Ribera del Duero is a Spanish Denominación de Origen (DO) located in the country’s northern plateau and is one of nine wine regions within the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also one of several recognized wine-producing regions to be found along the course of the Duero river. Tourism is a huge industry for the region and as such, there are two great websites providing information in both Spanish and English. The official Ribera del Duero “Denominación de Orígen” website and the Duero regional website .

The region is characterised by a largely flat, rocky terrain and is centered on the town of Aranda de Duero, although the most famous vineyards surround Valladolid and Roa de Duero to the west, where the regional regulatory council or Consejo Regulador for the denomination is based.

Ribera del Duero is home to the world-famous and highly-prized Vega Sicilia and Tinto Pesquera wines and is dedicated almost entirely to the production of red wine from the Tempranillo grape.

Wine has been produced in the region for thousands of years, but viticulture as we know it probably arrived in the Ribera del Duero region with Benedictine monks from Cluny in the Burgundy region of France in the twelfth century.

The official seal of the Ribera del Duero Denominación de Origen (DO)Vega Sicilia was established in the western part of Ribera del Duero in 1864, but although that bodega has been long established as Spain’s perhaps most notable winery, up until the 1970s the rest of the region did not receive much attention. Most of the other wine production at that time consisted of simple rosé wines from Garnacha produced in the eastern parts of the region.

Ribera del Duero received DO status in 1982. It is set to be upgraded to Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa) status in 2008, which will make it Spain’s third DOCa after Rioja and Priorat.