Tempranillo with temperatures dropping by as much as 16 °C (30 °F) from the daytime high. The Tempranillo grape is one of the few grapes that can adapt and thrive in continental Mediterranean climates like this. Pests and diseases are a serious problem for this grape variety, since it has little resistance to either. The grape forms compact, cylindrical bunches of spherical, deep blue-black fruit with a colourless pulp. The leaves are large with five overlapping lobes. The Tempranillo root absorbs potassium easily, which facilitates pH levels of 3.6 in the pulp and 4.3 in the skin when it reaches maturity.
Petite Terre Islands named because it is downwind compared to Terre de Haut island ("Upper Land" island) to its northeast which first meets the trade winds blowing from the north-east in the Caribbean. Administratively, the Petite Terre Islands are dependent of the commune (municipality) of La Désirade. The two islands and 842 hectares (2,081 acres) of sea around them were declared a nature reserve, the "National Nature Reserve of Îles de la Petite-Terre". Petite Terre Islands Petite Terre Islands (, literally "Islands of the Small Land") are two small uninhabited islands located about to the south-east of the island of Grande-Terre (Guadeloupe), in