Illes Balears

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The agricultural soils used for grape production are generally rich in calcareous sediments and red silica sands, giving rise to brown or reddish soils with an alkaline pH between 8.1 and 8.8.
• There are no permanent watercourses in the Illes Balears, as surface water flows are sporadic and channelled through seasonal torrents, making groundwater the principal available water resource.
• The climate of the Balearic Islands is typically Mediterranean, with relatively modest temperature fluctuations owing to maritime influence, a mean annual temperature of approximately 17 °C, and an annual temperature range of around 13 °C.
• The production zone enjoys a relatively high level of solar radiation compared with the rest of Europe, averaging 2,800 sunshine hours per year.
• The summer months, which coincide with the grape-ripening period, are characterised by low rainfall, high temperatures, and intense sunlight, with harvest beginning in the first weeks of August.

• Gaius Plinius, Roman procurator in Hispania around 73 AD, compared the wines of the Balearic Islands with the finest wines of Italy in his work Historiae Naturalis.
• During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, vine cultivation provided employment to nearly all the inhabitants of the municipality of Inca and its surrounding area.
• Producer training is key to the harvest operation, as it is carried out manually on many occasions and in several passes, allowing the optimum moment of picking to be selected.

• The wines display clean, fruity aromas with body and balance, alongside high alcoholic richness and low volatile acidity.
• Winemakers apply sound oenological techniques to produce bright, wines with colour depth, rounded, full-bodied, and with low volatile acidity.

• High solar radiation, elevated temperatures, and low rainfall generate water stress, resulting in musts with a high colour intensity due to greater concentration of polyphenols.
• Calcareous base soils combined with the climatic characteristics described create ideal conditions for obtaining wines with aromatic intensity and optimal alcoholic strength.

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-A0947
• Official trade body site — IQUA — Vi de la Terra Illes Balears