Bodegas Dolores Morenas owns over 60 Hectares of vineyards. All of them are located in the wine-growing area called Matanegra, in the South of the province of Badajoz. We have a "continental-mediterranean" climate, with very cold Winters and night freezes, followed by very dry and hot Summers. There are big differences between day and night temperatures. There is low rainfall, around 450 mm. per year, mainly between November and March.

Our vineyards are situated around the town of Los Santos de Maimona in four different domains called:

Finca El Musinal: 40 Hectares. This is the result of the latest reconditioning works carried out in our vineyards. Here we have mainly Tempranillo and some foreign grape varieties such as Cabernet-Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Muscat. All the plants are trained on the espalier system with an East-West orientation. The soil is composed by shale and clay over a limestone layer. Drip irrigation is used only when it is absolutely necessary.

Finca La Sierra: 5 Hectares. This domain is on the slope of a small mountain with clay-shale soils over a layer of limestone. Here we have 15 year-old Tempranillo vines from different origins (Rioja, Toro and Portugal), pruned and trained on espaliers.

Finca El Salao: 9 Hectares. Here are our oldest red grapevines of Garnacha and Tempranillo, pruned in goblet without irrigation. This vineyard is on a less clayey and more sandy land, since it is close to a small river which provides the soil with water..

Fincas La Nava and La Carrasca: 9 Hectares. This is our oldest domain, with indigenous white grape varieties such as Eva, Cayetana or Pardina, which are over 30 years old. The plants are pruned in goblet without irrigation.

Viticulture works are very important for us and therefore we put all our efforts on them along the year. We do experimental pruning to obtain the best quality results. We remove all the unproductive shoots and do green harvest to reduce yields and to get more fruit concentration

The grape ripening process is slower in the area of Matanegra, due to its higher altitude over the sea level. This is why the harvest starts 2, 3 or ever 4 weeks later than in other neighbouring areas like Tierra de Barros.

Most of the grapes are collected by hand. We use 400 kg. cases to transport the grapes, so that they arrive to the winery in the best conditions.Harvesting machines are used during the night to avoid high temperatures and direct sunlight, which would cause oxidation. We only use machines for some white grape varieties (chardonnay and small grain muscat).

All these cares applied to the vineyards are the secret of a great wine.