BSI - Bodegas San Isidro

Visit done in December 2017

The winery

The Bodegas San Isidro is a cooperative group. It regroups about one thousand producers together. It gives them the possibility to dispose of a great variety of grape varietals and soils.

The original winery was in-town and got moved at the gate of the city to the current facilities.

Jumilla being the land of the Monastrell variety, BSI proposes a good selection of what can be done with that variety:

• Young wines
• Aged wines
• Rosé wines
• Sweet wines

They also work with other International or domestic varieties like Syrah, Petit Verdot for the reds; Airén and Verdejo for the whites.

Facilities

The current facilities are equipped for the full production cycle. From the fruits reception until the final products expedition.
As they deal with so many producers at the same time their logistics must be as much as possible flawless.

Grapes reception

During the harvesting season all the producers will show up at their door to deliver the grapes.

Trucks stop at weighing scales to start the process (2 of them are available). From that station the grapes sampling is done. There is a mini-lab seating behind the mechanized sampling arms: they analyze the sugar levels to classify the grapes. The producers price rates are dependent on the analysis.

Fermentation

Most of the fermentation is done outdoors in huge vats. They optimize the temperature through a water cooling system.

Aging

Aging of the wine is done indoors in cement vats for their biggest produced wines, in smaller steel vat or in wood barrels for their premium wines.

Cellar

• One corner of the cellar is used for the aging of the premium wines. That corner is a closed environment with controlled temperature and humidity.

• The cellar is fairly big and they store barrels of all sizes. The aromas and the views in the room are very pleasant. It a real pleasure to roam around the area. You can follow sweet aromas to the old barrels aging sweet wine.

• One of the walls of the cellar is used for a permanent exhibition of old equipment and objects. They old showcase samples of all the bottles they produced over the years.

• They kept some of their original big wood barrels from their previous installations (in downtown Jumilla) and reuse them in many different way: as shops, meeting room and even a stage for performances.

• They also use the cellar facilities to host art events, concerts, yoga sessions and many companies use their facilities for gatherings. Just check their website for details.

Research fields

For research and experimentation purpose some vines are planted within the facilities. They will be used to try new varietals (new to the area) or monitor closely existing ones (for evolution of water consumption by example).

The wines

The tasting

As part as our tour we took the tasting option. We were pleased to discover the following DO Jumilla wines:

• Numun Syrah
  Red wine, 14%
  Variety: Syrah

• Gémina Cuvée Selección
  Red wine, 14.5%
  8 months in American and French oak barrels
  Variety: Monastrell (European Roots)

• Celia Rosé
  Rosé wine, 12%
  Variety: Monastrell

Other interesting wines

Based on the good experience with the Gémina Cuvée Selección in the tasting we have decided to give a try to their Gémina Premium Reserva. We hope we will enjoy it in a few years. Will try to post our impressions about it as soon as we open it.

Another wine that interested us from their production, is their premium sweet wine Lácrima Christi. We have heard good things about it from many different people. Hope we won't be disappointed!

• Gémina Premium Reserva
  Red wine, 14.5%
  14 months in American and French oak barrels
  Variety: Monastrell (European Roots)

• Lácrima Christi
  Natural sweet wine, 15%
  8-10 years oak barrels
  Variety: Monastrell

• Sabatacha Monastrell
  Red wine, 14%
  Variety: Monastrell

Visit Summary

The staff was very nice and knowledgeable. The visit was conducted in English.
The facilities are worth the spending the time. Their infrastructure is impressive and their basement is really amazing.

The wines are surprising: the non-graphed Monastrell variety with their low yield really help to produce quality wines. Their premium wines come from vines 30-40 years old.

Links

Bodega Official Website: http://www.bsi.es/en/
Jumilla DOP official website: http://vinosdejumilla.org/en/dop-jumilla/
Jumilla city official website: http://www.jumilla.org/index.asp
Murcia Region DOPs: Murcia DOs