Bodega Numanthia

A "Pre-phylloxera" legacy

Numanthia's greatest pride is the survival of its vines in the face of the phylloxera epidemic that ravaged Europe in the 19th century.

• Ungrafted vines: Unlike almost all of the world's vineyards, the vines here are planted "ungrafted" (their own roots go directly into the soil).

• The age of the vines: THE domaine manages a patchwork of over 100 plots. The average age of the vines is 50 to 100 years, and for la cuvée Termanthiathey reach 120 to 150 years.

• Natural resistance: The very sandy soil of Toro prevented the phylloxera aphid from moving, protecting these historical gems.

The Soil: Sand, Pebbles and Clay

The vineyard extends over plateaus and hills between 620 and 750 meters above sea level.

• Poor soils: The structure is composed of sand on the surface, pebbles, and a sublayer of clay. The clay is crucial because it retains water at depth, allowing the vieilles vignes to survive the scorching summers without irrigation.

• Climat extreme : Toro experiences glacial winters and scorching summers with very low rainfall. This natural water stress forces the vines to produce tiny, but incredibly concentrated, grapes.

La Tinta de Toro: The Untamed Queen

The vineyard is planted exclusively in Tinta de Toro, a local adaptation of the Tempranillo.

• Over the centuries, this grape variety has hardened: it has developed a thicker skin to protect itself from the sun, which gives the wines their inky color and legendary tannic structure.

• Low yields: THE vieilles vignes sometimes produce less than 15 hectoliters per hectare (for comparison, a Grand Cru (of Bordeaux often allows 35-45 hl/ha).

A "Bonsai" style of viticulture

The vines are planted in "Vaso" (goblet), very low to the ground and widely spaced so that each vine can capture what little moisture is available. From a distance, the vineyard looks like an army of small, twisted, sculptural trees, scattered across red and ochre soil.

The Numanthia vineyard is not a typical farm, it is a living museumEach vine is a survivor that tells a century of Spain's climatic history.