Castilla y León

Castilla y León lies in Spain and forms a high plateau that slopes gently from east to west. To the north, the Cantabrian Mountains define the region’s boundary, the Iberian Range at the north-east, the Central System to the south, and the Montes de León in the north-west. It lies in the Duero Basin, through which the Duero flows from east to west before continuing on to Portugal. More than 98 per cent of the area lies above 600 metres in altitude.

The climate is Mediterranean-semi-arid and has a continental character. There are long, cold winters and short, warm and dry summers; rainfall is limited and unevenly distributed. Late frosts occur frequently. The average maximum temperatures are 17 to 18 °C, and the average minimum temperatures are around 5 °C. The frost period lasts approximately 180 to 220 days, mostly from October to May, and can represent a risk in particular for vineyards. On the plains, around 350 to 500 millimetres of rainfall falls; in high mountains, 1,000 to 1,500 millimetres annually.

The basin consists mainly of Miocene conglomerates, clays, sands and marls. Locally, erosion-resistant materials form the characteristic páramos. In the west, Paleozoic rocks are exposed; the soils range from acidic humus-rich Cambisols in mountain and western hilly landscapes to calcareous, stony, sandy, loamy and alluvial soils.

The main wine-growing areas are located in the Duero Depression and in the western transition zone. For the IGP Castilla y León, the following white grape varieties are permitted: Albillo Mayor, Albillo Real, Viura (Macabeo) and Verdejo. Red varieties include Garnacha Tinta, Juan García (Mouraton), Mencía, Prieto Picudo and Tempranillo, also under the names Tinto Fino, Tinta del País and Tinta de Toro.

The geographical indication covers still wine, liqueur wine, quality sparkling wine, sparkling wine with natural CO2 and wine made from overripe grapes. Young white wines are described as fresh and fruity, rosé wines as fresh with aromas of red fruit, and red wines as structured and fruit-forward. Sparkling wines are considered fresh and fine and are influenced by grape variety and lees ageing. In some areas, traditional sparkling wines are developed as rosé. In the regionally documented Madreo method, whole, healthy grapes are placed in fermenting rosé wine to enhance maceration, colour and extraction of aromas and to preserve carbon dioxide.

Toro wine was already well known in the 13th century; wines from the Duero Valley played an important role in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period. Vine-growing areas were severely affected by the phylloxera crisis in the late 19th century. After the Spanish Civil War, they continued to decline, among other factors, due to rural flight, mechanisation, the cultivation of other crops and the expansion of irrigated areas. In the decades documented later, viticulture increasingly focused on areas suitable for quality production and on regional varieties and protected designation of origin.

Regional Law 8/2005 regulates various origin and quality levels. The production area for the IGP Castilla y León includes all the municipalities of the autonomous community; the ageing area also corresponds to this territory. The maximum permitted yield is 16,000 kilograms of grapes, or 120 hectolitres of wine per hectare. During processing, from 100 kilograms of harvested grapes, at most 75 litres of wine may be obtained.