Castilla y León

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• More than 98% of the territory of Castilla y León lies above 600 m in altitude, giving it a degree of inland isolation together with the protection afforded by its mountain ranges.
• The predominant climate is semi-arid continental Mediterranean in character, with long, cold winters, short, warm, and dry summers, and a frost period of between 180 and 220 days, from October to May.
• Rainfall varies between 350–500 mm in the plains zone, over 550 mm in the transitional zone, and between 500 and 1,500 mm in the mountain zone depending on whether it is low or high mountain terrain.
• In the comarca of El Bierzo, the Arribes del Duero, and the Sierra de Salamanca, microclimates coincide with traditional wine-growing zones, with a less extreme, more humid, and warmer climate.
• Morphologically, Castilla y León is a large basin filled with Miocene Tertiary materials such as conglomerates, clays, sands, and marls, with plateaus (páramos) capped by materials more resistant to erosion.
• In the Duero Depression, the pre-eminent agricultural zone, the páramos feature shallow, basic, calcareous soils with high stone content, well suited to cereal cultivation.

• In the Fermoselle and León areas, lightly sparkling wines are produced using the madreo technique, which consists of adding whole, healthy grape bunches to tanks of rosé wine undergoing fermentation in order to achieve greater maceration, colour extraction, aromatics, and spritz.
• Over the last three to four decades, vineyards have undergone a transformation based on concentrating vine-growing in the highest-quality zones and on promoting indigenous varieties such as Verdejo, Tinta del País, Tinta de Toro and Tinto Fino, Prieto Picudo, Mencía, Rufete, and Juan García.

• The red wines are powerful, with aromas of ripe fruit, a deep colour load, good structure, and a strong capacity for extended ageing.
• The lightly sparkling wines are mostly rosé, with greater depth of colour, fresh and lively, with the spritz accentuating their vibrancy and lending greater structure on the palate.

• The marked diurnal temperature variation on the plateau during August and September allows optimal phenolic ripening for wines intended for cellaring.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the specification (pliego de condiciones).

All appellations in Spain

Sources

• National pliego de condiciones (PDF)
• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PGI-ES-A0948
• Official trade body site — Tierra de Sabor — IGP Vinos de la Tierra de Castilla y León