“The Land is a living being and
it does not belong to us”

by Mr Francisco Serra, Spanish Priest and Erudite (XXI century)

Terres dels Alforins

From Iberian Peoples to the Jesuit Friars

Casa Los Frailes is located in the valley called “land of Alforins”, south west inland province of Valencia, with average altitude of 650-700 meters above sea level. The valley is located between two mountains range, on the east the Mediterranean Sea (50km) and on the west the main “plateau” of La Mancha.

It is a region with long and well documented human settlements. The Iberian settlement dated IV BC century is outstanding. Via Augusta Roman Road, the longest at the time from Rome to Hispania, passes onto Casa Los Frailes.

The landscape is so beautiful that in the XII century, Christian King Jaume I The Conquer, when passing through after releasing the city of Valencia, established the area as “Royal Domain”. After the moors were expelled in the XIII century, first vineyards were farmed and with the settlement of the Jesuit Friar Order, wine was elaborated. Most of the farm-estates in the area have their own buried amphoras cellars.

Soils

Vineyard soils are divided into 5 types of soil from south to north

Casa Los Frailes is located in the depth bottom of the so-called Sub-Betic range of mountains. This area has an old geologic record from the secondary, tertiary and quaternary periods. In the formation of the soil, we can find marine sediments (cretaceous, from 145 to 66 million-year-ago), conglomerates, multicolour clay soils (tertiary, 66 million-year-onwards), erosion and limestone continental stones (quaternary, current period).

Mountains sorrounding Casa Los Frailes are Dolomites (made of Dolomias) with its sharp and rich shapes. Such shapes and relieves allowed erosion (from quaternary to date) sedimenting and spreading out elements transported by water such as magnesium, iron, clay and limestone, above all of them.

At different earth depth levels, we can find the main rock, caliche rock (also called “tap”). It is a limestone hard rock with exceptional resistance This “tap” allows to keep the humidity during draught season, avoiding water evaporation. And on the other side, when it rains a lot, his stony surface allows water drainage.

  • Dolomite soils Limoso-calcáreos
  • Rubificate soils Calcáreos
  • Yellow limestone soils Limoso-arenosos muy calcáreos
  • White limestone soils Limoso-arenosos muy calcáreos
  • Alluvial soils Limosos-arcillosos
  • Dolomite soils

    Soils located at the foothills of the Dolomite mountain, rich in magnesium (precisely, because of the Dolomite erosion) and very close to the mother rock, the calcareous “tap”. The minerality, the freshness, and finess of La danza de la Moma y Los Frailes Dolomitas is due to these soils, where the roots are very closed to the mother rock and very stony surface due to the erosion of the mountain.
  • Rubificate soils

    Ruby color limestone soil located in the slope of the mountain highly sensitive to erosion. Soils very rich in iron which changes the limestone colour into a rubi-color, this effect is known as rubification. These soils are deeper and more porous than the dolomitas ones, thus allowing larger storage of water. These soils provide full-bodied and estructure wines, as the Cabernet-Sauvignon for our Trilogia wine and Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet) for Los Frailes Rubificados and F Monastrell-Garnacha.
  • Yellow limestone soils

    Limestone and sandy soils (yellow rendzina). The color of the soil can vary from light yellow tones to ochre tones depending of sandstones. They are very poor soils due to rich presence of limestone. However, iron presence offsets the effect of limestone and also the good levels of magnesium allows good ripening of grapes keeping also good acidity levels (thanks to potassium). The fresh balance of the Monastrell is due to this soil and you can found in Los Frailes Caliza and Bilogia.
  • White limestone soils

    White limestone and sandy soils (white rendzina) on top of a plinth of lacustrine limestone. Extremely limestone soils, with little iron but with silica good levels, which reduces the limestone activity so vineyard roots can dig deep. Even in very dry years, vineyards stand still and the cycle of the vine is not stress. These soils bring freshness and minerality as we can find in the grape varieties making our white wine Blanc of Trilogia, in Syrah making Bilogia and also in the very old Monastrell vines for 1771 wine.
  • Alluvial soils

    Soils of alluvial origin, deep soils, lime-clay with white and yellow limestone stones. These soils, being richer than the previous ones, are home to a large amount of spontaneous plant cover, serving as grass for the sheep and attracting beneficial insects and songbirds. The freshness, the optimum acidity and the delicate aromas of flowers provided by the deep soils and the altitude over sea level, it is presented in the estate wines, Los Frailes Monastrell, Los Frailes Monastrell-Garnacha and Los Frailes rosé.

Vineyards since XIII century

Our commitment to Monastrell with vines older than 75 years old

Vines were grown in this region by Christians back in the XIII century, after the war against the Arabs. The main variety was (and still is) the Monastrell, cultivated in bush vines. Average Monastrell vines today are 40 year-old and yields of 2500 Kg/Ha. However, we have Monastrell vines older than 75 years, being the most expressive vines.
80% of our grape varieties are Mediterranean grapes as Alicante Bouschet, Syrah and Marselan (together with Monastrell). We also have some Atlantic varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo, currently under transformation process.

Our estate is in dry agriculture, which together with limestone soils, little rainfall makes yields low but with high quality level.
As previously explained, the estate is divided into four areas. In each area, we select parcels according to sun exposition, soil type, grape variety, bush or rail cultivation, year of plantation and obviously the wine we are to elaborate: Los F, Los Frailes Dolomitas, Los Frailes Caliza, Los Frailes Rubificado, Blanc de Trilogia, Bilogía, Trilogía, Moma, 1771.

Mediterranean Clima

Dry agriculture at 650-700 meters above sea level

At Casa Los Frailes, our weather is a Mediterranean climate from inland, called Continental-Mediterranean climatology with mild winters and very dry and hot summers. The altitude of 650-700 meters above sea level allows sharp temperature contrast during night and day. The contrast is much needed for the refreshment of the vines. January is the colder month with average temperatures of 6 ºC, and August the warmer with average of 23 ºC. Peak temperatures reach -6ºC in Winter and 35 ºC in summer.

Rainfall is little, with average of 350 ml/annum being autumn the rainy season and summer the driest. During such dry and hot summer months, the vines in dry agriculture are refreshed by breezes from the Mediterranean Sea avoiding the hydric stress.

Sun hours per year reach 2.600 allowing perfect ripening of the grapes. July is the peak with 340 hours per month, and December is at the bottom with 150 hours.

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