Located on the outskirts of Jumilla, Parajes del Valle forms part since 2012 of the García Pérez group, a major bulk wine player in Spain handling 72m kg of grapes and with additional production facilities in Manchuela (Bodegas Ibañesas) and Valencia (Bodegas Vinival).
In Jumilla, huge stainless steel vats destined to bulk blends share space with a few small tanks meant for the Parajes del Valle range of bottled wines.
The idea behind the project is simple and clear. They want to produce organic Monastrell wines that reflect the character of the region’s distinctive dry-farmed vineyards. The big difference from other local cuvées is that the Parajes del Valle wines are straightforward and gentle, avoiding extraction and oak ageing. The Parajes vineyards are harvested a little earlier than the standard in order to retain freshness in such a warm region.
Fermentation for the flagship red Parajes del Valle (€7.70, 300,000 bottles) starts in stainless steel tanks, but the wine is pressed and put into concrete vats before the process has ended. After a few months ageing, the first bottling is usually done at the end of January. The simple, casual presentation features handwritten letters on a screen-printed bottle reinforcing the impression of an everyday wine.
Grapes for Terraje (€17.5, 6,000 bottles) are sourced from old vine, ungrafted Monastrell grown on the sites of La Fuente de las Perdices and La Cañada de Albatana. The name refers to the traditional way of exploiting the land for vine growing on the Murcia plateau. Farmers sign a tenancy and have to pay a share of their crop to the landowner, a practice that is also found in Catalonia where it’s called rabassa morta. The winemaking process is similar to Parajes del Valle but, in this case, the wine is aged in foudres. In both wines the grapes are destemmed. Manchuela producer Juan Antonio Ponce is the wine advisor in this project.
27 hectares of vines were recently acquired in different areas of the appellation, 11 of them as tenants (in accordance with the tradition of terraje). The rest are purchased from suppliers across the region. In addition to Jumilla, grapes are sourced from different villages located at higher elevations in the province of Albacete like Albatana, Fuente Álamo and Montealegre del Castillo.
The wines are mostly destined for export.
