The extraordinary fine wines of Bodega Cerrón moved me on tasting alone, long before I knew anything of their history or heritage. I rarely encounter wines of such precision, energy and vitality, and they come from a region few would expect to produce wines of this calibre.
Order by midday on Wednesday July 1st
Visiting this remarkable corner of Jumilla earlier this year took those emotions to another level. Juanjo Cerdán, the youngest of the siblings, who welcomed me and took me on a tour throughout the vineyards, spoke with such warmth and candour about his devotion to the land and its surrounding ecosystem of both nature and people as we drove through the rolling hills of Jumilla.
Their roots run deep in the Fuente-Álamo region, where he and his sibling Lucía and Carlos Cerdá, all of fourth generation, farm with a free-spirited, nature-first approach, working fully biodynamically and with minimal intervention at all stages. They are committed to sustainable approaches, such as reforestation projects and working alongside environmental groups. Their decision to seek organic certification in the 1990s was met with scepticism, and they struggled to gain support locally. When the co-operative refused to keep their organically farmed grapes separate, they chose to go their own way. Many of their vineyards, ranging from 60 to over 110 years old, trace their origins to the smallholding culture that emerged after Spain's 19th-century land redistributions, when labourers were granted marginal, high-altitude plots that larger landowners deemed too poor or difficult to farm. In later years, farmers would either choose to or be forced to abandon these plots, but the Cerdán family have always stayed connected to viticulture and never left the land, despite the economic and social challenges they faced over the years.
Cerron undoubtedly debunk the misconception that Jumilla is nothing but a hot Mediterranean region producing entry-level reds. Here, altitude and geology define everything. Around Fuente-Álamo, where the vineyards sit between 800 and 1,000 metres above sea level, cool nights extend the growing season, preserving freshness, acidity and balance even in the heat of the day. The soils, dominated by ancient limestone rich in marine fossils from when this region lay beneath the Tethys Sea millions of years ago, give the wines their breathtaking saline, wild, textured, tense and powerful character with almost an almost tactile minerality that leaves you with an irresistible pull back to your glass.
Later, when tasting the wines with Juanjo in their modest but well-equipped winery, I am not ashamed to say that the Cerrico brought a tear to my eye. It is one of the world’s greatest white wines in my opinion. The reds too are truly remarkable. Cerron are more proof of the incredible rise of Spanish fine wine.
