Spain becomes world's biggest wine producer

 In their fields of vines in deepest Spain, the winemakers at the Jesús del Perdón cooperative smiled last August: the blend of rain and sun promised a bumper grape crop. They just didn't realize how big it would be.

The massive crop vaulted Spain to the world's biggest wine producer, forcing its vintners to compete abroad in a tough market to sell off the surplus.

Spain overall produced 50 million hectolitres (6.7 billion bottles) of wine in 2013, a 41 per cent surge from 2012, the Spanish agriculture ministry says.