Meseta: Castilla- La Mancha Flashcards
Describe the Meseta
Plateau in centre of Spain
Broad and flat
Mountains surrounding
Montilla
Iberians Man made mound 10m high 5 km apart indigenous people of the Meseta For guarding a water source Pre history 2200BC
Who brought wine culture to the Meseta
Phoenicians 1100BC in Valdepenas
What are the famous animals of the Meseta and what do they produce
Sheep
Manchego cheese
Merino wool
Who came to Meseta between the Phoenicians and the Romans
Carthaganians
What is the name of the famous Roman road goign from Cadiz to France
Via Augusta
Who invaded and made Toledo the capital in 569
Visigoths
What did the Moors call the area when they took the land in 711
Manxa => Mancha
Land without water
The area was free of battles during the Reconquista. T or F
False - battle ground throughout area
Lots of castles
When was the Spanish golden Age
15-17c after unification
Who was Miguel Cervantes
Writer from Castille la Mancha
Wrote Don Quixote
1605
Who was Carlos Falco
Marques de Grinon
Studied winemaking abroad
Brought international techniques
1950s?
When was CLM made an autonomous region
1982
Which is Spain’s 3 largest region
CLM
Is CLM densely populated
No - only 4% of popultaion, 16% of area
What is CLM’s location
N= CyL and Madrid E= Aragon and Valencia S= Murcia and Andalucía W= Extremadura Capital = Toledo
How many provinces
5 Albacete - most populated 2 x Toledo Ciudad Real Cuenca Guadalajara Toledo
What is the climate of CLM
Continental - extreme
Some med in the East
Levante wind
Rainfall v low 500mm
What is the Levante
=Solano Easterly Med wind from Central Med Balearics and South/East Spain Cloudy and humid May to October Opposite Poneinte
What is the topography of Castilla La Mancha
Flat- 80% central plateau Mtns N=Sistema Iberico and Sistema Central S= Sierra Morena and Sistema Betico W= Montes de Toledo Vineyards generally 760m
What are the main rivers of CLM
Tajo
Guadina = Atlantic
Jucar
Segura =Med
What are the main soils of CLM
LImestone
Clay above
What are the white grapes of CLM
Airen = most planted grape in Spain (4th in world)
What are the red grapes of CLM
Tempranillo
Garnacha Tintorera!
Cencibel
Garnacha Tinta
Monastrell
International varieties
Viti of CLM
Almost 50% of all vineyard land in Spain
En vaso or Marco Real
=> Espaldera
New irrigation
Move to organic
Land of Pagos
Vini of CLM
Traditionally bulk wines
Base wines for brandy
Move to higher quality blends
What is the date of DO La Mancha
1932 OLD!
What is the dominant wine style of DO La Mancha
Tinto 75%
Blanco 19% ++
Was bulk
fresh and fruity reds
What is the soil type of DO La Mancha
Limestone
DO La Mancha - climate
Continental
350mm
DO La Mancha - topgraphy
165,470ha!!
Largest in Spain and the world
800m
Covers 4 of 5 provinces
DO La Mancha - grapes
Airen = (88% of 71%white) plantings
Cencibel (Tempranillo)
DO Manchuela - date
2000
Split from DO La Mancha in 1982
DO Manchuela - wine style
Tinto = 60%
Rosado 30% ++
DOBLE PASTA
High alcohol
many blends
DO Manchuela - soil type
Limestone
DO Manchuela - climate
Continental
350mm
Levante!
DO Manchuela - topgraphy
6,709 ha
flat
1,100 m
Eastern border
DO La Mancha - OCW
Mancha, La, Europe’s largest single demarcated wine region in the heart of Spain (see map under spain). By 2012 the vineyards of the do La Mancha had shrunk to 160,000 ha/385,000 acres of arid table land from the satellite towns south of Madrid to the hills beyond valdepeñas nearly 200 km/125 miles to the south. The Moors christened it Manxa, meaning ‘parched earth’, and that is an apt description of the growing conditions in southern Castile, castilla-la mancha. rainfall is unreliable, with annual totals averaging between 300 and 400 mm/12 to 16 in. Summers are hot with temperatures rising to over 40 °C/104 °F, while winters are bitterly cold with prolonged frosts.
The doughty airén vine seems to be well suited to these extreme conditions and is therefore popular among La Mancha’s 18,000 smallholders. It was planted on a grand total of about 180,000 ha of La Mancha, and about 65% of all land dedicated to the do. It is planted at the remarkably low vine density of between 1,200 and 1,600 vines per hectare (485–650 per acre) because of the very dry climate. fungal diseases are almost unknown in La Mancha’s dry growing season and cultivation is therefore relatively easy. Average yields of between 40 and 45 hl/ha (1.9 tons/acre) have increased significantly with the increase in trellis systems and drip irrigation which extended to more than 40% of vineyards by 2014.
Technological development has given La Mancha a new lease of life and opened new and more discerning markets for the region’s fresh, inexpensive, if rather neutral dry white wines. Red wines, made increasingly from Cencibel (tempranillo) grapes, have also improved enormously and a number of enterprising growers are experimenting with other grape varieties, including cabernet sauvignon, syrah, petit verdot, graciano, verdejo, sauvignon blanc, and chardonnay, now admitted and even encouraged by do regulations. Despite the reduction in total vineyard area, annual production has risen from 2 to 7 million hl/185 million gal produced annually, a large part is still distilled into industrial alcohol or sent to jerez to make brandy de Jerez.
