Valdevimbre
León · Castile and León
DO León892inhabitants
915first mention
960wine documented
A municipality in the south of León, in the DO León, known for its excavated cave-bodegas. Its name is said to come from the Latin vallis and vimen (valley of osiers); in the early Middle Ages the monastery of Santiago y Santa María de Valdevimbre stood there.
First mention: In 915 a lawsuit was heard in León, before Bishop Fruminio, between the monastery of Valdevimbre, with its abbot Balderedo, and Munio and his brothers over a weir; it is the first documentary reference (León Cathedral, doc. 34).
The legend
purchases of vineyards by the monks of Valdevimbre, second half of the 10th century (archive of León Cathedral); campaign for the DO since 1985; DO in 2007The “uinea mostra” of the monks of Valdevimbre and its cave cellars
In the second half of the 10th century, the monks of the monastery of Santa María y Santiago de Valdevimbre were buying land to plant vineyards: the parchments that attest to this are kept in the archive of León Cathedral and speak of “uinea”, the vineyard of the resettlement. The Vía de la Plata and the Camino de Santiago ran through these valleys, and southern León ended up supplying wine to much of the north of the peninsula. Over the centuries, the villagers bored hundreds of cave cellars into the clay hillsides, cool galleries where Prieto Picudo fermented and where the vino de aguja, a lightly sparkling wine that is the pride of the district, was born. In 1985, cooperatives and bodegas from Valdevimbre, Los Oteros and the Cea took the first step towards applying for the appellation.
Alive today: Valdevimbre is one of the historic centres of the DO León (2007), cradle of Prieto Picudo and vino de aguja. It preserves hundreds of cave cellars, one of which houses the Wine Museum or Interpretation Centre, and keeps active both the district cooperative (1970) and the family bodega Pardevalles (1949).
Wineries and their wines
- Carroleón
- Carroleón Blanco Fermentado en Barrica
- Gamonal
- Pardevalles Albarín
- Pardevalles Rosado
- Abadia Gran Reserva
- Abadía Rosado
- Abadía Tinto Crianza
- Abadía Verdejo
- Casa Negrales
Wine towns nearby