Live News From Spain As It Happens

ANOTHER cabin crew strike has been announced after Irish-based budget airline Ryanair and staff unions in Spain failed to reach an agreement.

According to SITCPLA and USO, representatives of Spanish-based employees of the heavily-used carrier, say Ryanair is continuing to refuse to adhere to national labour laws where these suppose an improvement in working conditions on those of the Republic of Ireland, where the company is based.

Also, Ryanair is recruiting temporary cabin crew via ‘illegal agencies’, say the two unions.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

HYDE Park and Central Park are replete with them, and Madrid’s Retiro Park was overrun with them 20 years ago – but now, trying to catch sight of them in the latter is about as easy as witnessing the Aurora Borealis from the Pyrénées.

Squirrels are no longer an endangered species in the green lung of Spain’s largest city – they’ve disappeared altogether.

Well, about five are believed to be living in the Retiro, but compared with their heyday at the end of the last century, the giant squirrel city back then has shrunk to a tiny village.

The Friends of the Retiro Association says around 145 were released into the park in the late 1990s and they not only thrived, finding abundant sources of food, but bred non-stop, multiplying their population several times over within months.

But cats, dogs and magpies roaming the huge urban garden have not turned out to be squirrels’ ideal neighbours: they chase them, scare them off and even kill them.

So, with the help of the Friends of the Retiro, Madrid city council is now working on reintroducing squirrels to the park.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPEED limits on secondary roads will drop to 90 kilometres per hour in the first few days of 2019 – it’s official.

Spain’s traffic authorities had considered reducing the limit from its current 100 kilometres per hour on main non-motorway inter-urban highways – most of which are single carriageway only – in line with other European countries such as Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Greece and Croatia, which are now at 90, and France, where it is 80, but is set to approve the law change today (Friday), making it a certainty.

The vast majority – 77%, in fact – of road crashes involving deaths are on secondary, single-carriageway highways, mostly due to either vehicles veering off the edge or being driven too fast.

According to the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) led by Pere Navarro and to interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, a 30-day stay of grace will be given for speed limit signs to be changed using giant stickers – the method used in 2011 when motorway speeds dropped briefly from 120 kilometres per hour to 110 in response to a spike in fuel costs.

A PANICKED mum called a taxi to wake up her son in Granada so he did not miss his bus to the family home in Burgos for Christmas.

Angélica González gave the youngster, a sixth-form student in the Andalucía city, a wake-up call at 06.30 on Christmas Eve to make sure he caught the coach at 08.00, but after phoning constantly for 45 minutes, was unable to rouse him.

In desperation and in a flash of inspiration, Angélica rang Tele-Radio Taxi Granada for help.

At first, the operator said there was ‘nothing they could do’, but seeing how distressed the woman was, finally agreed to her plan – to send a taxi round to the boy’s address on the C/ Acera del Darro (pictured) and get the driver to ring the bell until her son woke up.

By leaning on the doorbell non-stop until he got an answer, the idea worked and the teen saw his mum’s missed calls, flung on his clothes in the half-hour he had left before the coach left, and legged it to the station.

He just made it onto the bus to the Castilla y León city where his family lives, meaning he was able to join them for the traditional Christmas Eve dinner and present-unwrapping.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SCHOOLBOY who returned a wallet he found full of money has won the annual Community Safety Award in Fuenlabrada (Madrid).

Guillermo Rodríguez Giraldo, 12, found a purse on the Street with a large sum of cash and an ID card in it, and handed it in to the Local Police intact.

It has since been returned to its rightful owner.

Guillermo is the youngest-ever recipient of the award, but deserves it because of his ‘ethical and community-spirited action’, says mayor Javier Ayala.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CENTRE-RIGHT Ciudadanos and the right-wing PP expect to reach a deal to govern Andalucía before Christmas Eve is out, but will not include any members of the far-right party Vox in their coalition.

PP secretary-general for the southern territory, Dolores López, says her team and Ciudadanos were 'practically there' in terms of the agreement they hope to strike, since the two parties 'coincide' with 'many of their proposed measures'.

Sra López recalls that during the PP's regional election campaign, it pledged to 'eliminate inheritance tax, reduce income tax and other steps essential to the lives of people in Andalucía'.

