From the atlas
Bodega Madrid Romero
At A Glance
Country: Spain Region: Murcia Appellation: Jumilla DO Grapes: Monastrell, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc Style: Red blends, rosé, white Elevation: 1,372 metres Hectares: 17
The Producer
Rosana Madrid Romero spent years in front of a radio microphone before she walked away, studied viticulture, and planted a bodega in the high interior of Murcia. The estate she built sits in the El Carche valley at 1,372 metres above sea level, on the edge of the Sierra del Carche Protected Natural Park, within the Jumilla DO. Jumilla is an inland appellation in south-east Spain built on Monastrell, a thick-skinned, heat-tolerant red grape that produces wines of considerable depth at elevation. Seventeen hectares of vineyard feed a range that spans white, rosé, and red, from a single-variety Sauvignon Blanc to a four-variety flagship blend.
The 3 Calas range carries the name of three female generations in the family. Mercedes, Rosana's mother, gives her name to the white wine. Rosana herself names the red. Her daughter Martina names the rosé. It is a precise arrangement: the women are assigned to wine styles rather than to prestige tiers, and the construction makes the family's generational line visible in the label architecture. El Johnny De Los Infiernos sits outside that system as the estate's premium blend, named for the dog belonging to Rosana's father.
Place
Jumilla is a dry, continental appellation where summer temperatures climb hard and rain is scarce, averaging around 300mm annually. At 1,372 metres in the El Carche valley, the estate sits above the worst of that heat. The elevation extends the growing season, slowing ripening through cooler nights and higher diurnal range, which means grapes arrive at harvest with more retained acidity than they would lower down the mountain. Monastrell responds well to these conditions: the grape already has dense skin and concentrated fruit, and the altitude keeps the acid line alive without softening the grape's natural richness. The Sierra del Carche Natural Park forms the backdrop on one side, and the land runs to 17 farmed hectares on the valley floor and slopes below it.
Soil And Site
The El Carche valley position places the estate at an unusual altitude for Jumilla DO viticulture. The natural park boundary runs close to the vineyard boundary, limiting development on one side and preserving the mountain terrain that moderates temperatures across the growing season. No specific soil type is confirmed for this estate from available sources, though the broader Jumilla area is known for calcareous soils over limestone and chalk subsoils that stress vine roots and concentrate fruit. The winery runs from solar panels capable of supplying all its energy needs and has installed optimisation systems for water consumption and waste, managing the operation within the constraints of a dry, high-altitude site.
Story
Rosana Madrid Romero came to wine by an unlikely route. Before the bodega, she worked in radio broadcasting. The decision to leave and study viticulture formally was not a retreat into a family business: her father farmed peppers in the Jumilla area, and the agricultural knowledge belonged to him, not to her. She acquired the winemaking knowledge herself, then built the estate on the edge of a protected natural park at altitude.
The 3 Calas range came later as an act of conscious design. Each wine in the trio was assigned to a woman in the family line, connecting the label architecture to the people behind the bodega rather than to vineyard hierarchy or classification. The white went to the grandmother, Mercedes. The red went to Rosana herself. The rosé went to the youngest generation, Martina. When the estate wanted to move beyond the three-wine core, the premium tier took a different kind of family name: not a woman, but the dog her father kept on the pepper farm. El Johnny De Los Infiernos, four varieties at 14.5% alcohol, carries that connection forward.
Vineyards And Cellar
The 17 hectares in the El Carche valley carry Monastrell as the backbone grape, supported by Petit Verdot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sauvignon Blanc. Production is described as manual and artisanal, with an annual output of around 30,000 bottles across the range. The cellar runs on solar energy, with water and waste systems designed for a dry-climate site where both resources are limited. No vine age, trellis system, harvest method, fermentation vessel, or ageing protocol has been sourced for the estate's standard range. The winery combines stated traditional methods with the infrastructure of a purpose-built facility.
Wines
3 Calas Vitt (100% Sauvignon Blanc) opens the range as a light, aromatic white. Sauvignon Blanc is uncommon in Jumilla's Monastrell-dominated landscape, and at this elevation the grape holds enough freshness to read as a clean, herbal white with pear and citrus lift.
3 Calas Rosé (100% Petit Verdot) occupies a distinct position in the range and in the region. Petit Verdot is typically a blending grape in red wine production, and no other producer in Murcia had released a single-variety rosé from it before this estate did. The wine is pale in colour, fresh in character, and shows peach, ripe strawberries, orange peel, and spice. Petit Verdot at altitude produces more acidity than the grape achieves in warmer, lower-lying vineyards, and that freshness supports the aromatic intensity without weight.
