tendency to smother local character by over-ripeness and extraction together with aggressive oaking. More often than with Italy and even Australia but rarely France, I come away from tastings with a numb palate having been unable to differentiate between the last few "super" wines presented.

At a slight tangent, I can't help wondering how "super" wines are going to cope in the sick Spanish economy. As Spain cannot devalue inside the Euro zone, it will sooner or later have to apply austerity policies including severe wage restraint like Ireland is proposing in order to make its economy more competitive.