Spain · Jumilla

Tarbal Food SLU - Bodegas Saura

Mountain-grown Monastrell and Fine Grenache from rain-fed bush vines in Bullas, shaped in limestone tanks and French oak.

The producer

Bodegas Saura began its wine project in 2015 in Caravaca de la Cruz, within Murcia’s D.O.P. Bullas. Its 15 hectares of Monastrell and Fine Grenache sit in the Sierra de las Cabras as rain-fed, head-trained bush vines, where limited rainfall and mountain exposure concentrate the fruit. Hand-picked grapes ferment with both whole bunches and destemmed fruit in limestone tanks, bringing herbal lift, colour and tannin before the wines settle into French oak.

The range moves from Cauro Ventum, a 100% Grenache with ruby fruit, rosemary, thyme and pine, to darker Monastrell-led wines. Cogevientos combines Monastrell and Garnacha Fina with smoke, red and black fruit and spice after 12 months in French oak. Mesías goes further into blackberry, plum, pepper and fuller body, while Caravaca Black Cave offers dark cherry, violet, chocolate, rounded tannin and a warm, oak-marked finish.

Known for

Rain-fed mountain reds from Monastrell and Fine Grenache, fermented in limestone tanks.

Notable facts

The story

A horseback route to the vines

Bodegas Saura describes its vineyard plots as small clearings hidden in the Sierra de las Cabras, reached only by four-wheel-drive vehicle or on horseback. The route crosses an estate of roughly 500 hectares of wild Mediterranean vegetation before arriving at the rain-fed bush vines. Barbary sheep, mountain goats, wild boar, vultures, eagles and owls are among the animals the producer names on the property. Rather than surrounding the vines with uninterrupted cultivation, the project includes maintaining local species and their habitat around the cultivated clearings. The Grenache and Monastrell grapes are therefore picked from small mountain plots set within a much larger area of Mediterranean vegetation.

From the atlas

Tarbal Food SLU - Bodegas Saura

At A Glance

Bodegas Saura is a D.O.P. Bullas project in Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, working 15 hectares of rain-fed Monastrell and Fine Grenache. The vines grow as low, head-trained bushes in mountain clearings and small terraces; hand-picked fruit then goes through limestone tanks, whole-bunch fermentation and French oak. The result is a compact range of dry reds: herb-scented Grenache at one end, darker Monastrell and oak at the other.

The Producer

The wine project began in 2015 with the creation of Viñedos de Utopía. Bodegas Saura brings its two principal grapes together on one estate: Monastrell, Bullas’s dominant local variety, supplies dark fruit and tannin, while Fine Grenache can bring red fruit, aromatic herbs and a lighter feel. That division is clear on the labels, from the varietal Cauro Ventum to the Monastrell-led Caravaca Black Cave.

Place

Caravaca de la Cruz lies in inland Murcia, within the Bullas appellation. Saura’s vineyards are in the Sierra de las Cabras, where the producer places its sites roughly between 780 and 1,200 metres; individual wine material gives a lower 600-to-900-metre range for some vineyards. Rather than turn those figures into one false altitude, take them as evidence of a scattered mountain estate. Continental conditions are moderated by Mediterranean influence, and annual rainfall is only 300–400 millimetres. In that dry setting, rain-fed bush vines keep the fruit source close to the ground and the wines carry Mediterranean scrub alongside ripe grapes.

Soil And Site

The vineyards sit in light, loamy soils with good drainage, among terraces and pockets of vines opened from the surrounding mountain vegetation. North-westerly winds move through the estate, while sunshine and limited rainfall set a demanding rhythm for the vines. Bush training suits that exposed, rain-fed landscape: each vine stands independently rather than climbing a trellis, and the grapes arrive in small lots for hand harvest. The producer describes the young vines as traditionally and organically worked.

