Europe’s largest single demarcated wine region in the heart of Spain (see map under spain). By 2012 the vineyards of the do La Mancha had shrunk to 160,000 ha/385,000 acres of arid table land from the satellite towns south of Madrid to the hills beyond valdepeñas nearly 200 km/125 miles to the south. The Moors christened it Manxa, meaning ‘parched earth’, and that is an apt description of the growing conditions in southern Castile, castilla-la mancha. rainfall is unreliable, with annual totals averaging between 300 and 400 mm/12 to 16 in. Summers are hot with temperatures rising to over 40 °C/104 °F, while winters are bitterly cold with prolonged frosts.
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