During the 19th century, and mainly due to the appearance of the phylloxera epidemic, the region’s vitiviniculture suffered a major setback that implied the loss of the greater part of the vineyards, forcing growers to use American vines, which are much more resilient to the parasite. This grafting gave rise to much more productive vines but stripped Valdeorras wine of its fruity character and personality.

This problem continued until 1976, the year in which the restructuring process of the Valdeorras vineyards began, aimed at recovering, strengthening and getting the best out of the region’s native varieties to produce quality, competitive and profitable wines.

Thus, by bringing together tradition, effort and technology, DO Valdeorras’ Regulating Council was able to gradually bring about a painstaking recovery of native vines, such as the white Godello, while bolstering the cultivation of the red Mencía variety in order to guarantee the true origin and maximum quality of these very authentic wines, capable of satisfying even the most sophisticated palates and whose name and reputation have cut across borders.

DO Valdeorras takes up the whole viticulture surface-area of the municipalities of Rubiá, Carballeda de Valdeorras, O Barco de Valdeorras, Vilamartín de Valdeorras, A Rúa de Valdeorras, Petín, Larouco and O Bolo. Consequently, the region’s production area occupies most of the basin of the rivers Sil, Xares and Bibei, coming to a total of 1,341 hectares of registered vineyard, which belong to the 45 bodegas endorsed by this appellation, adjacent to DO Bierzo and with which it shares a variety of characteristics. The climate is dryer than in the rest of Galicia, a combination of the influence from the Atlantic with continental climate attributes prevailing. Average temperatures are around 11ºC., with absolute maximums of 33ºC and minimums of -8ºC, with an annual rainfall rate of between 850 and 1,000 mm. Subsequently, although the region gets plenty of sunshine hours, rainfall is abundant.

Soils are varied. The most notable being: slate based shallow soils, with abundant stones and a limy texture; granite based soils, much deeper and rich in sand; terraced sediment based soils, which tend to be full of boulders.