Castilla y Leon Flashcards
What is the largest autonomia of Spain?
What does it translate to?
Castilla y Leon “Old Castle”. Includes a number of fortifications built to repel the Moors in the early Middle Ages.
The dynastic union of Castilla y León and Aragon through marriage in the 15th century led to the birth of the Kingdom of Spain.
What is the climate of Castilla y Leon?
Continental, slightly moderated by its proximity to the Atlantic and Mediterranean, but still subject to extreme highs and lows.
What river flows through the center of Castilla y Leon?
What direction?
What 5 regions does it flow through?
Duero River flows westward passing the DOs of Ribera del Duero, Rueda, Toro, Tierra del Vino de Zamora, and finally Arribes on its path towards Portugal.
What arid central plateau makes up the northern part of Castila y Leon?
Meseta Central and the mountains that encircle it.
What is the main red grape of Bierzo?
Min of grape variety?
min 70% Mencía (50% for rosado)
What river runs through Bierzo DO
Sil River
Who achevied fame in Bierzo for old vine Mencía?
Alvaro Palacios and his nephew Ricardo Palacios in 1999 with their biodynamic “Corullón” bottlings: extracted, old-vine Mencía-based wines sourced from mountainside schist soils.
What white wine grapes are found in Bierzo?
Godello and Doña Blanca show more promise, Palomino still dominates the vineyards.
What style is found in Tierra de León DO?
Produces reds, whites , and rosados.
- Recommended red grapes: Mencía and the local Prieto Picudo
- Recommended white grapes: Verdejo, Albarín Blanco, Godello
What two towns does Ribera del Duero DO surround?
Aranda de Duero and Peñafiel “pay-na-FEEL”
Who founded Vega Sicilia and when?
Don Eloy Lecanda y Chaves in 1864
When did Vega Scilia acheive world wide recognition?
In 1929, following an ownership change and a transition to estate-bottled table wines, new winemaker Domingo Txomin achieved international acclaim at the Barcelona World’s Fair with his 1917 and 1918 vintages of Único, Vega Sicilia’s benchmark wine.
What is Único?
When was it not produced?
The flagship wine of Vega Secilia. It is a blend of Tinto del País (Tempranillo), Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot and aged, often for a decade or more in American and French oak barrel
Not produced in 1993, 1997, 2001, 2007
When did Ribera del Duero achieve DO status?
1982
Name three cult wine estates from Ribero Del Duero.
Vega Sicilia
Dominio de Pingus (1995)
Aalto in Valladolid
What two synonyms are used for tempranillo in Ribera del Duero?
Tinto del País and Tinto Fino
What is the only white grape allowed in Ribero del Duero?
The early-ripening white Albillo grape, permitted for freshness in the rosado wines
What is vin joven?
Young wines. Wines that do not meet the standard aging requirements for crianza
What are the four provinces of Ribera del Duero?
- -Valladolid- Westernmost; “golden mile”
- -Burgos-Northernmost, home to approximately 80% of the DO’s vineyards
- -Soria- Easternmost; least populated province in Spain and the highest, coldest area in the DO.
- -Segovia
What is the aging requirements for Ribera del Duero Rosado and Tinto?
Rosado:
Crianza min. 18 months (6 months in oak; 225 liter)
***reserva and gran reserva Tinto only
Tinto:
Crianza-2 years (1 year in cask; 225 liter)
Reserva-3 years (1 year in cask)
Gran Reserva-2 years and 3 years in bottle for a total of 5 years
When did Rueda become a DO?
1980
What styles are produced in Rueda?
Blanco: min. 50% Verdejo
Varietal Verdejo and Sauvignon: min. 85% respective grape variety
Rosado: min. 50% red varieties
Tinto: Tempranillo
Vino Espumoso: min. 50% Verdejo for seco or semiseco, min. 85% Verdejo for brut or brut nature
Rueda Dorado (Vino de Licor) -Dry fortified, oxidized wine.
Who revived the Verdejo grape 1970s in Rueda?
Marqués de Riscal. The Verdejo grape, easily prone to oxidation, worked as a fresh, crisp counterpart to their red Rioja.
What styles are found in Toro DO?
Red, white and rosado wines
Red: 75% Tinta de Toro (local strain of Tempranillo)
White: Verdejo or Malvasia
Rosado: Saignee blends of Tinto de Toro and Garnacha.
