Buy Spanish Wines - Castilla La Mancha Online

The largest DO in Spain, it’s a vast region, baking hot in summer, freezing cold in winter with an endless undulating sea of vineyards. The vineyards are unmistakable, easily identified by their curious chessboard-style pattern called marco real. This is a method of planting where the vines are spaced about eight feet apart in all directions to allow sufficient access to any available water in the ripening season. It also allows the vines themselves to be trained en cabeza – with the head of the vine positioned very low to the ground in order to use its own leaves to protect the grapes from the worst solar excesses.

The grapes varieties are mainly Airen and Cencibel (Tempranillo) . Airen flourishes as it survives almost any weather conditions and produces light, fresh white wines. Other white grapes include Pardilla and Macabeo (Viura) with some Chardonnay.

For red wines, Cencibel ( Tempranillo) is highly recommended but there are also Moravia, Garnacha Tinta, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

La Mancha’s wines fall into three groups – basic jovens made for local consumption, low cost, high value wines intended for export and wines produced by innovators who are always working on an obscure vine or strain of yeast.