Ribera Baja

Location
Southern tip of Navarra, inside the arid Ebro basin between Aragón and La Rioja. Main town: Tudela.

Landscape
Flat river plain with sparse vegetation, dominated by the imposing presence of the Sierra del Moncayo range to the southwest. Areas with most fertile soils populated by small, predominantly family-owned vegetable farms.

Surface area
3,350 hectares.

Main varieties grown
Among red varieties, Tempranillo is the dominant grape (40%) followed by Garnacha (30%). As for whites, Ribera Baja boasts the largest concentration of Viura and Moscatel in the region.

Soils
Vineyards sit atop different levels of Quaternary terraces and sedimentary effluvia deposited by the Ebro River and its right-bank tributaries. Vineyards in the flatlands are composed of deep, loamy, often rocky soils. On the higher terraces, like the Montes de Cierzo, the limestone bedrock rises up just to below the surface The gentle slopes of the southernmost vineyards in Ribera Baja are dominated by the Moncayo range, their topsoils of varying thickness and particle size, with layers of fine or silty loam alternating with marl and sand.

Climate
Semi-arid and quite homogeneous. Set within a deep river basin open to the east, Ribera Baja is primarily under the sway of the hot, dry influence of the Mediterranean Sea. The growing season for vines, the longest in the D.O., ranges from 227 days in Fitero to 255 in Tudela.

Principal winemaking municipalities
Ablitas, Arguedas, Barillas, Cascante, Castejón, Cintruénigo, Corella, Fitero, Monteagudo, Murchante, Tudela, Tulebras and Valtierra.