The Rías Baixas are located on the western coast of the province of A Coruña, and along the entire coast of the Galician province of Pontevedra, in northwestern Spain.
The region covers an area of some 3,000 square kilometers.
The cultivation system is highly atomized, a quintessential example of the preeminence of production by small farms. It is divided into 22,400 plots, worked by more than 6,600 grape growers.
The terrain is characterized by its highly irregular, moderate ondulations. Tea County, the certified wine-growing area where Adega Pazos de Lusco is located, includes small rivers and lies near the opening of the Miño Valley.
The average elevation is approximately 250 meters above sea level.
The soil features a mixture of sand, limestone and granite.
Its climate is marine, with generally cold winters and cool summers. Temperatures are mild, and can even be warm, with abundant precipitation, an average of 1,600 mm falling yearly.
WINE-PRODUCING CONDITIONS
In the area a type of grape growing abounds known as emparrado, in which the plant is trained along a stake so as to maximize its insolation and to distance the vine from ground humidity, thereby preventing infections. This traditional system of vine distribution forms pergolas facilitating the work – treatment and harvest – underneath the vines, a technique commonly employed by growers on small plots of lands to reap the very most from them, since time immemorial. Yet this is not the only method used in the Rías Baixas region, where one will also find other trademark practices, such as growing on espalderas, or trellises.
The main varieties native to the Rías Baixas are: Albariño, Loureira blanca and Treixadura, for whites; and Caiño tinto, Espadeiro and Loureira tinta, for reds.
The main threats to the vines are generally fungal diseases, hail and frost.
Their maximum yields are 11,000 Kg/Ha for the Albariño variety, and 10,000 Kg/Ha for Caiño tinto, both far above the others.