Story

Viñedos de Utopía began as a 2015 effort to restore vine cultivation around Caravaca de la Cruz through traditional methods. The project did not begin with a broad catalogue; it began with 15 hectares of Monastrell and Fine Grenache planted in a remote mountain estate. That choice directs the range toward reds shaped by dry farming and altitude rather than by heavily manipulated fruit: Grenache can show pine, thyme and rosemary, while Monastrell carries blackberry, plum, pepper and firmer grip.

Vineyards And Cellar

Harvest is by hand into ten-kilogram boxes, a practical way to keep small bunches intact before the cellar. Saura combines 50% destemmed grapes with whole bunches, so skins and stems enter fermentation together. Fermentation takes place at 23–26°C in 1,000-kilogram limestone tanks, with two pump-overs and, depending on the wine, an eight-to-ten-day maceration. Whole bunches can lift the aroma toward herbs and flowers, while skin contact supplies colour and tannin.

After fermentation, the wines move to French oak vats or barrels for their final fermentation and malolactic conversion. Oak therefore appears as smoke, spice, vanilla or toast in the wines that spend longer there, rather than as a uniform house flavour. The wines are lightly clarified and bottled without filtration, leaving texture and tannin as part of the finished shape.

Wines

Cauro Ventum 2022 is the Grenache branch of the range: 100% Grenache, ruby-red and 14.5% alcohol, with a fresh, light-bodied feel despite real density. Its balsamic character—rosemary, thyme and pine—puts the mountain vegetation beside the fruit rather than beneath a thick oak layer.

Cogevientos 2021 combines 60% Monastrell with 40% Garnacha Fina and spends 12 months in French oak. Red and black fruit meet smoke, spice and aromatic herbs, with the blend using Grenache for fragrance and Monastrell for darker weight. Mesías 2022 moves fully into Monastrell: rain-fed fruit, 14 months in French oak, blackberry and plum, peppery scrub and a fuller body. Caravaca Black Cave 2022, also 100% Monastrell, has a shorter four-month French-oak maturation and sits in a more immediate, medium-bodied register.

In The Glass

Across the reds, start with Mediterranean herbs: rosemary, thyme, pine and balsamic notes in Cauro Ventum; smoke, spice and scrub in the Monastrell wines. The palate then separates the grapes. Grenache brings ruby fruit, freshness and density without much apparent heaviness. Monastrell brings blackberry, dark cherry and plum, then rounded tannin and warm spice. In Caravaca Black Cave, chocolate, violet, vanilla and toasted oak lead into fresh acidity, medium body and a warm finish marked by oak. Longer-aged bottles such as Cogevientos and Mesías add more smoke, pepper and grip.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Cauro Ventum 2022. It is 100% Grenache from the estate’s mountain setting, fermented with the cellar’s mix of whole bunches and destemmed grapes, then presented without the long French-oak frame of Cogevientos or Mesías. Expect ruby colour, red fruit, balsamic rosemary and thyme, a dry palate with fresh acidity and a light-bodied opening that gathers density through the finish. It puts the dry landscape, Grenache perfume and limestone-tank cellar work in the same glass.

Anecdote

The vineyard plots are not reached by turning off a main road into neat rows. Bodegas Saura describes them as small clearings hidden in the Sierra de las Cabras, accessible only by four-wheel-drive vehicle or on horseback. The route crosses an estate of roughly 500 hectares of wild Mediterranean vegetation before it arrives at the rain-fed bush vines. Around those clearings, the producer names Barbary sheep, mountain goats, wild boar, vultures, eagles and owls among the animals living on the estate. The vineyard project includes maintaining local species and their habitat, so the grapes are picked from cultivated pockets within a much larger stretch of mountain vegetation.

Final Word

Saura’s reds are rooted in a useful contrast: dry, high mountain sites and ripe southern fruit, whole-bunch lift and French-oak depth. Choose Grenache for herbs and freshness; choose Monastrell when blackberry, tannin and spice are the draw.

Sources

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