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The region of the Alt Penedès
is located at the southern end of the catalan
Pre-litoral Depression and has an extension of
592,41 km2. It is located between the regions
of Anoia at the north, the Garraf and the Baix
Penedès at the south, the Baix Llobregat
at the east and the Alt Camp at the west. The
noun Penedès appears in several documents
since the 10th century. It seems it derives from
de noun penna which meant cliff, rock. If this
hypothesis is true, the noun Penedès means
rocky region.
The Alt Penedès is a longitudinal depression
the lands of which have a height between 90 m at
the lowest point and little more than 900 m at
the heighest point. Most of the territory — 76% — does
not exceed 400 m instead.
We can trace the geological
origin of the relief that surrounds the region
basically up to the Mesozoic (secondary age),
while the materials which form the lowest zones
and the plains have a quaternary origin.
The quaternary terrains are
formed by sands, clay and rock, and they are
very good for the growing of vine, due both to
its chemical composition — heigh amount
of lime — and the capacity of the ground
to drain water.
The use of growing techniques
which respect the environment and the harvesting
of the fruit at its optimum point of ripening
on the tree allow us to obtain exquisite and
very appreciated fruits due to its visual and
taste qualities, specially the peach which is
known by the name of Préssec d’Ordal.
The Penedès has a hydrographic
network characterized by rivers with low volume
and which sufffer a low presence of water, due
to which many of them only flow intermitently.
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