Founded in 1947, Ayuso is a large and prestigious family firm turning out around 175,000 Hl of wine, which is reckoned to be among the best in the modern-wines category of La Mancha.

This flat, semi-arid plain is hot and high, and only sheep and the toughest grapes survive here. According to a Castillian proverb, suffers from five months of winter and seven months of hell.

Sheep farming is La Mancha’s biggest industry, and the local sheep’s-milk cheese, queso Manchego, became a generic term for similar cheeses all over the world.