Vendimia | Spain Uncovered

Fiestas in Jumilla during August – part 2

I’ve been enjoying the fiestas so much that I nearly forgot to post part two! Jumilla certainly knows how to put on a good party and one that people of all ages can enjoy. The next two days though are definitely aimed at the youngest members of the family.

Wednesday 15 August 11.00 to 14.00

The Feria infantil – Children’s Fair – will be taking place in the playground of IES Arzobispo Lozano and entry is free. School was never this much fun!

There are a couple of intriguingly titled competitions on the Paseo Poeta Lorenzo Guardiola in the early evening. At 17.30 “La uva caliente” takes place and then at 18.30 “Mosto Pong”. I may go along just to see what they’re all about!

Thursday 16 August

This day has been designated the day of the child, as they are offering a 2 x 1 deal on all fairground rides, however it’s also a good day for adults, with the Cabalgata Tradicional.

Cabalgata Tradicional 20.30

Jumilla is renowned for its Gran Cabalgata with lots of wine throwing (more of that later!) but this is my favourite procession. The parade of decorated floats starts near the tourist office and slowly makes it way along Cánovas del Castillo, eventually finishing near the indoor market. I say slowly, because the participants are busy handing out sangria, wine and snacks to the spectators, as well as sampling some themselves and dancing to the music. It’s a great carnival atmosphere.

23.30

If you feel like partying a bit longer, there is a festival of local groups in the Jardín del Rey Don Pedro. There will be free entry to the garden until it’s full, however if you can find a spare seat in one of the bars outside you can then enjoy a drink while listening to the music.

Friday 17 August 20.00

Another favourite of mine is the parade of horses and carriages, with many of the participants dressed in traditional costume. I’m hoping that some of the riders will show off their horses’ capabilities as they’ve done in previous years. I enjoy watching horses dance as much as I enjoy watching human flamenco dancers.

23.30

I’m a bit of a fan of Al Golpe, who play flamenco style music that is bound to get the locals up on their feet. They will be playing on the Paseo Poeta Lorenzo Guardiola. If you’re lucky, you might even see me trying out my dance steps there!

Saturday 18 August 19.00

The infamous Gran Cabalgata will leave from Avenida Reyes Católicas, with plenty of wine throwing as well as wine drinking. This is for the young as well as the young in heart. One word of advice for the ladies: don’t wear your best white summer dress unless you want it to change into a pink one! The good news is that there will be showers outside the market when you reach the end of the parade. The other good news is that there will be free music at the Festival Tinto Rock, starting at 23.30. Enjoy!

Sunday 19 August 20.00

The last day of the Feria and Fiestas of Jumilla is a reminder that these are held to honour the patron saint of Jumilla, Nuestra Señora la Virgen de la Asunción. After mass at the Parroquia Mayor de Santiago, the statue of Our Lady will be carried to the Ermita de San Agustín.

Concert 22.00

The final free concert will take place in the Jardín Rey Don Pedro, with the singer Maribel Castillo performing coplas and spanish songs. That isn’t the last act though, as at 00.30 there will be a firework display at the municipal sports stadium.

!Feliz Fiestas!

Click on the following link to see the street map of Jumilla if you are unfamiliar with the town and would like to join in our fiestas. If you would like a free guided walk around Jumilla, either during the fiestas or at a later date, please contact me via the Contact page.

Wine Festival in Jumilla – second week

If you’ve got children or grandchildren Monday 12 August is the day to take them to Jumilla, as there is a 2 x 1 offer on fairground rides (it saves you some money too!) Not only that, but the Cabalgata Infantil del Vino will have lots of entertaining floats for them to watch, starting at 20.30. As it’s holiday time, you might let them stay to watch the drama between the Moors and Christians being re-enacted on the Paseo at 22.45. Don’t let them get too close to the sword-play though as they use real swords (we’ve seen the sparks flying!)

If you enjoy witnessing Spanish traditions then Tuesday will be a good day to visit, as there is a procession of all the peñas (local associations) dressed in their traditional costumes and carrying baskets of grapes. They will start parading around town at 20.00, leaving from the Paseo and finishing in the Patio of I.E.S. Arzobispo Lozano. At 21.00 they will offer their grapes to the Niño de las Uvas followed by the grape treading ceremony.

