Authentic wines.
Location
Cepas de la Culebra is located in the North-West of Spain, in the village of Riofrío de Aliste (Province of Zamora, Castilla y León; it’s quite close to the border with Portugal). We’re elevated around 780 m (2559 ft) above the sea level. Our village is part of Sierra de la Culebra mountain range, famous for its large population of Iberian wolves. Its creation dates back from the Ordovician Period (485 million years ago). Main rocks you can find here are slate in depressed areas (black slate) and quartzite on top of the hills.
This area has been recently appointed Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO under the Project ‘Meseta Ibérica’.
More info here
Climate
We’ve got a Continental climate with a marked Atlantic influence, which main characteristics are having a very warm and dry summer (Temperatures in summer time range between +08 º C at night and +35º C during the day), and chilly winters, with snow and a lot of frost (Temperatures range between -5 and +10ºC during winter time). It doesn’t rain a lot though, just around 550 mm per year.
Soil
The vineyard was planted in a high quality soil for viticulture: It is mainly made of sandstone, together with slime and clay. Black coloured slate is quite common in our subsoil (Not only in our vineyard but in all our region). It’s a light soil, it has low fertility and it drains quite well due to its low capacity to retain water.