Top producers in Toro?
- Fariña
- Numanthia-Termes: takes its name from the ancient city of Numanthia, where inhabitants resisted the Roman army during the Celtiberian Wars, choosing death over surrender. The city is a well-known symbol of resistance. The winery draws a parallel to Toro’s vineyards, never affected by phylloxera and able to withstand the region’s extreme continental climate. Termanthia: 100% Tempranillo from the ungrafted 140-year-old vines of the Teso de Los Carriles Vineyard. The wine is aged in 200% new French oak barrels (racked into new 100% oak barrels) and never fined nor filtered. Inaugural vintage 2000.
- Vega Sicilia’s Bodegas Pintia
In which DO would you find the Juan Garcia and Rufete grape join Tempranillo in red production?
Arribes DO. The most westerly DO on the Duero River’s path through Castilla y Leon. This reflects the regions proximity to Portugal.
What are the communes of production for Ribera del Duero?
Valladolid- “Golden Mile”, chalk, clay, and limestone
Burgos- Structured, more brooding style wines
Soria- Highest Elevation
Segovia
What is Clarete?
A second style of making rose; co-fermentation of red and white grapes giving a lighter almost orange color. It is made in Zamora DO within Castilla y Leon.
DO’s of Castilla y Leon (9)
Tierra de Leon
Bierzo
Arlanza
Cigales
Ribera del Duero Rueda Toro Tierra Del Vino de Zamora Arribes
Ribera del Duero DO
Styles?
Grape varieties?
Min Alcohol?
Rosado: min 50% authorized red varieties.
Tinto: min. 75%
Recommended: Tinta del Pais/Tinto Fino (Tempranillo)
Authorized: Garnacha, Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Albillo Mayor
Rosado: 11%
Tinto: 11.5%
Tempranillo synonyms
Tinto Fino Aragonez Ull de Llebre Tinto Pais Cencibel Tinta de Toro (Toro) Tinta Roriz Valdepenas Tinta Madrid (Madrid)
What is Bastardo? (Two synonyms)
Portuguese name for Jura’s Trousseau. It is a minor variety in the Douro Valley, Dão, and Beiras. In Galicia it is known as Merenzao.
What is the “golden mile”?
Term for a stretch of land in the subzone of Valladolid in RDD, home to a group of wineries that lie along the Duero river starting at Tudela de Duero in the west and continuing to Peñafiel in the east. The wineries associated include: Vega Sicilia, Pingus, Abadia Retuerta, Alión and Mauro.
What is the annaul rainfall in RDD?
17.7 inches.
How does RDD wines compare to Rioja?
RDD consists of white topsoils, able to preserve acidity by amplifying Ribera’s naturally severe diurnal shifts.
- -White soils reflect heat during the day rather than retain it to warm the vines at night, so vines planted in lighter-colored soils can quickly drop to the ambient summer evening temperatures of 50-60° F.
- -Thus, the classic recipe for RDD reds involves a balance of concentration, dark fruit and color, and still lively acidity. Both tannin and acid tend to be higher than in wines produced in Rioja, some 150 kilometers to the northeast and hundreds of meters lower in elevation.
What is Pesquera’s winery in Zamora?
Dehesa a Granja
What is Descendientes de Jose Palacios?
Estate in Bierzo opened in 1999 by Alvaro Palacios (of Priorat fame) and his nephew Ricardo Perez.
Known for their biodynamic “Corullón” bottlings: extracted, old-vine Mencía-based wines sourced from mountainside schist soils
Styles in Arribes DO
White: min 60% Malvasia
Red: min 60% Juan Garcia, Rufete, Tempranillo
Styles found in Zamora
(Tierra del Vino de Zamora) DO
Blanco: min. 60% recommended white grapes (Malvasia, Moscatel de Grano Menudo, Verdejo)
Clarete: min. 30% Tempranillo plus other varieties (max. 40% authorized varieties)
Rosado: min. 60% Tempranillo plus other authorized varieties
Tinto: min. 75% Tempranillo plus other authorized red varieties
Styles found in Toro DO
Blanco: min 85% Malvasia or min 100% Verdejo
Rosado: min 75% Tinto de Toro or 100% Grenache
Tinto: min 75% Tinta de Toro
