Date Published: 19/08/2025

Jumilla prepares for strong grape harvest after rains despite spring hail

Growers optimistic about reaching 75 million kilos amid improved conditions

After several challenging years marked by drought, Jumilla’s vineyards are looking forward to a much-needed recovery in 2025. Thanks to abundant spring rainfall, the region’s grape harvest is expected to return close to its traditional level of about 75 million kilos, revitalising hopes for both quantity and quality.

Silvano García, president of the Jumilla DOP, explained, “The amount of grapes harvested has always been around 75 million kilos. Last year saw a considerable drop to 50 million kilos caused mainly by water stress from the severe drought.”

This year, he added, “everything seemed to be improving due to spring rains, which significantly eased the situation, although a hailstorm in mid-May did damage some plots.”

Despite the setback, García said the outlook remains promising, noting, “We thought the harvest would recover and not be as low as last year’s… It’s difficult to estimate precisely now, but we expect it to be similar to previous years and of excellent quality.”

The harvest cycle in Jumilla is already underway for some early white grape varieties and will continue through to early October. Nieves Sánchez, director of Bodegas San Isidro, commented, “We will start harvesting certain white varieties between the third and fourth week of August. The rest of the varieties should begin around September 10 and continue until October 10.”

Elena Pacheco, head of Viña Elena, added, “Ripening is progressing at a normal pace, unlike in earlier years when drought hastened it. We expect to start picking whites this week and Monastrell grapes around the first two weeks of September.”

Jumilla’s iconic offering of the first grapes during its patron saint festivities was recently held as usual, signalling the symbolic start of the harvest season in the region.

Overall, spring rains have allowed the vines to develop more slowly and healthily, improving both the potential quantity and quality of grapes going into this year’s production.

For more local events, news and visiting information go to the home page of Jumilla Today

Image: Dirk Wohlrabe/Pixabay

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Oficina de Turismo Jumilla

The tourist office in the centre of Jumilla is easily found by driving straight into the centre of the town along the Avenida de Murcia and following the signposts. The tourist office is alongside the Parque de Don Albano Martínez Molina, where there are a number of parking spaces.

Jumilla, in the north of the Region of Murcia, has become internationally famous over recent decades due to the quality of the wines produced in the municipality, and wine tourism has begun to attract visitors from other parts of Spain and the rest of Europe.

The tourist office is happy to provide a range of maps and leaflets showing the different bodegas which can be visited within the municipality. Some of these form part of the Rutas del Vino de Jumilla, the Jumilla wine route, and can either be visited as a guided tour or sell their produce directly to the public.(see feed below for more details)

However, the town and the surrounding countryside have plenty of other attractions for visitors, and the popularity of Jumilla wines is leading more and more people to discover other facets of the tenth largest municipality in Spain.

Jumilla Tourist Office

These include the spectacular countryside and birdlife in the Sierra del Carche, the historic remains which range from cave paintings and a Roman mausoleum to the castle, the Iglesia de Santiago, the Town Hall and the Teatro Vico, and the gastronomy: rich stews are accompanied not only by the wines of the area but also by Jumilla pears, which also enjoy Denomination of Origin status.

Tourism in Jumilla is not as seasonal as it is in the coastal areas of the Region of Murcia, but the town is at its liveliest during the fiestas in Holy Week and the August Fair, which incorporates the grape harvest celebrations and the Moors and Christians parades.

The Altiplano of the Region of Murcia, which consists of the municipalities of Jumilla and Yecla, is only just over an hour by car from the Mar Menor, Cartagena, Mazarrón, Torrevieja and Alicante, and anyone wishing to visit real inland Spain and world-class wineries is advised to include Jumilla in their schedule.