Understanding Castilla y León: Producers, wines and trends

Castilla y León
In Spain’s far west, Zamora province, the striking Los Arribes del Duero national
park, where the river forms part of the national border with Portugal.

Having once spent a New Year’s Eve in Burgos (see map below), I can attest to the harsh climate of Castilla y Leo?n. I experienced cold that I can only describe as coming from the deepest depths of the Antarctic Ocean. Once I lost feeling in my feet, the rest of the body followed, and despite copious amounts of excellent red wine, I didn’t fully thaw out until the arrival of spring.


Scroll down to see Beth Willard’s selection of Castilla y Leo?n wines to try


With cold winters, very hot summers and driving winds that rush across the high Meseta Central (central plateau), this vast region in Spain’s northwest experiences an extreme climate that makes life tough for the necessarily hardy Castilians, but also provides some of the best conditions for viticulture in the whole country.

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