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La Mancha is not just Spain’s largest DO; its 155,000 hectares of vines make it the largest wine producing region in the world. With a winemaking history going back to the Romans, today the region’s 15,000 registered wine growers and 250 wineries, or bodegas, ensure that the wine sector is one of the key motors of the local economy. While still wines make up the biggest chunk of the region’s output, distillation is important too, and the region is a key supplier of spirit for the famous Brandy de Jerez.

Derived from the Moorish term Manxa meaning ¨parched earth¨, La Mancha is large, flat and relatively high, with most vineyards between 600 and 800 metres above sea level. Starting on the southern fringes of Madrid, it stretches south about 200km down towards Valdepeñas, and about the same again from east to west. Climate is mainly dry and continental with long, hot summers and bitterly cold winters with frequent frosts. The white grape Airén and red Cencibel remain the most popular grapes, although you’ll increasingly see other Spanish grapes like Graciano or Verdejo, and international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay.

Graciano was traditionally used in blends where producers appreciate the natural freshness it brings to the wines, but in recent years a few producers have begun using it for single varietal wines.

Graciano is a pretty adaptable, late-ripening grape variety that can work well in different soil types and it is quite resistant to drought, though in damper years growers have to watch out for downy mildew. It has a very dark hued skin, and gives dark, intense red wines with good acidity and levels of tannin. It can be prone to oxidising so needs to be handled carefully in the winery.

Graciano is often described as a very perfumed variety, with a highly aromatic nose of spice, mature red fruit and menthol notes. It tends to give fresh, elegant wines which are quite full in the mouth and with a long finish.

The López Montero family have been a key part of the winemaking tradition in the town of Tomelloso in La Mancha since the late 18^th century. The family farm around 250 hectares in total, but in 2005 they launched the Verum project with a clear focus on 80 hectares of the finest vineyard sites and plots on the property.

Verum means "truthful" or "real" in Latin, and it is this search for authenticity in all aspects of the winemaking process that really sets the winery apart.

Key to the winery’s success is son and winemaker Elias López Montero whose philosophy is to work ecologically, respecting natural cycles and the character of the land to showcase the full potential of the different grape varieties. That clarity of focus has brought praise and plaudits from a host of international wine critics like Jancis Robinson or the Wine Advocate in the US.

This wine is fermented in 10,000-litre stainless steel tanks, and then 10% of it is aged in 600-litre French oak barrels and the rest in 5,000 litre (or 300 arrobas as the traditional unit of measurement is known) clay tinajas for 8 months. Once bottled, the wine spends 12 months resting in the winery’s magnificent underground cellar before release.