What is made here
Wine colours
Colours the rules allow. Pick a colour to filter the rules and grapes below.
Where it is
Ribeira Sacra in Spain
- Latitude
- 42.2°–42.9° N
- Vineyard altitude
- 238 m to 496 m
- Production zone
- 252,309 ha
Boundary drawn from whole communes, so it is a little larger than the legal zone. Boundary: Eurac Research PDO inventory (CC0). Country outlines: Natural Earth. Dots on the zone map are the vineyard points used for climate.
Showing every colour The colour filter changes the rules and grapes. Climate, vintages and soils describe the vineyards, so they stay the same.
01 · What the law says
The rules
Limits on grapes, yields, ripeness and ageing that every wine labelled Ribeira Sacra must meet.
Blend rules
Ribeira Sacra Súmmum reds
- ≥ 85% preferred or main varieties · Main grape
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Ribeira Sacra reds
- ≥ 70% Mencía · Main grape
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Ribeira Sacra Súmmum whites
- ≥ 85% preferred or main varieties · Main grape
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Ribeira Sacra Súmmum Barrica reds
- ≥ 85% preferred or main varieties · Main grape
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Blend rules
Ribeira Sacra Súmmum Garda reds
- ≥ 85% preferred or main varieties · Main grape
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
At least 7 months' ageing.
Blend rules
Ribeira Sacra Súmmum rosés
- ≥ 85% preferred or main varieties · Main grape
- – Varieties listed in the specification · Others allowed
Other varieties allowed
Besides the main grapes, the rules allow these varieties in some wines. Grape names link where a profile exists.
19 varieties ·
Albariño, Albarín Blanco, Brancellao, Caiño Blanco, Caiño Bravo, Caiño Longo, Caíño Tinto, Doña Blanca, Garnacha Tintoréra, Godello, Gran Negro, Juan García, Loureira, Mencía, Merenzao, Sousón, Tempranillo, Torrontés, Treixadura
02 · Climate fingerprint
The climate
The growing season averages 15.7 °C, intermediate on Gregory Jones's scale, with 1,229 growing degree days (Winkler Ib).
The average year 1991–2020, vineyards at about 493 m
Monthly mean, °CRain, mmGrowing season
- Growing-season temperature
- 15.7 °C
- Intermediate · 15–17 °C (Jones)
- Growing degree days
- 1,229
- Region Ib: 1,111–1,388 degree days
- Growing-season rain
- 539 mm
- Of 1,134 mm a year
- Harvest rain
- 197 mm
- September–October
Copernicus ERA5-Land monthly averages at 5 vineyard points (Vineyard point 1, 525 m; Vineyard point 2, 366 m; Vineyard point 3, 420 m; Vineyard point 4, 472 m; Vineyard point 5, 682 m), moved to each point's height from the model's terrain. Indices that need daily data are not captured yet. How the climate figures are made.
Lower confidence:Monthly reanalysis in moderately complex terrain; not yet checked against a weather station.
Closest climates in the database
Picked by the data, not by hand: the profiles nearest on season warmth (counted twice), degree days, rain, ripening-month nights and day–night range. Neighbours within 30 km are left out, as they share the same weather.
1. Bourgogne Passe-tout-grainsVery similarCompared with Ribeira Sacra: same season warmth, similar rain.
2. Auxey-DuressesVery similarCompared with Ribeira Sacra: same season warmth, similar rain.
3. Chambolle-MusignyVery similarCompared with Ribeira Sacra: same season warmth, similar rain.
Growing-season temperature
Growing degree days
Growing-season rain
03 · Year by year
35 vintages
Each column is one growing season: heat above or below the 1991–2020 average, and rain at harvest. Pick a year for the details.
Warmer than averageCooler than averageHarvest rain (Sep–Oct)Average harvest rain, 197 mm
2025
- Growing-season temp.
- Growing degree days
- Harvest rain
- Growing-season rain
- September nights
- Hot days and frosts
Seasons are labelled by harvest year (April–October). Year-to-year changes from ERA5-Land; tested against station records in Alto Adige (r = 0.94 for season temperature at Bolzano). Rain varies more locally, so treat single-season rain with some caution. Vintage ratings, harvest dates and frost or hail events have places in the data model but are not loaded yet.
04 · Where the numbers come from
Sources
- A geospatial inventory of regulatory information for wine protected designations of origin in Europe · Candiago et al., Scientific Data 9, 394 (2022); Eurac Research · CC0
- ERA5-Land monthly averaged data (reanalysis-era5-land-monthly-means) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Climate Data Store · CC BY 4.0 (Copernicus licence)
- OpenStreetMap vineyard areas (landuse=vineyard), from Geofabrik country extracts · OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0
- Copernicus DEM GLO-90 (AWS open data tiles) · European Space Agency / Copernicus · Copernicus DEM licence
- Single document: Ribeira Sacra (Official Journal C, C/2025/2949, 28.5.2025; and the technical file 'Ares(2014)2153263' from the EU register) · European Union, Official Journal (C series) · EU law (Commission reuse policy)
- Climate profiles calculated by Vinous: method
Still to check (3)
- Generated from EU reference data: check against the current product specification.
- From the specification: Main varieties: Mencía, Brancellao, Merenzao, Sousón, Caíño Tinto, Caíño Longo, Caíño Bravo (red) and Godello, Loureira, Treixadura, Dona Branca, Albariño, Torrontés, Branco Lexítimo, Caíño Blanco (white). Garda ageing may be in wooden vats (225–10,000 l reds, 225–8,000 l whites) or concrete up to 5,000 l, not steel or polyester. Rosé maceration is limited to 48 hours; rosé yields per hectare follow the grape colour. Grapes must be hand-picked into crates; oak chips, continuous presses and heat extraction are prohibited. Wines must be bottled at source; wineries may also be in certain bordering municipalities. The older national technical file (2014) differs from the single document: minimum acidity 4.5 g/l, extraction at most 67 l per 100 kg, red yields 9,500 kg/ha (63.65 hl/ha) and white 12,000 kg/ha (80.40 hl/ha); 'barrica' then required 6 months in barrels of at most 500 l for reds and 3 months in barrels of at most 600 l for whites, and Súmmum reds at least 60% Mencía.
- National tier (DOC/DOCG) not captured yet; rules extracted from the specification text.