D.O. RIBEIRA SACRA

The Ribeira Sacra is a wine-producing area with an area of 2,500 hectares of vineyards, which represents 5.2% of the land dedicated to vineyards in Galicia.
It includes parishes and places in 20 municipalities located along the banks of the Miño and the Sil, in the south of the province of Lugo and north of Ourense.
These municipalities are grouped into five subzones traditionally differentiated as producers of very special wines:

• Amandi subzone
• Chantada subzone
• Quiroga-Bibei subzone
• Ribeiras do Miño subzone
• Ribeiras do Sil subzone

The area dedicated in all of them to the cultivation of the vine is restricted to that located on the riverbank.

The Ribeira Sacra Designation of Origin was authorized by an order of the Department of Agriculture, Gandería and Montes of the Xunta de Galicia, on September 3, 1996, being named by the order of the Department of Agriculture, Gandería and Montes of the Xunta de Galicia, on May 30, 1995, a Regulatory Council that controls and protects the different types of authorized wine and guarantees its quality, also taking charge of promoting the product in the market and protecting its name.

Authorized Varieties

• Preferred whites: Godello, Loureira, Treixadura, Dona Branca, Albariño, Torrontés, Branco Lexítimo and Caiño Branco

• Preferred inks: Mencía, Brancellao, Merenzao, Sousón, Caiño Tinto, Caiño Longo and Caiño Bravo

• Authorized inks: Garnacha Tintureira, Mouratón, Tempranillo and Gran Negro

Weather

• Miño Valley , with a rainfall of 900 mm per year and an average temperature of 14ºC.

• Sil Valley, with a rainfall of 700 mm and an average temperature of 13ºC.

Types of Soil

In the Miño Valley the soils are similar to those of granitic origin that dominate in all western Galicia, of sandy and silty, fresh and permeable fractions.

In the Sil valley are oriental, with an abundance of clays, although the soil of the terraces has notably improved the quality of the original soil.