Others include 'working towards' nursery schools being free of charge for children from birth to three years old when they start in infants at primary school.

Many of these proposals will come to fruition within the first 100 days of government in the region, López says.

Vox, whose 12 seats gained out of 110 in the regional elections sparked international media concerns about the alt-right gaining a foothold in Spanish politics for the first time since the death of Franco, will not form part of the new PP-Ciudadanos coalition, but is unlikely to put up any resistance at the in-house voting session, Dolores López assures.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

NEW foreign residents moving to Spain mean the national population is rising once again – albeit slowly – despite having one of the lowest birth rates in history, according to the National Institute of Statistics.

And British nationals still make up a significant minority, even though official figures show there are now fewer of them in Spain.

For the first time in six years, the headcount rose rather than fell in the first quater of 2018 – the most recent period for which figures are available – although not quite breaking the 47 million barrier; the official total as at the end of March stood at 46,733,038, representing a year-on-year increase of 74,591, or 0.43%.

Reverse 'baby boom'

Fewer babies were born this year than in living memory – just 179,794, or an average of 1.3 per adult female of fertile age – meaning Spain is now in its third decade with a typical birth rate of fewer than 1.5 children per woman.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

PLAYING the El Gordo can turn out to be a postcode lottery – literally – depending upon how much you believe in fortune and history repeating itself: some locations seem to have all the luck, and others have never seen a win in the 206-year history of the draw.

Since the year 1812 when the first El Gordo Christmas lottery was drawn, Madrid has been the city with the most wins – 80 – whilst Barcelona has scooped up 47, Valencia 21, Sevilla 16, Cádiz 15, Málaga 14, and Alicante, Bilbao, Zaragoza and Murcia, 11, not including this morning's draw.

This might seem obvious, though, given that they appear to be listed in descending order of size, at least for the top four.

But first-prize winning El Gordo tickets do not follow a pattern when it comes to the provinces with the greatest success – a total of 12 of them have had at least five jackpots, and they are neither the largest, the smallest, nor concentrated in a specific area.

Provinces with more than five wins...

Asturias and Cantabria have been home to the winning ticket-holders – or at least, the shops which sold the jackpot décimos – nine times each, whilst the provinces of Granada (Andalucía), Badajoz (Extremadura), and the Balearic Islands have attracted the top prize eight times, not including today's draw.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AN ELEVENTH-HOUR meeting between Pedro Sánchez and Catalunya's president Quim Torra ahead of the separatist protests in Barcelona ended with mutual satisfaction and a pledge to continue with two-way open dialogue.

Whilst the previous PP-led government refused Catalunya's repeated requests for 'dialogue' on the independence issue – declining to even broach the subject as it considered the secession movement 'illegal' – socialist Pedro Sánchez says he is open to talks with the region in a bid to make peace between it and the mother country.

Sánchez had previously negotiated how to stage the meeting, with one sole red line: the format should be between members of a central and a regional government, not treated as a 'summit' between two independent States.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A COMPENSATION bill for the worst environmental disaster in Spain's living history has been set at a record €1.5 billion after a Supreme Court hearing this week.
It has taken 16 years since the Prestige catastrophe for the full amount to be confirmed, for which the captain – Apostolos Ioannis Mangouras – and the owner, Mare Shipping Inc, are jointly and severally liable.
The huge settlement will be made by the London Steamship Owners' Mutual Insurance Association and by Mangouras' own public liability insurer, both of whom would be able to reclaim some of the money from the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Funds.
Officially the world's third-most expensive environmental disaster after the Columbia and Chernobyl, the Prestige oil tanker capsized in a storm on November 13, 2002 some 250 kilometres out to sea off Galicia's Costa de la Muerte – which, ironically, translates as 'Death Coast' – causing its 77,000-tonne fuel cargo to empty into the water.

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A CYCLING enthusiast from Zaragoza has described to reporters how he was rescued in the nick of time after suffering frostbite in Siberia.

José Andrés Abián, 48, a caretaker by profession and always hungry for adventure and challenge by nature, decided to cycle the 4,000 kilometres across Russia's sparsely-populated eastern wilderness.

He attempted to complete his route between Magadan and Lake Baikal, grappling with temperatures as low as -50ºC, when he started to feel very weak and fatigued.

