Spain · Jumilla

Parajes del Valle Bodegas y Viñedos S.L

Organic Jumilla wines shaped by dry, elevated vineyards: textured skin-contact Macabeo and ripe, spicy Monastrell.

The producer

Parajes del Valle works from Jumilla in Murcia, where cold winters, extremely warm summers and roughly 300 litres of annual rain define a dry growing season. Its organically cultivated Monastrell vineyards sit between 600 and 700 metres above sea level; altitude helps retain freshness as the warm season builds ripe fruit and weight.

Known for

Organic Jumilla Macabeo and high-altitude Monastrell, including skin-contact white wine.

Notable facts

The story

A Jumilla Winery Joins García Pérez

In 2012, Parajes del Valle became part of the García Pérez group, a Spanish wine business with production facilities elsewhere in Manchuela and Valencia. At its Jumilla winery on Avenida de Murcia, the cellar combines large tanks used for bulk blends with smaller tanks for the bottled Parajes del Valle wines. The bottled range draws on local plots including La Fuente de las Perdices, Cañada de Albatana, Las Puntillas and Término de Arriba. Macabeo appears as a direct white and as Macabeo Maceración, while Monastrell from vineyards at 600 to 700 metres supplies the estate’s organic red.

From the atlas

Parajes del Valle Bodegas y Viñedos S.L

At A Glance

Parajes del Valle is an organic-wine producer in Jumilla, Murcia, working with Macabeo and Monastrell from dry, elevated plots. Cold winters, extremely warm summers and roughly 300 litres of annual rain set up ripe fruit; vineyard height gives the wines a fresher line through the palate.

The Producer

Based on Avenida de Murcia in Jumilla, Parajes del Valle has been part of the García Pérez group since 2012. Maria Jover is identified as winemaker. The estate frames its organic work around biodiversity, a commitment that begins in the vineyard and carries into a range where a plain Macabeo, a skin-contact Macabeo and a Monastrell each take a distinct shape.

Place

Jumilla sits in Murcia under a continental climate tempered by Mediterranean influence. The combination is physical in the glass: hot summers can ripen Monastrell towards dark fruit and weight, while cold winters and vineyards at altitude help preserve acidity. Parajes del Valle places its Monastrell between 600 and 700 metres above sea level, so the red is not defined by heat alone.

Soil And Site

The vineyard names — La Fuente de las Perdices, Cañada de Albatana, Las Puntillas and Término de Arriba — belong to a wider portfolio described as lying between 600 and 800 metres. Soils vary across these plots, and the producer farms them organically; rather than compressing them into one site character, the range lets grape and method show different responses to that dry terrain.

The name Terraje preserves a local tenancy custom: growers paid landowners with a share of the crop. It is a practical vineyard arrangement, rooted in fruit rather than branding, and it remains part of the producer’s account of its parrajes, or places.

Story

Parajes del Valle entered the García Pérez group in 2012, joining a Spanish wine business with production elsewhere in Manchuela and Valencia. Its Jumilla winery continues to centre grapes from local plots, with Monastrell carrying the warm-climate red offer and Macabeo making room for both a direct white and a wine changed by skin contact.

That range matters because the same producer does not ask every grape to speak in the same register. Macabeo can stay fruit-led, or spend time with its skins for a waxier texture and gentle grip; Monastrell moves towards ripe fruit, spice and tannin under Jumilla’s hot growing season.

Vineyards And Cellar

The plots are cultivated organically, with stated respect for traditional grower knowledge. Manual harvesting puts fruit selection in the vineyard, while the dry climate and low rainfall make vine condition central to the finished wine’s fruit and tannin.

At the Jumilla facility, large tanks serve bulk blends alongside smaller tanks for the bottled Parajes del Valle range. That division gives the named wines their own cellar space without asking the bottles to carry an unproven recipe of oak, ageing or extraction.

Wines

The range has three useful anchors. Macabeo is the straightforward white expression, while Macabeo Maceración uses skin contact to alter the wine’s body and texture. In the 2023 Macabeo Maceración, citrus and melon meet basil and mint, with subtle tannic grip instead of a purely soft white-wine finish.

Monastrell Ecológico is the red counterweight. The 2023 wine has been described through ripe fruit and spice, with tannin, weight, freshness and a defined finish. Altitude in the Monastrell vineyards matters here: it helps keep the grape’s dark-fruit body from becoming blunt in a region with extremely warm summers.

In The Glass

Macabeo Maceración opens with both candied and fresh citrus, then melon, basil and mint. Skin contact puts a light tannin beneath that fruit, giving the palate a waxy texture and leaving the flavours lingering after the first sip. It is dry in feel, with the grip doing the work usually supplied by brisk acidity alone.

Monastrell Ecológico moves from ripe fruit into spice, then carries tannin through a medium-to-full-bodied palate. The fruit brings weight, while freshness keeps the finish moving rather than drying out. Together, the two wines show how Parajes del Valle handles a white grape through texture and a red grape through fruit, spice and grip.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the 2023 Macabeo Maceración. It is Macabeo made with skin contact, so it explains a central choice in the range rather than simply offering another white. Expect citrus, melon, basil and mint, then a waxy mouthfeel and subtle tannic grip. The finish lingers with fruit, making this a useful first bottle for seeing how a familiar white grape can gain body and dry, lightly grippy texture.

Anecdote

In 2012, Parajes del Valle became part of the García Pérez group. The Jumilla winery sat within a broader Spanish wine operation whose other production facilities included Manchuela and Valencia, but Parajes del Valle continued to work with named plots around Jumilla, including La Fuente de las Perdices, Cañada de Albatana, Las Puntillas and Término de Arriba. The date is still attached to the estate’s present-day outline: a Jumilla address on Avenida de Murcia, organic cultivation in the vineyards, Macabeo in white and skin-contact form, and Monastrell grown at 600 to 700 metres.

Final Word

Parajes del Valle is worth seeking out for the contrast inside a compact Jumilla range: Macabeo turns citrus and herbs into a waxy, lightly tannic white, while high-altitude Monastrell brings ripe fruit, spice and tannin with freshness behind it.

Sources

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