If you are only able to visit Jumilla on one day, and if you enjoy drinking wine, Wednesday 14 August is one of the best days to visit. At 20.30 the Cabalgata Tradicional del Vino will leave the Plaza de Rollo and the colourful floats will slowly wend their way through the streets. I say slowly, because the participants are busy handing out sangria, wine and snacks to all the people eagerly lining the streets.

Thursday is the saint’s day for Jumilla’s patron, Nuestra Señora La Virgen de la Asunción. There will be a special mass for Our Lady at 12.00 in the parish church of Santiago, with the local choir Coral Canticorum, plus a solemn procession in her honour leaving the north door of the church at 20.00.

If like me you enjoy watching horses and carriages, don’t miss the procession at 20.00 on Friday. This will be followed by a free fiesta flamenca on the Paseo at 22.30.

Saturday is the day for the young and young at heart (particularly those with a lot of stamina!). The infamous Gran Cabalgata del Vino attracts thousands of visitors to Jumilla, all aiming to get soaked in red wine. Many people wear white – all the better to show off the wine stains – and they revel in dancing through the streets while wine is poured over them. Personally I prefer to drink my red wine, but no doubt that is showing my age!

Sunday 18 August will be the last day of this year’s Feria. Mass will be held in Santiago church at 20.00 after which the statue of Our Lady will be carried to the Ermita de San Agustín. This year’s festivities will be finished off in style with a firework display over Jumilla Castle at 24.00. I suspect that after several late nights I will be watching it from our bedroom window!

Wine Festival in Jumilla – first few days

If there is a perfect time to visit Jumilla, it has to be during the Feria and Fiestas of August. There is something to suit everyone: whether you like drinking good wine; prefer listening to traditional music; love watching colourful processions or, like us, enjoy all of these activities. I have included the programme up to and including the first weekend of the festivies.

As you can see Friday is going to be a busy day with the official launch of the fiestas, including firing a rocket from the Town Hall balcony and the inauguration of the fountain of wine. If you don’t mind late nights, there is free entry to the Folklore Festival, which starts at midnight.

Wine lovers should put Saturday 10 August in their diaries now! The popular miniferia del vino will take place between 12.00 and 15.00 in the Jardín del Rey Don Pedro. Last year all we paid was 3€ for a wine glass, then we strolled around the many wine stands tasting the best wines from Jumilla. What’s not to like? Also on Saturday, there will be a parade around town of all the groups taking part in the Folklore Festival, starting at 21.00, followed by a performance in the Patio I.E.S. Arzibispo Lozano at the more civilised time of 22.00.

Culture buffs shouldn’t miss the Moors and Christians procession starting at 21.00 on Sunday 11 August. Grab a table on Calle Cánovas de Castillo (there will be a charge) so you can enjoy a drink while watching, or bring your own chair and fight for a space along the processional route. Music, dancing, drama: the Gran Desfile de Moros y Cristianos has it all.

Fiesta de la Vendimia 2012

Here it is folks! The eagerly awaited event of the year in Jumilla is due to start next weekend – and I am way behind schedule in posting the details here. I blame (in no particular order) the Olympics, my summer cold and the difficulty of obtaining advance information about the festivities.

Don’t miss the Fuente del Vino when you visit Jumilla during the Wine Festival: yes, there really is red wine flowing from the fountain in the Jardín de la Glorieta, though I doubt if it is suitable for drinking. Even John hasn’t tried it! If you want to attend the inauguration of the wine fountain, it will be held at 21.30 on Friday 10 August.

For wine lovers the first event of interest is the Miniferia del Vino, which will be held in the Jardín del Rey Don Pedro from 12.00 on Saturday 11 August. Last year we paid the princely sum of 3€ to purchase a wine glass, then wandered slowly round the stands sampling wines from some of Jumilla’s best bodegas. Luckily each stand provided nibbles to help line our stomachs! Fortunately we live in walking or staggering distance of the gardens, but if you are driving I suggest you agree well in advance who is to be the designated driver.

The special children’s procession, the Cabalgata Infantil, is on Tuesday 14 August, starting from the Plaza del Rollo at 20.30. It’s great fun though no wine is involved!