The explorer said he took off one of his mittens to be able to erect his tent more quickly, and the exposed hand immediately froze up.

By the time he was rescued, the hand was still a block of ice and frostbite was also starting to set into his legs.

José Andrés is now fully recovered and has described his narrow escape to reporters on the Spanish daily broadsheet El Mundo.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

RESIDENTS in Spain present the most proposals to European Parliament's Petitions Committee, mostly about humanitarian and environmental issues.

According to the Committee, Spain is the largest output country for petitions, which come just as often from Spaniards as from foreigners, although in terms of nationalities, the Germans present the most – 264 in 2017 – followed by the Italians, at 236.

Petitions from Spain, from applicants of all nationalities, totalled 211 last year, European Parliament says.

These mainly relate to environmental issues – including a case currently being read by the Committee on a sewage leak from a residential complex into a protected marsh in the northern Alicante province – plus human rights, justice and the future of the European Union and its citizens.

Petitions from Spain by Brits and Spaniards alike about issues concerning Brexit have been some of the most frequent in the last two-and-a-half years, as British nationals living in Europe and Europeans living in the UK wait to find out whether their rights will be curtailed in any way after the end of March next year.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S tax authorities are digging into Colombian-born pop-rocker Shakira's affairs and are claiming over €14.5 million from her which was reportedly channelled through companies in tax havens.

The singer, 41, who lives with FC Barcelona midfielder Gerard Piqué, the father of her two young sons, has recently paid off a €20m debt from her first year of living in Spain when she was not registered as a tax resident in the country – due, the artist says, to her having spent the majority of that year on tour and very little time at home in Barcelona.

Now, the Treasury has uncovered up to six cases of alleged tax evasion involving the half-Lebanese songwriter and dancer.

It mentions dormant front companies in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Panamá, and has ordered her to pay a fine of €19.5m.

Shakira says she has already paid the €14.5m the tax office claims she has 'evaded', and that it 'does not make sense' that she is now facing a fine.

Despite the fiscal authorities saying she 'pretended' not to be living in Spain and 'hid' her income through a network of offshore companies between 2012 and 2014, Shakira says she was never in Spain for the requisite 183 days a year during that time – a period after which a person is automatically considered a tax resident there.

Shakira says she was a 'foreign citizen' and 'was never resident for tax purposes in Spain until 2015', which is when she began making her declarations in the country.

According to right-wing broadsheet ABC, an inspection on the artist's hairdresser's in Barcelona showed she had been a regular customer there during the years in question, at which time she was registered for tax purposes in the Bahamas.

The report claims Shakira's personal trainer, US national Anna Kaiser, regularly visited Barcelona during that time and that the singer also attended gyms in the city, including Dir Diagonal and Bonasport, on frequent occasions.

ABC considers this as proof Shakira was indeed resident in Barcelona prior to 2015, although it has no evidence that her attendance at any of these locations or her personal trainer's trips to Spain totalled enough days per year to make her a tax resident.

Read mroe at thinkSPAIN.com

A ROUTINE blood test led to a father in Bilbao finding out his children were not his own due to a mix-up at the fertility clinic, leading to the family getting nearly a quarter of a million euros in compensation.

The couple underwent IVF in 2015 and the mother gave birth to twin boys in February 2016, according to reports in the Spanish press.

Last year, the dad had a routine blood test – and it was found that his blood type did not match that of the twins.

The blood types in question have not been explained, but certain strains are always inherited and some require both parents to have the same type to be passed on.

This flagged up concerns which led to a genetics laboratory analysing the DNA of all four family members – and discovering that the children had a different father.

A full investigation revealed that the fertility clinic, based in Bilbao but with its head office in Madrid, had injected the wrong man's sperm into the mother's eggs to produce the embryos which were then implanted into the mum's womb.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Petrol and diesel have dropped in price and are set to remain this way until the weekend before Christmas at least thanks to a fall in crude oil costs.

Lead-free 95 petrol is down to an average of €1.224 per litre – 1.45% lower than at the beginning of the year – whilst diesel has fallen to €1.176 per litre, which is 2.62% higher than at the start of 2018 but a considerable drop on a month ago.

In mid-November, petrol was 6.92% more expensive and diesel, 6.89% higher in price.

