El Hierro

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Accessory grape varieties

Terroir

• The island of El Hierro does not exceed 1,520 metres above sea level, so its peaks fall within the optimal band of the cloud sea that spills over onto the southern slopes.
• The trade winds and the Canary Current — a cold offshoot of the Gulf Stream that branches off at the Azores — prevent the island from having an arid climate comparable to that of the Sahara at the same latitude.
• The southern part of the island receives dry, cloud-free winds, resulting in higher temperatures and greater aridity in that zone, with summer averages of 30 °C compared with 26 °C in the north.
• The materials forming the island's present surface consist of alkaline olivinic basalts of oceanic origin, with a subordinate presence of trachytes and phonolites.
• The cultivated land is sometimes covered with a layer of lapilli (picón) that protects it from intense evaporation and absorbs ambient nocturnal moisture, though it makes cultivation difficult owing to the low yields it entails.
• The vineyards lie between 50 and 1,000 metres above sea level, on rugged terrain with steep slopes that are often terraced, nutrient-poor, light, loose, and stony.

• In the seventeenth century, the wine known as 'vidueño', made from a blend of varieties other than Malvasía, was exported from El Hierro to Gran Canaria, according to records held in the Archive of the Ecónomo del Cabildo de la Catedral de Las Palmas.
• Cultivation began in the higher zones because the authorities required that the fertile valleys be reserved for cereals and pasture, and the greater altitude extends the vegetative cycle, yielding higher alcoholic strength and total acidity in the wine.
• Terraced cultivation, characteristic of so-called 'heroic viticulture', is practised on steep terrain with almost no mechanisation, given the topography.

• The wines have high alcoholic strength and elevated acidity, characteristics linked to the geographical conditions of the island.
• Most production is destined for white wines, which may be dry, off-dry, medium-sweet, or sweet, while reds and rosés account for one third. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)

• The salinity and alkaline character of the soil, combined with low rainfall, shape a grape crop that produces wines with high alcoholic strength, elevated acidity, and distinctive organoleptic character.
• At greater altitude the vegetative cycle is prolonged and grape ripening is extended, conferring higher alcoholic strength and total acidity and contributing greater structure to the wine.

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 PDO-ES-A1250
• Official trade body site — D.O. El Hierro