Appellation · Spain
Somontano
A Pyrenean foothill DO known for international varieties alongside local Moristel and Parraleta.
About Somontano
Somontano was developed in the late twentieth century with a deliberately international varietal mix, and is one of the more modern-feeling Spanish DOs.
What the name means
- Legal name
- Somontano DO
- Type
- Denominación de Origen (DO)
- Set by
- Consejo Regulador DO Somontano
- Recognised
- 1984
- Regulates
- Origin, plus grape varieties, maximum yields, minimum ageing.
The delimited area, permitted varieties, yields and — where the region uses the ageing ladder — the minimum barrel and bottle time behind crianza, reserva and gran reserva.
Grapes
Climate
Continental with strong Pyrenean influence: cold winters, warm summers and substantial diurnal range.
These are influences on how a wine turns out, not determinants of it. Picking date, yield, vine age and every winemaking decision sit between the climate and the glass.
Soil and geology
Stony, calcareous and well drained, on terraces at the foot of the mountains.
WineHQ describes soil in terms of what it demonstrably does — drainage, heat retention, water supply, rooting depth — and not in terms of flavours it is said to transmit. Vines take up ions, not aromas, and no mechanism has been demonstrated by which a mineral in the ground is tasted in the glass. See soil and drainage.
Rules worth knowing
Confirmed in the EU register
Somontano is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), file number PDO-ES-A0534, protected at EU level since 1986.
Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013
Only the rules that change what to expect in the glass or on the label. WineHQ does not reproduce production specifications, and each entry carries the date it was last checked because appellation rules change.
The designation is confirmed above. WineHQ has not read this appellation’s production specification, so it publishes no yields, ageing minima or permitted-variety lists for it — those come from the document linked above, not from a summary of it.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Spanish wine designations of origin — Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, Spain