Exploring Jumilla: Bottle by Bottle

This past summer, I happened to arrive at a friend’s house one hour after he opened a bottle of Juan Gil in order to let it breathe. This is a big red that takes at least an hour for its complex flavors to fully develop into what has become one of my favorite glasses to drink just for the sake of drinking delicious wine. Juan Gil is a Spanish red from the Jumilla region.

Wines from Jumilla are becoming increasingly popular for a variety of reasons, but mainly because of the quality bottles released. Juan Gil is 100% Monastrell, which is a grape more commonly known by its French moniker, Mourvèdre. However, this is not the case for all of the wine coming from this Mediterranean region as various blends are also common.

Since that July afternoon, I have decided to explore Jumilla wines bottle by bottle. In addition to Juan Gil, Luzon and Castillo de Jumilla both produce excellent wines from this region. Recently, I decided to try two different bottles from Castillo de Jumilla.

The first one was their Reserva 2001, which, like the Juan Gil, is 100% Monastrell. However, after talking with the gentleman at Bridgeview Liquors, it turns out this bottle does not need a full hour to breathe—30 minutes is sufficient. Also, this bottle retails for around $15, about the same as the Juan Gil.
I drank my first glass of the Reserva 2001 rather slowly, and without food, so I could observe the flavors as they continued opening past the initial half-hour.

The wine felt rather heavy in my mouth and even felt as if it was pulling moisture from my cheeks; it was balanced but had a distinct spicy finish.

The flavors were reminiscent of dark cherries and paired well with the leftover smoked cheese and Christmas chocolates I later found in the kitchen. I could definitely see serving this bottle with grilled Salmon or possibly even pepper-crusted Tuna, but this is a wine that is simply fine to drink as the main course.

The second bottle I picked up was the Castillo de Jumilla 2005—a 50/50 blend of Monastrell and Tempranillo, an early-ripening grape also from Spain. Like the previously mentioned ones, this bottle does not require the breathing time, but it is also great.

It is lighter bodied and smoother in drinking, which is definitely a result of the blend. It is not necessarily a better wine by any means; it just not as spicy or as rich as the pure Monastrell.

I served this bottle with a Southwestern-style black bean soup, and because this bottle tended to be less spicy, they ended up pairing very nicely. It shared similar dark-fruit flavors with the 2001, but it also had hints of blueberries.

Both of the Castillo de Jumilla bottles registered a 14% abv, though the alcohol flavors were not overwhelming. In both cases, the noses were rather mild and the alcohol flavors were never distracting.

I foresee drinking both of these bottles again, but with the 2005 being nearly half the price of the 2001, it will be more likely to show up as what my father refers to as “Tuesday-night wine.”