Rosalejo

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The soil of the raña of Rosalejo formed during the Pliocene some 5 million years ago over silica and granite bedrock dating back 350 million years, making it one of the oldest soils in Europe.
• The Montes de Toledo were not affected by Quaternary glaciation and display characteristic formations such as pedrizas or canchales — accumulations of angular quartzite blocks produced by frost shattering — as well as rañas, stony plains banked against the foot of the mountain relief.
• The soil has 50% stoniness in its surface horizon, an acid pH below 6, and is composed of silica sand, weathered slates, and ferruginous quartzite gravels with iron pisoliths exceeding 2 mm in diameter.
• Rosalejo lies at the foot of the south-western face of the Sierra de Sevilleja, whose Cumbre Alta reaches 1,279 metres, at an elevation of 650 metres, forming the first mountain barrier against Atlantic weather systems after they cross southern Portugal and Extremadura.
• Mean annual rainfall is 650 litres, concentrated in autumn and spring due to the north-west–south-east orientation of the Montes de Toledo and the Sierra de Sevilleja, with rainfall virtually absent in summer.

• The vineyards are trained on a north–south orientation, and green-management practices are applied, including the removal of lateral shoots and bunch thinning to improve grape quality.
• In the winery, grapes are refrigerated in a cold room on arrival, clusters are selected before destemming, and green material is removed after that operation, alongside thermally controlled alcoholic fermentation.

• The wines show good depth of colour with a ruby-red hue that remains virtually unchanged over the years.
• On the nose they show notes of red fruits, and on the palate they offer freshness with rounded tannins that persist with age, without showing any heat.

• The low concentration of potassium and calcium in the soil means the organic acids in the grape do not form salts, preserving a natural total acidity and a low pH that slow the ageing of 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

• Specification (EUR-Lex, single document)
• National pliego de condiciones (PDF)
• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-ES-02880
• Official trade body site — Bodegas Eldoze (DOP Rosalejo)