Spain

Somontano

 

Somontano is a Spanish wine-growing region in the Aragón region. Somontano means region below the mountains. In fact, the area around the town of Barbastro on the southern edge of the Pyrenees at an altitude of 350 m to 650 m. Politically it belongs to the Comarca Somontano de Barbastro. The mountains protect the growing area from cold north winds. The rainfall is 550 mm / year; the temperature differences between the cold winters and the hot summers are high.

The area has been a D.O. (Denominación de origen). Since then, the development has been very positive: over the past 22 years, the vineyard area has grown from 1300 ha to 4400 ha. 42 municipalities are located in the defined area of Somontano.

Approved grape varieties include the red Moristel, Tempranillo, Garnacha, Parraleta, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Syrah, as well as the white Macabeo, Garnacha blanca, Alcanon, Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer. 15% of the delivered amount are white wines, the rest red wines and a very small share rosé wines.

Historically, the region experiences a first peak in Alto Aragón from 1894. In Bordeaux, the Lalanne family owns vineyards that have fallen victim to phylloxera. In search of still intact areas, the Somontano is selected in the north of Spain and supplies the predominantly South American clientele with wines from the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grape varieties. However, the wines are also a great success in Spain (Lalanne is appointed purveyor to Alfonso XIII, the grandfather of today's King Juan Carlos). This success is very fast school and so are cautious estimates that at the end of the 19th century about 100,000 hectares of vineyards planted (30 times more than today!). Enthusiasm ends abruptly when the northern part of Spain is attacked by phylloxera. After a long period of inactivity, the area did not come to life until the 1980s, and some of Spain's best wines have been grown for about 10 years.