Filling up an average tank to the brim – about 55 litres – now costs a typical €67.32 in petrol or €64.68 in diesel.

Petrol has become slightly cheaper since a year ago – down by 0.81% - whilst diesel has gone up by 3.8%, and could well start to climb in the coming year due to government announcements about an additional tax on this type of fuel.

Current prices remain well below their historic high of September 2012, when petrol was on average over €1.50 a litre, or nearly 20% more expensive than now, whilst diesel is 18.62% cheaper than at peak price time.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Interest in residential property purchases as second homes, a place to live and, increasingly, as an investment is continuing to rise after two solid years of gradual growth, according to the National Institute of Statistics and a number of leading estate agencies.

The general view across the industry is that recovery in the housing market became stronger than ever in 2018 after it started to become consolidated two years ago.

Professionals in the sector attribute this to an improved economic climate and greater ease of obtaining mortgage finance.

Property is once again being considered a sound source of investment and asset acquisition, say estate agencies – a view that fell out of favour during the years of the financial crisis when home values were in freefall after having risen disproportionately – by late 2007, a typical residential property had doubled its average purchase price in four years, but by 2010, it would have been back to a similar value as in 2004, meaning anyone who bought just before the crisis would have lost money if they had chosen to sell.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Spain's president Pedro Sánchez has warned the UK government he will 'not renegotiate' the Brexit deal presented by Theresa May, whether or not she loses the no-confidence vote due to be cast this evening (Wednesday) at 18.00 mainland Spain time.

Using his speech this afternoon to refer obliquely to Catalunya, Sánchez said the Brexit vote has 'taught us valuable lessons we need to learn from', including 'strengthening democracy in the face of lies'.

For the Spanish president, both Brexit and the Catalunya independence bid are 'phenomena which are following parallel paths based upon fallacies', and his spokeswoman Adriana Lastra says Brexit and Catalunya are 'the consequence of irresponsible policies being pushed forwards'.

Sánchez already stated a few months back that he felt Theresa May should call a 'second' referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union – although in practice, this would be a third referendum, since the first was in 1974 when Britain voted to join.

He does not support Brexit, although he feels it may provide opportunities for Spain and the rest of the EU – as has been seen with the shifting of European medicines, banking and space associations to the continent – and says if Brexit really is on the cards, Mrs May's deal is 'the only one possible' as it 'safeguards citizens' rights'.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

Europe should produce 'humanitarian visas' for potential refugees to keep them out of the hands of the mafia, says a Spanish MEP.

Juan Fernando López Aguilar, from the PSOE (socialists) – the same party currently in government in Spain – says migrants who would normally put their lives and life's savings at risk to travel to Europe on dangerous, unseaworthy crafts or succumb to the false promises of human traffickers ought to be able to request an emergency entry card from embassies or Consulates representing EU member States.

These 'humanitarian visas' would allow them entry to European territory so they could apply for asylum.

Historically, would-be asylum seekers have had little choice but to enter countries illegally since there is no legitimate way of their doing so, and national authorities recognise this in accordance with the terms of the 1955 Geneva Convention on refugees, meaning 'unlawful' entry to a third State is not normally considered a criminal offence where a person's intention is to apply for asylum.

Entering a country 'illegally' is often only possible with the help of criminal organisations, including traffickers, whose practices are responsible for thousands of lives lost in transit.

“The number of deaths in the Mediterranean is unacceptable,” López Aguilar says.

Europe's budget for handling the migrant crisis has doubled this year, and the fact that MEPs voted in favour is 'a major political sign', López Aguilar considers, since it 'helps provide a more human response' to the issue.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

EUROPEAN Commissioners want to wipe out carbon dioxide, or CO2 emissions by the year 2050, according to an ambitious announcement ahead of the recent climate change summit (COP24) in Katowice, Poland. But is it even feasible – and how will Spain fare?

Former agriculture minister under the previous PP government, Miguel Arias Cañete – and now European Commissioner for Energy and Climate – says: “We can do it.

“And if we're successful, others will follow. If we don't lead, nobody else will do it. And if nobody acts, uncontrolled climate change will affect Europe and the rest of the world severely.”

But Arias Cañete admits: “There are many challenges along the way.

“Yet, with climate change, doing what we've always done is no longer an option, and we cannot afford the price of inaction.”

