Mondéjar is a Spanish Denominación de Origen (DO) for wines located in the southeast corner of the province of Guadalajara

Guadalajara (province)

Guadalajara is a province of central/north-central Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Madrid, Segovia, Soria, Zaragoza, and Teruel...

 (Castile-La Mancha

Castile-La Mancha

Castile-La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain. Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

), around the town of Mondéjar

Mondéjar

Mondéjar is a Spanish Denominación de Origen for wines located in the southeast corner of the province of Guadalajara , around the town of Mondéjar...

. It covers 19 municipalities, the most important one being Sacedón

Sacedón

Sacedón is a city located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2007 census, the city has a population of 1.758 inhabitants.-External links:* - Diputación de Guadalajara...

.

History

Wine has been produced in this area for centuries, due to the strategic position that Mondéjar occupies on the road between Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 and Valencia. The traditional market for the wines was strictly local. Originally, Mondéjar wines were classified as Vinos de la Tierra, but they acquired official DO status in 1997.

Climate

Surprisingly, despite being in the centre of the Iberian peninsula, the area around Mondéjar possesses a Mediterranean climate due to the easterly winds and the altitude. Even so, temperatures in summer are high (40°C max) and low in winter (-8°C max) with strong possibilities of frost even in April. Average annual rainfall is 500 mm.

Vines

The first leaf burst on the vines is in mid-March and the leaves start to fall at the beginning of November. 50% of the vines covered by the DO are over 25 years old and produce an average of 5-6 kg/vine.

Soils

The land covered by Mondéjar DO is generally gentle rolling hills. It borders on the Vinos de Madrid

Vinos de Madrid

Vinos de Madrid is a Spanish Denominación de Origen is located in the southern part of the province of Madrid . It covers 54 municipalities and is divided into 3 sub-zones which each produce different types of wine.-History:The first documented evidence of wine production in the area dates from...

 DO to the west and on the La Mancha

La Mancha

La Mancha is a natural and historical region or greater comarca located on an arid, fertile, elevated plateau of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Serrania de Cuenca. It is bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north...

 DO to the south.
The vineyards are at a height of about 800 m above sea level. In the southeast, around the town of Mondéjar itself, the vines are planted on red soil on lime bearing clay sediments, not very rocky and rich in potassium. In the north, around the town of Sacedón, the soils are dark, on marl, sandy and poor in nitrogen, magnesium and phosphates. In both zones, the subsoil is deep, has good permeability and is poor in organic matter.

Grape Varieties

The authorised red varieties are Tempranillo

Tempranillo

Tempranillo is a variety of black grape widely grown to make full-bodied red wines in its native Spain. It is the main grape used in Rioja, and is often referred to as Spain's "noble grape". Its name is the diminutive of the Spanish temprano , a reference to the fact that it ripens several weeks...

 (known locally as Cencibel) and Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...

, while the authorised white varieties are Macabeo

Macabeo

Viura, also called Macabeo or Macabeu is a white variety of wine grape.It is widely grown in the Rioja region of northeastern Spain, the Cava producing areas south of Barcelona, and the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France...

, Malvar and Torrontés

Torrontes

Torrontés is a white Argentine wine grape variety, producing fresh, aromatic wines with moderate acidity, smooth texture and mouthfeel as well as distinctive peach and apricot aromas on the nose. Three Torrontés varieties exist in Argentina: Torrontés Riojano, the most common, Torrontés Sanjuanino,...

. The vine planting density is low at an average of 1,100 vines/ha.

External links

• http://www.winesfromspain.com
• http://www.jccm.es/agricul/paginas/comercial-industrial/consejosreguladores/vinomon.htm