D.O. Terra Alta Mather Teresina 2000-2001, Cataluña (Catalunya), Spain
One of the 17 regions (Spanish Cataluña, Catalan Catalunya) in the northeast of Spain with the four provinces Barcelona, Gerona, Lérida and Tarragona. It is located on the north-western edge of the Mediterranean Sea and covers 32,000 km². The area has an extremely eventful history: in the 6th century BC the Greeks came, then the Carthaginians and finally 200 BC the Romans. The wines from today's DO area Alella were already drunk by the Roman Caesars. The capital Barcelona was already in the antiquity an important trade port. In the 6th century A.D., the Alans and Visigoths arrived, from which the name is derived (Gotalonien =...
Wine-growing in Spain has an ancient tradition, as vines were already cultivated 3000 years before Christ. The Phoenicians founded the city of Gadir (Cádiz) around 1100 B.C. and carried on lively trade in wine in the Mediterranean. The first flourishing was in 200 B.C., because the Romans loved the wine from Baetica (Andalusia). The development was stopped by the invasion of the Moors in 711. For religious reasons the Muslims cleared large parts of the vineyards or only allowed the production of raisins. They brought with them the art of distillation, but this was not used for alcoholic drinks, but essential oils, as...