The Commission aims to 'radically transform' Europe's energy systems, farming practices, transport networks, town and city planning, and industry in a bid to cease being responsible for 10% of the world's toxic emissions.

Of the seven billion inhabitants of this planet, one-fourteenth – or half a billion – live in the EU-28, and it is forecast that the bloc's population will rise by 30%, to 650 million, by the year 2050, meaning its emissions will be even greater by then if action is not taken; already, the Union's contribution to world pollution is disproportionately high for the number of people living in it.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BRITISH expats living in Spain, Italy and France are deciding their next step after the UK High Court rejected their appeal against Brexit based upon 'lies and corruption' on the part of Leave campaigners.

Sue Wilson, co-founder of Bremain in Spain, along with Ellie Grayson and John Shaw, from France and Carole-Anne Richards from Italy are seeking for the result of the referendum on June 23, 2016 to be annulled due to illegal practices including overspending and misuse of statistics, for which the official Leave campaign has already been pulled up on.

The Office of National Statistics reportedly warned former foreign minister Boris Johnson over the 'Leave bus' claim strongly hinting that the £350 million per week the UK sends to the European Union would be used to fund the National Health Service (NHS), a statement which failed to mention that this is the gross figure, not taking into account rebates and grants.

Also, the Electoral Commission fined Vote Leave £61,000 and Leave.EU £70,000 (currently €67,239 and €77,162 respectively, based upon today's rate of €1.10 to the £1 as quoted on Xe.com) for deliberately going beyond their spending limit.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

The promised minimum wage rise will be enshrined in law later this month, the government has announced – and will see an increase in monthly payments for over 6.3 million residents in Spain.

As at the beginning of this year, a total of 34.7% of employees in Spain were earning the minimum wage or less, out of the total of 18.3 million who are in jobs on contracts, as opposed to self-employed.

This translates to an increase in minimum-wage earners of 1.1 million in a decade, despite the number of employees having fallen by a million in that time.

Of those 6.3 million, the average income is around €7,400 a year.

At present, the minimum wage for a full-time, 40-hour working week is €735.90 per month over 14 months – based upon the gradually-declining system of a double wage packet at Christmas and in August, which is rarely seen outside the public sector – being €10,302.60 a year or, in 12 monthly payments, €858.55.

As the income tax threshold starts at €12,000, these amounts are net, as well as gross.

Before this month is out, the minimum wage will rise officially to €900 in 14 monthly payments, equating to €12,600, or €1,050 in 12 monthly payments.

It is not clear whether this is the net or the gross figure, but assuming it is the latter, the average worker earning the new minimum wage will take home €964.50 a month if they receive 12 salaries a year rather than 14.

Spain's government believes this will ease the financial pressure suffered by the lowest-earning households, and will also increase tax and Social Security (National Insurance) income for the State, as well as spending in general, which will eventually lead to more jobs being created.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

OVER six million cars are expected to be on Spain's roads during the long weekend because of the bank holidays – today (Thursday) being 'Constitution Day', and Saturday, December 8 for the Immaculate Conception.

This year, workers – other than those in retail or catering – will not get their usual two days off for December 6 and 8, since the second of these falls on a Saturday, but many will take tomorrow (Friday) as annual leave and use the four-day weekend to go away for a short break or visit family members outside their home provinces.

Extra traffic police have been on duty since 15.00 yesterday and will remain in place until midnight this coming Sunday in light of increasing volumes of vehicles.

Motorways and major highways between large cities and popular coastal or countryside areas, particularly those with a high number of holiday homes, and ski slopes in the Sierra Nevada and northern Catalunya are likely to be exceptionally busy, with delays very probable.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A NATIONWIDE strike by rail controllers and ticket inspectors has been planned for next Friday (December 14) and repeat industrial action may be staged over the Christmas period, warns one of Spain's largest unions, the Labourers' Commissions (CCOO).

Up to 1,800 rail inspectors have been calling for greater job security and for more staff to be taken on to ease their workload.

More and more long-distance, medium-distance and high-speed AVE trains are running without controllers, who carry out valuable work in preventing passengers from fighting, causing wilful damage or disturbing their fellow travellers, as well as helping those with mobility problems and accompanying minors travelling without an adult.