3 Calas Syrah/Monastrell (50% Syrah, 50% Monastrell) moves into darker, denser territory. Monastrell provides body and dark fruit; Syrah adds a smoky, meaty quality and extends the aromatic range. Together they produce a red with forest raspberry, blackberry, smoked charcuterie, lingonberry, coffee, and herbal notes: a wine with both fruit concentration and savoury depth.
El Johnny De Los Infiernos (50% Monastrell, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Syrah, 10% Petit Verdot) is the estate's most complex assembly, at 14.5% alcohol. Monastrell anchors the blend with dark fruit and body; Cabernet Sauvignon adds longevity; Syrah brings spice and smoke; Petit Verdot, in a small supporting role, deepens colour and adds tannic weight. Ageing details are not confirmed from available sources.
In The Glass
The 3 Calas Vitt opens with a fresh, aromatic nose of pear, citrus, and green herbs: Sauvignon Blanc at altitude, where the cool nights slow ripening and hold the grape's natural aroma compounds. The palate is light-bodied, aromatic, and direct.
The 3 Calas Rosé lifts from the glass with peach, ripe strawberries, and a streak of orange peel. The colour is pale and the body is fresh rather than weighty, with spice threading through a fruity finish. Petit Verdot at high elevation delivers more acidity than one expects from a grape usually seen in warm-climate red blends.
The 3 Calas Syrah/Monastrell opens on forest raspberry and blackberry, then gives way to smoked charcuterie, lingonberry, and coffee. The herbal note at the back is classic high-altitude Jumilla, where cooler nights preserve green-herb aromatic compounds in the grape skins. The finish carries a savouriness that outlasts the fruit.
El Johnny De Los Infiernos at 14.5% has the density of a four-variety blend from a warm-climate appellation: dark fruit, firm tannin from the Cabernet Sauvignon fraction, and the weight that Monastrell at this ripeness level provides. The Petit Verdot component deepens both colour and tannic grip. It is a wine built for food and for ageing rather than for immediate drinking.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the 3 Calas Rosé. It is 100% Petit Verdot, the first rosé produced from this grape in the Murcia region, and it puts the estate's most distinctive decision in the glass immediately. Petit Verdot is a blending grape in almost every wine region where it grows: thick-skinned, late-ripening, planted to add colour and tannic weight to red blends. Rosana Madrid Romero turned it into a standalone pale rosé at 1,372 metres, and the altitude makes the difference. The wine is pale in colour, fresh in acidity, and aromatic: peach, ripe strawberries, orange peel, and spice on a clean, fruity palate. It does not taste like a red wine made pale, and it does not taste like a generic Provence-style rosé. It tastes like what Petit Verdot does when it is grown at altitude and vinified for freshness. That combination of unusual grape, unusual application, and clear elevation-driven result is what this estate is about.
Anecdote
Rosana Madrid Romero's father farmed peppers in the Jumilla area. He was not a winemaker, but he knew the land and kept a dog named Johnny, described as a faithful companion on the farm. When Rosana built her bodega at 1,372 metres, planted vines, and worked up toward a premium tier, she named the top wine after that dog: El Johnny De Los Infiernos, four varieties, 14.5% alcohol, the most complex bottle the estate makes. The name connects the estate's flagship not to a classified vineyard or a historical cellar but to a pepper farm and an animal that never saw a vine. Every bottle of the estate's most serious wine carries that memory.
Final Word
Bodega Madrid Romero is a high-altitude Jumilla estate built from outside the wine industry by someone who chose to enter it. The elevation shapes everything the estate produces: fresher acidity in the rosé, longer ripening in the red blends, and a growing season that allows Monastrell and Petit Verdot to develop complexity they would not reach at lower sites. The 3 Calas range is a family record translated into a wine list. El Johnny De Los Infiernos is the estate's most ambitious bottle and carries its most personal name. Both parts of the story are worth knowing.
Sources
- https://www.bodegamadridromero.com/en/vinos
- https://murciatoday.com/jumilla-wine-route-bodega-madrid-romero_567574-a.html
- https://www.bodegamadridromero.com/en/territorio
- https://www.bodegamadridromero.com/en/bodega
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/7381601/
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/7701101/
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/7661101/
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/7088101/