Both the wines and the land which nurtures them (El Bierzo) have a long history. Around 2000 years ago, Pliny the Elder and Strabo, naturalists and travellers in the ancient Roman Empire, recorded the existence of vines in the surroundings of the Asturish fortified town of Bergida.
When the area was conquered by the Romans, vine growing became one of the most important pillars of the local economy. It became an essential cultivation to supply with wine the numerous amounts of miners who exploited the nearby gold mines, as well as the Roman soldiers who guarded these strategic places.
The importance of the vineyards in El Bierzo remained intact during the Dark Ages, when Roman Hispania was invaded by the barbarian peoples and later unified under the Visigoths. Under the Suebi and Gothic rule, some edicts were dictated in order to protect such an important cultivation, both for the liturgy and human intake.
Despite Koranic ban, the Arabs from Al-Andalus protected vine growing and improved wine production techniques, although these rules do not seem to have had a real importance in our area, due to the constant changes in the possession of the territory.
As the reconquest of Islamic Spain by the Christian kingdoms spreads (11th century), a certain Abbot Gaucelmo is mentioned in the manuscripts. According to these writings, he was granted a vineyard in the tiny village of Valdecañada, in order to produce wine and alleviate the pilgrims’ struggles when they reached the lands of El Bierzo on their way to Santiago.
Approximately around that age, new monks belonging to the Order of Cluny arrive at the monastery of Santa María de Carracedo, bringing new vine growing and wine production techniques with them.
Throughout the Modern Age, vine growing and wine production become more and more relevant, to such an extent that the brands of wine produced in El Bierzo are acclaimed in nearby market areas (Asturias and Galicia mainly)
During the 19th century, nearly all the vineyards in the whole of Spain (including the vineyards in El Bierzo) are destroyed by the phylloxera epidemic. As a result, villages and hamlets in our area get deserted and people emigrate to other places, searching for a new life. This can give us an idea of the importance and the dependence of the local economy on wine production at that period.
Recovery from the pest was slowly possible by planting vines that had been grafted onto North American species rootstock. Throughout the 20th century the extent of cultivated vineyards spread more and more and at the same time this was accompanied with a quality rise. This fact eventually led the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture to award the quality label of “Denominacion de Origen” (Quality wines) from El Bierzo to certain wines produced in this area.
