🏷️ Joven

Joven (Spanish for “young”) is a label term on Spanish wine. It describes a young wine that was not aged in barrel and bottle, or only for a very short time. It is bottled soon after it has matured in the tank and sold in its first or second year.

These wines are usually fresh, fruity and light. They lack the vanilla and spice notes that come from oak. Joven is the simplest step on the Spanish ageing scale, followed by roble, crianza, reserva and gran reserva.

Roble means a wine with brief ageing in barrel, and crianza one with longer ageing in barrel and bottle. Together these terms form the Spanish ageing system.

Wines from many Spanish regions use the term joven. The word names neither a grape nor a region. It only describes age and the way the wine matured. It goes well with light dishes and tapas.