Elena Pacheco is the youngest child of four sisters and the third generation of wine growers following the steps of her grandfather Francisco and her father Paco. She counts herself lucky -after her birth, it was clear that there would not be a male sibling, so Elena’s father eventually passed all his knowledge about farming and the wine business onto her.
Elena studied Economics but as soon as she decided to look after the family winery, she focused her education on wine. The business was centered on bulk wine when she joined, so her first major contribution was to bottle it -the 2002 vintage was named after her father.
Like many other producers in Jumilla, bulk wine is still part of the business. Export markets also play a significant role (65%) with a strong focus on bottled, organic, unoaked reds and with bag-in-box gradually taking off. Oak-aged reds like Familia Pacheco Selección para Paco (€11 in Spain) in honour of her father are more popular locally.
Viña Elena is in Estrecho de Marín, a valley surrounded by low-lying mountains in the southern end of Jumilla, where the elevation is around 400 metres, the lowest in the DO. The family grows around 100 hectares of vines out of which 47 are rented; the rest are their own.
In 2014, Elena partnered with consultant and wine distributor Isio Ramos to launch Bruma del Estrecho de Marín. The idea behind this interesting terroir-driven project is to showcase sites and vineyards with varying soils, elevation and vine age. Around 55.000 bottles are produced altogether. They are increasingly trying to focus on their own vineyards or those form purveyors with whom they have a good relationship.
In most cases, grapes are sourced from ungrafted vineyards. Isio Ramos says that these vines are better balanced in terms of concentration and acidity, are the most vigorous in difficult or extremely hot years and always achieve full ripeness. Ramos also notes major differences between old plant material and the new clones introduced in the 2000s -with compact clusters and higher yields-, hence all their new plantings come from their own cuttings and are grafted in the vineyard.
Everything old is back nowadays, including the grandfather’s concrete tanks which are proving extremely helpful to polish the wines and even ripen some herbaceous hints.
The Bruma del Estrecho range starts with Paraje Marín (€ 6.50 in Spain, 20,000 bottles), a blend of different Monastrell vineyards surrounding the winery. They try to find a balance between sun-drenched plots facing west and those in the opposite, fresher slope that benefit from some shading. The style is ripe but concrete helps to smooth the tannins making the wine approachable and easy to drink.
Various single-vineyard wines are produced across different sites in the appellation. In the north, they work since 2015 with several plots owned by two brothers in the village of Tobarra (Albacete).
Vereda (2,500 bottles, €18) is a vineyard with two radically contrasting red and white soils. They used to blend them together initially, but since the 2017 vintage they focus on the limestone section leaving out the clay. This is an ungrafted, 50-year-old vineyard at 670 metres elevation, where vines struggle because the soil has very little capacity to retain water. "Freshness is the result of salinity," Elena points out. The wine is powerful and ripe, with a chocolatey character, hints of carob and a lovely, fluid texture. It is aged in 500-litre barrels.
At a slightly higher elevation (710 metres), Particiones (3,000 bottles, €15) is a two-hectare plot planted to ungrafted 50-year-old vines. In this case, the limestone, gravelly soil allows drainage and moisture retention. There are quite a lot of white grapes and some red Moravia Agria that since the 2020 vinatge are blended in with Monastrell resulting in a sort of dark “claret”. The wine displays distinctive chalky tannins.
In contrast, Parcela Mandiles (1,200 bottles, €24) comes from ungrafted Monastrell vines in Paraje Marín, their valley. It was planted almost 70 years ago on complex soils combining sand, limestone and clay. Despite the ripeness achieved in this area, the wine stands out for its striking elegance and fine tannins being the best in the range.
Since 2016 an orange wine called Paraje Las Encebras (1,700 bottles, €15) is produced with Airén. Las Chozas and Navajuelos, two single-vineyard wines made from bought-in grapes, are no longer part of the range as they stopped fulfilling their requirements. The last vintage was 2018.
The winery houses gems like a pair of old barrels with sweet soleras, a family heirloom that Elena continues to nurture. Now, her main concern is to be able to pass on to the next generation the passion for farming that her father instilled in her.