You can sample more wine during the Cabalgata Tradicional, which is our favourite procession and which will take place at 20.30 on Thursday 16 August. Decorated floats parade along the main streets of Jumilla, with the participants handing out samples of wine, sangria and local snacks while dancing to the accompanying bands. The tables outside the local bars are packed as everyone enjoys a drink while they wait for the procession to reach them. This is the procession for those of us who like to drink our wine rather than get soaked in the stuff!

The main event for many people, especially the youngsters, is the Gran Cabalgata del Vino, which starts at 19.00 on Saturday 18 August. My only advice is to wear your oldest clothes, which traditionally should be white, and have a change of clothing for afterwards! As mentioned earlier, red wine is poured or thrown over the participants, who party through the night. You will need to have plenty of stamina if you decide to join in the fun!

Click on the following link if you want to see the full programme for the Fiesta de la Vendimia. It includes such quirky events as Gran Prix, Jumilla’s own version of “It’s a Knockout”; the launching of the rocket from the town hall balcony to open the Fiesta; the popular grape-spitting competition, a gachamiga-making contest and many more.

Below is a small selection of photos from previous years’ festivities.

Soaked in wine — Gran Cabalgata - soaked in wine!

The heady aroma of fermenting grapes

The Vendimia is in full swing in Jumilla – we can tell as soon as we leave the house and sniff the air! There is no mistaking the heady aroma of fermenting grapes, which will no doubt end up in a bottle of wine in a supermarket near you. We are lucky, as we can walk down the road to buy our wine from the local bodegas, which saves us a bit of money as well as being very convenient.

In some parts of Spain they are celebrating the Fiesta de la Vendimia right now, however we think Jumilla has made a wise decision in celebrating its Fiesta in August before the hard work begins, especially as the beginning of the harvest is a moveable date, rather like the Fall in New England.

Jumillanos always enjoy a good party, so I am sure they will find another excuse to celebrate once the Vendimia is over for another year. After all, where else do you find people celebrating their saint’s day as well as their actual birthday?

The Vendimia in Jumilla started a couple of weeks earlier than it did in 2010. We soon spotted the tractors and trailers heading down the road beside our house, and we also read about it on Facebook. I am a Facebook friend of many of Jumilla’s best bodegas, including Viña Campanero, Hacienda del Carche, Silvano Garcia, Martínez Verdu and BSI: it helps to keep in touch!

This year we have noticed lots of lorries carrying grapes, as well as tractors and trailers of varying sizes. We have also spotted several cars pulling smaller trailers full of grapes.

We were worried when we had some heavy rain recently, but fortunately it did not damage the crops as we had feared and it actually helped in the process of maturing the grapes.

You can tell that I am no wine expert when it comes to the technical details, in spite of having had several tours around local bodegas – but I do know a good wine when I taste it! We are lucky to be living in Jumilla, with so many excellent bodegas around us. The American wine guru Robert Parker consistently rates Jumilla’s wines highly, with many wines achieving over 90 points, and in particular for their excellent price to quality ratio.

Initial reports for 2011 sound very promising. The volume of grapes is down 20% but we have heard from several sources that the quality of the grapes is good and expectations are high that this will be another very good vintage.

We will report back once we have tried this year’s wines, although sadly the Tinto Joven 2011 won’t be available until 2012, so we will have to make do with the rosados and blancos until then. On the whole we didn’t find last year’s wines as good as those from 2009, however – from what we’ve heard on the grapevine – 2011 should be a winner. ¡Salud!

Vintage stuff

Even before you see the welcome sign to Jumilla, the Ciudad del Vino, it’s pretty obvious that Jumilla is a wine producing area by the numerous vineyards on either side of the road. There are olive groves, almond trees, orchards of peaches and pears as well, but it’s the vine that dominates the landscape.

Casa de la Ermita and eclipse 048 — Vineyards at Casa de la Ermita

Wine has been produced in Jumilla since Roman times from which I gather – though history isn’t one of my strong subjects – that Jumillanos have been making wine for a very long time.

