Ribera Alta

Location

Situated in the middle belt of Navarre, in the transitional area towards the southern region, with an important wine growing centre around Olite. Main town: Tafalla.

Landscape

Zone with a gentle relief to the north and around the river Ega, and which gradually flattens out towards the south, where the grapevines grow alongside cereal plantations.

Surface area

5,780 hectares.

Main varieties grown

The Tempranillo is predominant, with a wide range of other red wine varieties too, notably the Graciano. As for whites, this zone is noted for having the highest percentage of Chardonnay in the region and a certain amount of Moscatel.

Soils

The zone comprises a mixture of soils, depending on relief and rock type. On most of the slopes, the soil thickness and stoniness varies, with fine or silty loam textures on alternate marl and sand layers of the continental tertiary, except in some areas of Cárcar, Sesma, Lerín or Falces, where the vineyards are on shallow soils with a loam - clay texture and a marked gypsum content, precisely on alternate layers of marls and gypsum. As in other zones, the vineyards are on deep soils associated with the different quaternary alluvial terrace levels of the rivers Ega, Arga, Cidacos and Aragón, frequently with loamy and stony textures which provide excellent drainage. On the highest terraces, such as Monplanet in Olite or the Saso of Santacara, there are frequent limestone crusts at a very shallow depth.

Climate

With regard to the climate, this is a transitional zone located between the upper dry zone and the semi-arid one, in which the climatic transitions are very gradual, as its relief is somewhat flat. Far from the influences of the ocean and Pyrenees, this is a hotter zone than the more northern ones. It has a mean annual precipitation of between 507 mm and 349 mm and the annual water deficit for the vineyard is around 200 - 300 mm. The most favourable vegetation periods for the vineyards vary between 234 days in Olite and 259 in Mélida.

Municipal districts and councils

Artajona, Beire, Berbinzana, Cadreita, Caparroso, Cárcar, Carcastillo, Falces, Funes, Larraga, Lerín, Lodosa, Marcilla, Mélida, Milagro, Miranda de Arga, Murillo el Cuende, Murillo el Fruto, Olite, Peralta, Pitillas, Sansoain, Santacara, Sesma, Tafalla and Villafranca.