Jumilla prepares for strong grape harvest after rains despite spring hail

After several challenging years marked by drought, Jumilla’s vineyards are looking forward to a much-needed recovery in 2025. Thanks to abundant spring rainfall, the region’s grape harvest is expected to return close to its traditional level of about 75 million kilos, revitalising hopes for both quantity and quality.

 

Silvano García, president of the Jumilla DOP, explained, “The amount of grapes harvested has always been around 75 million kilos. Last year saw a considerable drop to 50 million kilos caused mainly by water stress from the severe drought.”

 

This year, he added, “everything seemed to be improving due to spring rains, which significantly eased the situation, although a hailstorm in mid-May did damage some plots.”

 

Despite the setback, García said the outlook remains promising, noting, “We thought the harvest would recover and not be as low as last year’s… It’s difficult to estimate precisely now, but we expect it to be similar to previous years and of excellent quality.”

 

The harvest cycle in Jumilla is already underway for some early white grape varieties and will continue through to early October. Nieves Sánchez, director of Bodegas San Isidro, commented, “We will start harvesting certain white varieties between the third and fourth week of August. The rest of the varieties should begin around September 10 and continue until October 10.”

 

Elena Pacheco, head of Viña Elena, added, “Ripening is progressing at a normal pace, unlike in earlier years when drought hastened it. We expect to start picking whites this week and Monastrell grapes around the first two weeks of September.”

 

Jumilla’s iconic offering of the first grapes during its patron saint festivities was recently held as usual, signalling the symbolic start of the harvest season in the region.

 

Overall, spring rains have allowed the vines to develop more slowly and healthily, improving both the potential quantity and quality of grapes going into this year’s production.