Bierzo

The specification ties the history of Bierzo vineyards to two groups: peasants, most of whom worked vines for feudal lords, and the monks of the 25 monasteries documented in the district before the nineteenth-century confiscations. Peasants and monks selected the local varieties over centuries: Mencía, Garnacha Tintorera, Godello, Doña Blanca, Palomino and Malvasía. Knowledge passed down the generations shaped the narrow planting grids of the old vineyards, designed for working with animals, and the steep slopes that still prevent mechanised work. Many plots were planted at the end of the nineteenth and the start of the twentieth century with the same varieties, rootstocks and spacing. More than 85% of the vineyard is old, and the average vine age is about 75 years. The Reglamento of the designation and its council was approved by ministerial order of 11 December 1989.

The 31 municipalities share a single tectonic basin formed in the Alpine orogeny. A ring of rounded mountains, broken by isolated quartzite crests, surrounds lowlands with deep, narrow valleys; between them lie old erosion surfaces and terraces. The basin floor is Tertiary and Quaternary sediment. Vines grow on gentle terraces, half-terraced slopes and steep ground between 355 and 1,200 m, mostly between 400 and 800 m, in every orientation.

Soils mix quartzite, sandstone, limestone, clay and slate, with a clay-loam texture, brown when dry and reddish-brown when wet. They are acid, free of carbonates, hold water well and are low in organic matter. The climate is a transition between oceanic and continental: a mean of about 12.3 °C, cold winters with fog inversions, mild summers and an annual swing of about 16 °C. Rain averages about 793 mm, most in October to December. July and August each pass 300 hours of sun.

The specification attributes the wines' qualities above all to slow ripening, which builds polyphenols and colour, and to aromatic compounds in the skins that make the wines fresh, with a subtle acidity tied to variety and place. It lists the links: clay-loam soils with slate and quartzite give elegance and finesse; Atlantic influence brings rain and a mild mean, while wide temperature swings add a continental note that helps ripening; vineyards above 1,000 m give very fresh, lively wines. Narrow planting and poor soils keep yields low. Old vines with deep roots ripen evenly from year to year and give fewer, smaller bunches. Reds are described as very fruity, fresh and able to age in barrel; whites as fresh, savoury and full.

Red grapes are Mencía, Garnacha Tintorera, Merenzao and Estaladiña. White grapes are Doña Blanca (Malvasía Castellana), Godello, Malvasía Riojana (Alarije) and Palomino. Red wine must contain at least 85% of the four red varieties. Whites use only the four white grapes. Rosé needs at least 70% red grapes. Clarete, made in the traditional Bierzo way, uses 40-60% red grapes with the rest white, and ferments with 5-10% destemmed skins. Mencía makes up about 75% of the old plantings.

Labels may use the traditional terms Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva and the barrel mentions. A pyramid of smaller origins sits on top: Vino de Villa (one municipality or village), Vino de Paraje (a named site) and, inside a paraje, Viña Clasificada and Gran Viña Clasificada, each with lower maximum yields.