Viña Elena, Familia Pacheco Organic, DO Jumilla, Spain, 2019

Producer Profile

Widely considered to be one of the best wineries in Jumilla, Viña Elena is very much a family affair with Elena Pacheco at the helm supported ably by her mother, sisters and children.

Viña Elena sits directly inland from the Costa Blanca and that venerable holiday destination, Benidorm. Safe to say, it is hot in this south east corner of Spain and Elena is fascinated by Monastrell and how she can create ever more elegant and delicate incarnations of it, despite the intensity of the sun.

Viticulture

Goblet-trained bush vines planted in dry, non-irrigated, chalky soils. The age of the vines varies between 15 and 40 years old. Manually harvested. The vines are certified organic and are planted at altitudes of 380-730 metres above sea-level, in low-density vineyards of 1,400-1,600 vines per hectare. This wine is made from grapes grown in plots from different sub-regions of D.O.P. Jumilla: Término de Arriba, La Raja, and Las Encebras.

Winemaking

Fermented in stainless-steel vats at controlled temperatures of 25 °C using natural yeast. This unoaked wine is subject to fining, cold stabilisation, depth, surface, and amicrobic filtration.

Oak Treatment

No oak treatment

Tasting Note

100% organic Monastrell this wine is, dark red-maroon in colour. Red berry aromas on the nose, with a light touch of balsamic. Balanced, full-bodied, fresh wine enhanced by seasoned tannins and the reoccuring traces of ripe fruit.

Food Matching

Delicious with tapas, paella and grilled turbot.

Awards

The Drinks Business Autumn Masters Gold and Top 3/300 Wines
With a number of Gold medals awarded to red wines under £10 from Jumilla, if you are looking for a powerfully-flavoured, balanced and brilliant value red, then head to this part of Spain. Among those bargains was this particularly attractive fruity sample from Bodegas Viña Elena, using old bush vine Monastrell from non-irrigated organic vineyards in the far south of the region. Expect lots of bright, youthful fruits, from blackcurrant to red cherries and fresh plums, even a touch of pepper and voilets too, and some fine, mouth-coating tannins to dry the palate after all the ripe fruit. Patrick Schmitt, October 2020.