Inspectors complain that the rail board, RENFE and rail infrastructure organisation ADIF are failing to provide the necessary funds for the transport network to run smoothly.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BRITAIN'S five-times Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton hit the Superbikes track in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz province) yesterday (Sunday) – literally.

Along with compatriot Alex Lowes, the Mercedes legend took a spin, just after the Superbikes championship final, astride a Yamaha R1, but lost control on the Sito Pons bend and bit the dust.

Although the bike was badly bashed up, Hamilton was uninjured and spent the rest of his day at the Jerez circuit analysing race data and mingling with race riders, and also with Spanish bike engineer Toni Cuquerella, who also joined in the day's non-competitive Superbiking after regular riders had taken to the track for the race.

Whilst Hamilton is better known for his prowess on four wheels, he is a huge motorcycling fan and has several bikes of his own.

He is often spotted whizzing round famous race tracks on his exclusive and personalised MV Agusta just for fun.

Seeing Hamilton in Jerez has led to speculation about his possible future in motorcycling competition, although nothing has been confirmed and he has shown no signs of wanting to trade in Formula 1, or dovetail it with another motorsport.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE socialists have won the regional elections in Andalucía, but only just – and far-right party Vox has soared in the ranks, leading to concerns among the PSOE-led national government.

Current regional president Susana Díaz (PSOE) may be forced to resign, although who ends up governing Andalucía will depend upon coalition agreements between parties, since their presence in the southern territory's Parliament is almost level-pegging.

For an outright majority, any one party would have needed to gain 55 seats, and the reigning PSOE has lost 14 of last year's 47, now down to just 33.

The second-largest outfit in Andalucía's Parliament is the right-wing PP – which was in power in national government until June this year – with 26 seats, meaning a coalition with centre-right Ciudadanos (21 seats) and far-right Vox (12 seats) could place the region under conservative rule.

Adelante Andalucía, a combination of left-wing Podemos and other leftist independent parties, gained 17 seats, but even if they were willing to form a coalition with Susana Díaz's PSOE, they would still be five MPs short of a majority.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S decision to allow the Libertadores Cup final between River Plate and Boca Juniors to take place at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu stadium – nearly 10,000 kilometres from either club's stamping ground – has led to an appeal.

River Plate is not happy with the Argentine national football association, CONMEBOL's decision to block the final's being held on home territory and to force fans to travel across the pond, nor about the fine of around €350,000 and a ban on televising two matches in 2019.

The Argentine derby – as big in Latin America as the Champions' League in Europe – should have been held last weekend, but radical River Plate fans launched an assault on the Boca Juniors' team bus, leaving players with injuries from shattered glass and forcing riot police to intervene with tear gas.

Boca striker Carlos Tévez, who has played for Manchester City and United and Juventus, needed medical attention due to an episode of vomiting and dizziness sparked by the attack.

The second leg of the final was postponed – the first leg having ended in a 2-2 draw – and CONMEBOL turned down an appeal from Boca to be awarded the Libertadores Cup without playing the last match.

Spanish president Pedro Sánchez offered to host the final match in Madrid, where authorities assure that they have sufficient security measures in place to keep hooligans under control.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ANYONE who lives in, or regularly visits, Spain will have no doubt about why it's practically impossible to find imported wines – why bother selling coal to Newcastle, or oranges to Valencia? With just about every grape variety on earth, prices ranging from 99 cents to several hundreds of euros, and wine regions in almost every province, whatever your palate and however much is in your pocket, you'll find the perfect homemade tipple.

But why does Spanish wine have such a poor reputation beyond its own borders, especially compared with those of France, Italy, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa? The answer is purely marketing. If you're in the UK, you might occasionally see 'Spanish wine' – unbranded – on the shelves, and if asked to name one, would probably hesitate and then say 'Rioja'. If you're in France, 'Spanish wine' is also undefined when it's on sale, is cheap, and sold purely for cooking, and not gourmet, either. In either country, it's synonymous with budget plonk that needs mixing with lemonade and doubles up nicely for cleaning blocked plugholes.

Spanish wine is screaming out to be recognised, valued and understood. It needs to clear its name and rise onto the pedestal of the world's top brands. And although seven types have reached the world's top 100 list, only one is in the top 25, according to the global booze bible Wine Spectator in its 2018 edition.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com