Terra Alta is a Spanish Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) (''Denominació d'Origen Protegida'' in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

) for

Catalan wine Catalan wines are those that are produced in the wine region of Catalonia. Occasionally, the appellation is applied to some French wine made in the Catalan region of Roussillon also known as Northern Catalonia or the ''Pays catalans''. The city of ...

s, located in the west of the province of

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tarr ...

(

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

) and covers 12 inland municipalities. As the name indicates (''Terra Alta'' = High Land) the area is in the mountains. It features in a number of

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

’s paintings. Traditionally, due to its geographical isolation, this area traditionally only made wine for local consumption and has only recently started to produce modern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

style wines. Several cooperative wineries were designed and built in the 1920s by Cèsar Martinell, a student of

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, ''sui generis'' style. Most are located in Bar ...

, and are notable for their

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

architectural style.

History

In the times of the

ancient Romans In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

, the road from

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...

Tortosa Tortosa (; ) is the capital of the '' comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain. Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buinaca, one of the hig ...

passed through the area, and is probably when grape growing was first introduced. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

planted vines, but the geographical distance to markets and to ports meant that a lot of vineyards were converted to olive groves instead. There are extant legal documents on the regulation of the grape and wine industry: Las Costums d’Orta dating from 1296 and Las Costums de Miravet from 1319. During the 19th century the ''vinos rancios'' (rancid wines) from Terra Alta, such as “Amber Blanc” attained great fame. However, the area was devastated by the outbreak of the

phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bu ...

bug. The current vineyards were replanted (by grafting onto

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

rootstock A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to a ...

) between 1920 and 1950, largely by means of the creations of cooperatives. Terra Alta DOP acquired official status in 1972 and there are currently around 6,000 ha covered, with 1,242 grape growers and 62 wineries registered.

Geography

The main town in the area is

Gandesa Gandesa () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Terra Alta, in the province of Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. History In the place known as ''Coll del Moro'' there is an ancient Iberian archaeological site belonging to the Ilercavones tribe that ...

. To the east the Terra Alta DO borders on

Tarragona (DO) Tarragona is a Spanish Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) (''Denominació d'Origen Protegida'' in Catalan) for Catalan wines, located in the province of Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain) and covers two distinct areas: the Camp de Tarragona an ...

, while to the west it borders on the province of

Teruel Teruel () is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 35,675 in 2014 making it the least populated provincial capital in the country. It is noted for its harsh climate, with ...

. The mountains reach a height of 950 m above sea level, though the vineyards are lower down on the slopes, valleys and plateaus.

Climate

The climate is mixture of Mediterranean and continental. The summers are long, hot and dry and the winters are very cold. The average annual temperature is 16.5 °C (max 35 °C in summer, min -5 °C in winter). There is a risk of late frosts in spring. Average annual rainfall is about 400 mm. A dry wind, known as ''el Mestral'' from the valley of the River Ebro is influential in keeping humidity low and thus protecting the vines from disease.

Soils

The soils are clayey, with a good lime content, poor in organic material, with a significant proportion of sizable elements which allows for good drainage.

Authorised Grape Varieties

The authorised grape varieties are: * Red: Garnatxa Negra, Garnatxa Peluda, Samsó / Mazuela / Carignan, Ull de llebre,

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 Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon ...

Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...

, Garnatxa Tintorera,

Syrah Syrah (), also known as Shiraz, is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. In 1999, Syrah was found to be the offspring of two obscure grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse ...

* White: Garnatxa Blanca, Macabeu,

Parellada Parellada () is a Spanish white grape variety of Catalan origin specially grown in Catalonia, Spain. With Macabeu and Xarel·lo, it is one of the three traditional varieties used to make the sparkling wine Cava, which is primarily produced in ...

Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in ...

, Moscatel de Grano Menudo, Moscatell d’Alejandria, Chenin blanc,

Pedro Ximénez Pedro Ximénez (also known as PX and many other variations) is the name of a white Spanish wine grape variety grown in several Spanish wine regions but most notably in the '' denominación de origen'' (DO) of Montilla-Moriles. Here it is used to ...

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new ...

References

External links

DOP Terra Alta Official Website
{{Authority control Catalan wine Wine regions of Spain Appellations Wine classification Terra Alta (comarca)