Bodegas Fontana has taken the step of implementing the “Terroir Project” in its vineyards of the Monte Carbonero Estate. This international project is devoted to aiding winegrowers and winemakers in the process of creating wines that reflect the place in which they were grown; their physical terroir.

• It is the first time that a project of this kind has been undertaken in Castilla la Mancha.

• Over a period of 18 months, a group of experts carried out an extensive analysis of the Monte Carbonero estate in order to determine a range of factors, including the quality of the harvest, the typicity of the wines produced and the existence of previous vines.

It is the first time in Castilla la Mancha that a bodega has undertaken the momentous task of zoning; splitting the vineyard into micro terroirs. In addition, it is the first project of its kind in the area to be undertaken by a private winery. Similar studies have previously been carried out in the regions of Ribera del Duero and Rioja, but these were financed with public funds and by groups of producers, and no one particular estate was evaluated.

Thanks to extensive studies of the local land and conditions, it will be possible to determine which zones of the estate are most favourable for specific types of grape, therefore achieving improvements in the end products. In adopting this diagnostic approach to winemaking, Bodegas Fontana joins prestigious bodegas such as Concha y Toro and Montes in Chile, and Chateau Vosne Romanée in France, who also take part in the Terroir Project.