When phylloxera devastated vineyards in France in the middle of the 19th century, there was a resulting boost to Spanish winemaking and particularly in Jumilla where the monastrell grapes were unaffected. French wine-making immigrants brought their expertise to the area, which was a turning point for Jumilla wines, even though they too were affected by phylloxera at a later date.

Early exports of Jumilla wine were in barrels and, as they were taken by train to Alicante and shipped from there, the wine was designated as Alicante wine. The next important stage in the history of Jumilla wine therefore was on 22nd January 1966, when it was granted the right to have its own D.O. Currently there are 42 bodegas within the D.O. Jumilla and, contrary to rumours, John and I haven’t visited them all. At the time of writing our total is 13 – lucky for some!

The creation of the Ruta del Vino Jumilla, which is certified as one of the Wine Routes of Spain, was an important step for wine tourism in Jumilla. Twelve bodegas, two wine shops, one specialist food and drink shop plus seven restaurants are amongst the associates, who all work hard at promoting Jumilla and its wine.

Last year the Ruta del Vino won a special mention in the national awards for best enoturística initiative for its popular and successful Música entre Vinos events. Los Chilines vinoteria was also shortlisted, which didn’t surprise us after attending their many excellent winetasting events, including La Gran Cata, one of the year’s highlights, which we will be going to next week.

Times are hard, so Jumilla isn’t resting on its laurels. One of its biggest export markets is the USA, helped no doubt by the fact that Robert Parker has given 90 points or more to many Jumilla wines over the last few years. He has recognised that Jumilla wines are extraordinarily good value and commented on their superb price-quality ratio. Last year the main markets for Jumilla’s bottled wines were the UK, USA and Germany.

However there are new markets out there and local bodegas are also looking to increase their exports to other countries such as Japan, Russia and Canada. In spite of the world-wide recession, over 8 million litres of wine were sold in 2010, with a slight increase in the amount of bottled wine, although figures for bulk wine were down.

This year Jumilla celebrates its 40th Fiesta de la Vendimia, where wine flows from one of the fountains in the city centre, much wine is drunk by both Jumillanos and visitors, and on the last night lots of wine is thrown over the participants. Not surprisingly, John and I consider that a bit of a waste!

So let’s raise our glasses to Jumilla wine – Salud!

It’s August and the wine is flowing – it must be fiesta time in Jumilla!

Jumilla Vendimia — Fiesta de la Vendimia, Jumilla.

During August Jumilla has not just one but four fiestas to look forward to. There is the renowned Fiesta de la Vendimia, the 29th National Folklore Festival, the XXIV Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos and the Fiesta of the Virgen de la Asunción, the patroness of Jumilla. Yes, it’s party time in Jumilla – and the wine is flowing!

On Saturday night, the opening event of the Fiestas de Moros y Cristianos was held at the newly opened “Roque Baños” Cultural Centre. We sat outside, enjoying a couple of bottles of good Jumilla wine and some tasty tapas with our friends, while watching the proceedings. Afterwards we listened to a concert by AJAM (Asociación Jumillana Amigos de la Música), playing several Moors and Christians marches as well as a couple of pasodobles.

The next event in the Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos will be on Saturday 7th August: La Noche de las Antorchas. This is the first time we have been in Jumilla to watch the torchlight procession up to the Castle, so we are looking forward to it. We are also hoping to get invitations to the concert in the castle after the procession: Musici Mundi by Jésus Parra.

On Sunday 8th August, Jumilla celebrates the Offering of Flowers to the Virgen de la Asunción. At 20.00 the procession will leave the Jardín del Rollo, going along Calle Canovas del Castillo to the Church of Santiago.

The Fiesta de la Vendimia will kick off on Thursday 12th August, with the Gran Fiesta de Exaltación del Vino at Salones Pio XII. Last year we queued up outside the Ayuntamiento, hoping to get tickets, but were disappointed. If we are luckier this year, I will definitely post some photos on here! The Gran Fiesta includes lots of good wine, local gastronomic delicacies, music and fireworks: all the ingredients of a great party (or gran fiesta!) Our fingers are definitely crossed.

In my next post I will tell you more about upcoming events in the Fiesta de la Vendimia as well as the National Folklore Festival. If you want a copy of our “What’s on in Jumilla” newsletter, fill out the form on the Contact page.