D.O. Vinos de Madrid

The DO area for red wines, rosé wines and white wines in the Spanish region of Madrid forms a semicircle around the southern suburbs of Madrid and is divided into three subzones. San Martín de Valdeiglesias lies to the west of the city, Navalcarnero borders the Madrid metropolitan area to the south-west and Arganda lies to the south-east. The area borders on the two DO areas of Cebreros(Castile-León) and Méntrida(Castile-La Mancha). Together, these three DO areas form the Sierra de Gredos wine-growing region, which slopes northwards towards the Alberche Valley and southwards towards the Tiétar Valley.

The vineyards used to cover 60,000 hectares, but today there are only 11,800. Phylloxera arrived relatively late in the area in 1914 and caused devastating damage. This forced new plantings and was also used to cultivate better grape varieties, thereby improving quality. The continental climate is characterised by cold winters and hot summers; the rainfall is only 460 mm (Arganda) to 650 mm (San Martin). The white wines are produced from Airén, Albillo Real, Malvar (Lairén), Parellada, Torrontés (Alarije), Macabeo and Moscatel de Grano Menudo (Muscat Blanc). The red and rosé wines are made from Garnacha Tinta, Tinto Fino (Tempranillo), Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.