The Jesús del Perdón-Bodegas Yuntero Cooperative has concluded the 2016 harvest, once again breaking its production record in its 62-year history, with the collection, crushing and processing of 111 million kilos of grapes. The winery is consolidated as the second largest producing Cooperative in Spain.
Although this campaign has been characterized by lower production in all the vineyards, especially in the dryland vineyard, due to the intense heat during spring and summer, and the low rainfall, the Jesús del Perdón-Bodegas Yuntero Cooperative has managed to increase its production by 12% over the previous campaign, thanks to the significant increase in members and the number of hectares in production.
51 days of campaign
The harvest began on August 25 with the harvesting of the grapes with the earliest ripening cycle: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Moscatel. And it ended on October 18 with the Airén variety. For 51 days, the different varieties have been received, with peaks of up to four million kilos of grapes arriving in one day.
With this large production, a wide range of white grape varieties have been obtained: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Moscatel, Viognier, Parellada, Verdejo, Macabeo and Airén. In red grapes: Tempranillo, Garnacha, Garnacha Tintorera, Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Monastrel and Graciano. Likewise, a wide variety of grapes from organic farming have been received, with Bodegas Yuntero being a pioneer in Castilla La Mancha, in 1992, in the production of wine from organic grapes.
Variety and quality
The objective of Bodegas Yuntero is marked both by the dimension to achieve resource optimization, and by quality. The quantity allows us to have a wide range of varieties and a selection of high-quality grapes to obtain multiple wines, oriented to the tastes of each market, and to choose the best vineyards and grapes for the bottled wines.
In order to obtain high levels of quality, all the grapes at the entrance to the winery have been classified as 1st, 2nd and 3rd, based on previously established parameters such as acidity, potassium, gluconic and fermentative activity; Depending on the qualities, the grapes have been produced independently to clearly have the traceability of the products.
To achieve the appropriate size and quality, the Cooperative has been making significant investments in all its assets, which have amounted to 4 million euros in the current campaign, and in the last six years to 20 million. With these investments, the winery has increased its capacity to 105 million liters and has improved all production processes: from the reception of the grapes, pressing, cold facilities with 7 million frigories to achieve rigorous control of fermentations; to the new construction of laboratories, a microbiology room, a tasting room and technical offices.
Once the harvest is over, the different wines made are beginning to be shipped to more than 17 countries around the world, just as the wide range of bottled wines from the 2016 vintage are being prepared, which will go on the market next November under the brands: EPILOGO (varietal grapes) – YUNTERO (D.O. La Mancha) – LAZARILLO (Vino de la Tierra de Castilla) – MUNDO FROM YUNTERO (ecological).
