Wine Shop

Wine-making was first introduced to Andalucia in southern Spain by traders from Phoenicia around 1100 B.C. - 500 B.C. Roman armies took over around 200 B.C. and exported Spanish wines by sending it to its troops and to Rome. Moors invaded the country in 711 A.D. and prohibited the making of Spanish wines because of their Muslim religious beliefs. By the 14th century Spain had re-established trade with neighboring countries – Sherry being a favorite. Spain's empire in the New World escalated the export of Spanish wine and increased profits. When European grape vines were destroyed by the phylloxera aphid in the mid-1800s, Spain's neighbors in Bordeaux, France ventured south for wine supplies and brought their knowledge and practice of viticulture. France's tragedy was a catalyst for the reawakening and modernization of Spain's wine industry. Throughout the 1900s, political changes impeded Spain's participation as a world-wide competitor in wine exports, but its return to a democratic government in 1978 and its membership in the European Union shortly thereafter, brought investors. They spurred Spain towards creating Spanish wines competitive in the global market.