It's one of those odd wine-facts. Spain has more land cultivated as vineyards than any other country in Europe, yet in terms of production of wine it comes third, after Italy and France. The reasons for this apparent paradox are many, but the principal ones are that many of Spain's vineyards are in mountainous regions with poor land, many of the vines are old and past their maximum yield, and many of the grapes grown are of low-yield varieties.

Just as in many other fields, this topographical reality has spin-offs in the commercial world. Just a few decades ago Spain produced a lot of generic wine, the sort of stuff that's sold in bulk and gets transported around Europe in tanker trucks. But large flat areas - unlike Spain's patchwork of vineyards - are better suited to the mechanisation that cheap bulk wines need, and California and the Argentine have gradually taken over that role. While this process was taking place, Spanish wine-makers realised that their only hope of economic salvation was to move towards better quality bottled wines, instead of the traditional generics.

The Rioja was among the first regions to establish an international name for itself. It's probably true that for many people Rioja is the Spanish wine. But apart from the Rioja, there are some twenty-five major wine regions in Spain, most of them still unknown outside their homeland. However a few are beginning to get some attention, most notably Navarre on the opposite bank of the River Ebro from the Rioja; Penedes on the coast between Barcelona and Tarragona; Valdepenas (mind how you pronounce this) an island in the massive central region of La Mancha; and Carinena, a small region near - well, not near anywhere that you might have heard of really, but between Rioja and the Mediterranean coast.

Of all of these, the region best placed geographically and historically for the production of good-quality wines is the Penedes, the largest of the five regions clustered to the West of Barcelona, and the nearest to it. Vilafranca de Penedes, in the centre of the region, was founded by the Carthaginian, Hamilcar Barca. Wine-making has flourished here since the end of the Punic Wars, over two thousand years ago, when the Romans drove the Carthaginians out of this area. Nowadays, Cordoniu and the wines of Miguel Torres are probably its best-known exports.

The rainfall, its temperate climate and the limestone soils make this a very suitable area for viticulture. It's divided into three sub-regions, The Alto, the Medio and the Bajo Penedes, or the high, medium and low - low on the coast, medium inland, and high (you guessed it) up in the mountains around Montserrat. The Medio Penedes produces more wine than the other two areas combined, mostly whites including the sparklers, and the Alto is also mostly white. The Bajo, or coastal Penedes, with its hotter climate, is where the reds are made.

Wine of the Week

Loxarel 1999 Tempranillo.

The tempranillo grape, much used in the Rioja, is known in Penedes as the 'Ojo de Liebre', or 'Hare's Eye'. Since Catalan autonomy, it's now on the label in Catalan, 'Ull de Lliebre'. This varietal wine is ruby red, full-bodied and dry in finish, with a hint of caramel in the aftertaste.

Available in Molloy's Off-Licenses at £5.99