Ortega (grape)

Cluster of ortega.

Ortega is a grape variety used to make white wine. It was created in 1948 by Hans Breider at the Bayerischen Landesanstalt für Wein- Obst- und Gartenbau in Würzburg, Germany, and was used as a protected variety from 1981. It is a cross between Müller-Thurgau and Siegerrebe. Breider chose the name of the variety in honor of the Spanish poet and philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset.

Ortega is a variety of early ripening. It is not sensitive to frost and produces very heavy musts, about 20 degrees more on the Oechsle scale than the müller-thurgau. Therefore, it is used for sweet wines, which are considered to improve with storage in tanks. Ortega wines have aromas of muscatel and peach.

Ortega is also used as a table grape.

In 2006, there were 686 ha of ortega in Germany, with a declining trend, and can also be found in England.

The wine of this variety is produced in the United Kingdom by the wineries Fenny Castle Vineyard, Panniers Farm, Castle Lane, Worth, Wells and Somerset.

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