DO Manchuela - grapes
Red - Bobal 10%
many others for red/white
What is the doble pasta method
dark, full-bodied Spanish wine produced by running off a proportion of fermenting must after two days and adding more crushed grapes to refill the vat. The ratio of skin to pulp is effectively doubled, producing wines with a deep, black colour and very high levels of tannin. Doble pasta wines have traditionally been made in jumilla, yecla, utiel-requena, manchuela, and alicante, e.
DO Manchuela - OCW
ne of Spain’s newest wine regions, granted a do in 2000, with vineyards totalling more than 55,000 ha/130,000 acres (although only 3,700 ha of these were registered for DO wines in 2014) on the eastern border of castilla-la mancha, straddling Cuenca and Albacete provinces. This is the home of the Bobal grape, which is mainly used for rosés and unoaked young reds, with Tempranillo growing in importance for oak-aged reds. At least one private estate was making a name for itself by adapting Syrah to the local clay-limestone terroir and making blends with the best local varieties Monastrell, Garnacha, Garnacha Tintorera (alicante bouschet), and Bobal. The white Macabeo also produces very drinkable fragrant whites in northern Albacete, while the local Albilla de Manchuela has been rediscovered as a good quality grape. Overall, this high plateau, which reaches an elevation of more than 1,000 m/3,280 ft in western Cuenca shows great potential but has mostly lacked the investment required to develop it.
DO Valedepanas - date
1932 - OLD
Finds of wine making 700BC
Made wine during time of Moors
DO Valedepanas - wine style
Tinto 83%
Blanco 14%
Aloque = Clarete (semi-red)
Wines aged similar to DO La Mancha - Crianza etc
DO Valedepanas - soils
Limestone
DO Valedepanas - climate
Continental
Rainfall 400mm
DO Valedepanas - topography
Valley of Stones
Southern CLM
21,832ha
820m
DO Valedepanas - grapes
White = Airen Red = Cencibel (Tempranillo)
What is Aloque
Also known as Clarete
Trad = Red and white WINES blended for rose
Stored in Tinajas
Modern = co-ferment of Cencibal and Airen
What are Tinajas
tinaja, large, earthenware vessel, probably developed from the Roman amphorae, occasionally still used to ferment and store wine in central and southern spain modern versions are mostly made from reinforced concrete.
VP Dominio de Valdepusa - date
2003 One of first Vinos de Pago in Spain Owned by Carlos Falco Marques de Grinon Family estate since 13c
VP Dominio de Valdepusa - style
100% Tinto
ÑO WHITES
Varietals and Blends
VP Dominio de Valdepusa - soil
Limestone
VP Dominio de Valdepusa - climate
Continental
450mm
VP Dominio de Valdepusa - topgraphy
490m
49ha
Marques de Grinon winery
VP Dominio de Valdepusa - grapes
Cab Sav, Syrah, Petit Verdot Graciano
NO TEMPRANILLO
VP Dominio de Valdepusa - OCW
The one producer who is making high-quality wine in this part of Spain, Marqués de Griñon, grows cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, syrah, and petit verdot in his vineyard. He spurned the opportunity to jump rank from what was then the lowest to the local do and was rewarded in 2002 with his own single-estate DO (see vino de pago), Dominio de Valdepusa.
VP Finca Elez - date
2003
Also one of Spain’s first VdPagos
VP Finca Elez - style
95% Tinto
Blanco 5%
VP Finca Elez - soil
Limestone
VP Finca Elez - climate
Continenta;
440mm
VP Finca Elez - topgrpahy
1,080m high
39ha
SE
Vinedos y Bodegas Manual Mazaneque
VP Finca Elez - grapes
Chardonnay
Cab Sav, merlot, Tempranillo, Syrah
VP Finca Elez - OCW
Finca Élez is a Spanish do created especially for the high-elevation estate of Manuel Manzaneque.
How many VPs in CLM
12
What is the only Spanish grape planted at VP Dominio de Valdepusa
Graciano
What is the worlds largest delimited DOP wine area
DO La Mancha
What is the name of the semi-red wine made in DO Valdepenas
Aloque (Clarete)
Approximately what % of CLM land mass is part of the central plateau
80%
what is the most widely planted grape in CLM
Airen
What is the most widely planted red grape in CLM
Tempranillo
Airen is the world’s most planted grape T or F
False - It is 4th but top white
Which grape is VP Finca Elez celebrated for
Chardonnay
DO La Mancha is dominated by red plantings T or F
False - its 71% white
What % of Vineyard land in Spain is in CLM
49.5%
What is the climate of CLM
Continental
What are the 2 reasons why the eastern part of CLM experiences some Mediterranean influence
Nearer to Coast and Levante winds
What is the dominant variety in DO Manchuela
Bobal
What does Valdepenas mean in English
Valley of Stones
Name the first 2 Vinos de Pago in Spain
VP Dominio de Valdepusa and VP Finca Elez
What is the famous spice grown in CLM
Saffron
What is the most planted grape on CLM
Airen
What is Tempranillo called in CLM
Cencibel
