CASTILLA LA MANCHA – SPAIN’S BULK WINE POWERHOUSE

Castilla La Mancha in central Spain lies to the south and east of Madrid and is the setting of Cervantes’ famous 17th century novel Don Quixote. It consists of vast sweeping plains as far as the eye can see, dotted by vineyards, sunflowers, castles and windmills perched on hilltops and surrounded by mountain ranges.  

Famed for its Manchego cheese, the region also has a long history of winemaking, and it is widely believed that vines were originally introduced by the ancient Romans, as in other regions of the Iberian Peninsula. But it wasn’t really until the 1940’s that wine production took off on any great scale due to the setting up of countless cooperatives in the region. Viticulture is now the economic mainstay of many of the municipalities that form part of the DO.  

Denomination of Origin (DO)  

Castilla La Mancha is Spain’s largest wine producing area, and in fact the world’s largest continuous wine producing region in the world, with around 4500,000 hectares under vine. It is home to nine separate DOs, including Europe's largest officially delimited wine zone, La Mancha which has over 190,000 ha of vines and includes 182 municipalities:  12 in the province of Albacete, 58 in Ciudad Real, 66 in Cuenca  and 46 in Toledo.  22,000 grape-growers and over 300 wineries or bodegas are registered with the DO, which was established in 1976.  

It also has eight Vino de Pago estates, most notably the very first Vino de Pago, the Dominio de Valdepusa. The Vino de Pago denomination is essentially a niche appellation which was introduced in 2003 and is applied to individual vineyards, unlike the DO which is applied to an entire region, and denotes the highest tier of Spanish wine designations. One of the criteria is that the estate may only use their own grapes for wine production.  

Size of market

Castilla La Mancha accounts for over half of the total wine production in Spain, and is the country’s largest bulk wine producing region by a long stretch, last year accounting for nearly three quarters (74.37%) of the country’s total volume of bulk wine production, or 748m kg.  

In value terms too, Castilla La Mancha outstripped other regions by a long shot, accounting for 418.27m Euros, 68% of the total value of Spain’s bulk wine production, and a 8.5% increase on 2017.   

By comparison, Valencia, the country’s second largest producing region only accounted for 9.72% of the total volume and 11.52% of the total value of the country’s bulk wine production. Extremadura came in third place, comprising 7.99% of the volume and 8.09% of the value.  

Proportion of bulk wine increased

Not only is Castilla La Mancha the country’s biggest producer of bulk wine, but in the past ten years has seen the proportion of the bulk wine compared to bottle wine increase by nearly a fifth, up from 50.58% of the region’s total wine production in 2009 to 59.45% in 2018. And the proportion of bulk to bottled wine reached its peak in 2013, when bulk accounted for nearly 62% of the region’s total production.  

And during that period, the value of Castilla La Mancha’s bulk wine sector has nearly tripled, up from 158.892m Euros ten years ago to 418.27m  Euros in 2018. Bottled wine from the region also saw its value increase in the decade, nearly doubling from 150.34m Euros to 285.26m Euros.    

Climate

Castilla La Mancha’s climate is resolutely harsh and inhospitable, with long hot summers and freezing winters. Temperatures can plummet to minus ten in the winter to reach a blistering 40 degrees centigrade and more in the summer months, with annual rainfall in the region of 300 – 400mm.  

Unsurprisingly, drought is a common problem of the region, which receives around 3,000 hours of sunshine a year. As a result irrigation is vital in many of the sub zones to enable the vines to thrive. One advantage of the dry climate is that vine diseases are practically unknown, so no costly spraying is required.    

Terroir

The soil structure is pretty homogenous throughout the region and tends to be flat. It is made up of reddish-brown sandy clay, which is poor in organic material and rich in lime and chalk. Strata of lime are common and are often broken to enable the vine roots to pass through. The land rises constantly from north to south, from 480 m above sea level in Aranjuez in the north to 700 m above sea level in La Mancha in the south.  

Key grape varietals  

Only those hardy varieties which can tolerate the harsh climate and extremes of temperature of the region are grown here. Airen is one of the most widely grown grapes, though not particularly well regarded, so many producers have expanded their portfolios by planting Cencibel, the local name for the ubiquitous Tempranillo, Garnacha, Alicante Bouschet, Monastrell, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Graciano, Malbec, Mencia, Merlot, Moravior, Crujidera, Petit Verdot, Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Bobal.   

Most of these grapes are used for the production of red blends suited to barrel maturation, although varietal  wines are increasingly being produced.  

Widely grown white grapes include Albillo – which is used to make a white wine that’s often oaked with medium acidity and slightly nutty, oxidative flavours; and Malvar – a white grape tasting of peaches and tropical fruit, orange blossom and citrus, that’s rarely oaked, and is the key grape used in the production of Vinos Madrid.  

Other commonly grown white grapes include Moscatel, Grano Menudo, Parellada, Pedro Ximenez, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Torrontes, Verdejo, Viogner, Chardonnay and Gewurtztraminer.    

What grapes are grown here?

Castilla-La Mancha is home to nine separate DOs, including Europe's largest officially delimited wine zone, La Mancha. It also has eight Vino de Pago estates  most notably the very first Vino de Pago, the Dominio de Valdepusa.  

Total sales of Castilla La Mancha wines, 2013 – 2017  

* Millions of 75 c bottles 

• 43% exported
• 57% domestic consumption.         

SOURCE: WINES OF SPAIN