Which wineries to visit on the Valdepeñas Wine Route

A getaway to a Wine Route like Valdepeñas, In the Ciudad Real province, is a good excuse to discover attractive places of cultural interest, but, of course, also to visit wineries.

Surely of Valdepeñas and in general, La Mancha, you have the image of large extensions of vineyards and large productions that are largely used as table wines or tavern.

But the truth is that since the 80s of the last century there has been an important evolution so that new grape varieties have been added to the traditional grapes of the area.

This process, together with the innovation that new production systems have brought, currently results in the offer of much more elaborate wines, many of them marketed under the DO Valdepeñas Wines, which are largely destined for export.

To know the details of this evolution and taste its best wines, the Valdepeñas Wine Route you propose wine tourism getaway Visiting the best wineries in the area.

What wineries to visit in Valdepeñas

Due to its characteristics, you have a very varied offer since you can visit from the most traditional wineries, with caves and ships of clay jars, at very modern cellars that will surprise you with their large production volumes and high levels of mechanization.

Valdepeñas Wine Museum

A good way to start your visit is to know the Valdepeñas Wine Museum Located in an old warehouse next to which modern facilities have been built.

On this visit you will have the opportunity to get a closer look at the history and traditions of Valdepeñas wine, as well as its production systems, being able, for example, to see a warehouse with traditional clay jars.

Navarro López Wineries in Valdepeñas

Another place where you can see a traditional Valdepeñas winery It is in the old facilities of Navarro López winery, which are preserved for visits of wine tourism and for holding events.

There you can see another great ship with clay jars, as well as a cave where the aforementioned events now take place.

Navarro López winery is a second-generation family business that was founded in 1904 and currently has production in several wine-growing areas of Spain, exporting to 72 countries.

Production reaches 15 million bottles annually and its main brand of Valdepeñas es Don Aurelio, with a wide range of white and red wines, all monovarietals.

Valdepeñas Wine Cooperative

En Valdepeñas you also have the possibility of visit a cooperative.

In particular, the Valdepeñas Wine Cooperative, which will be easy for you to find due to the striking mill that you can see from the highway that surrounds the town.

This cooperative was founded in 2016 with 20 members in the facilities of the former Espinosa Wineries, and currently has 80 members.

More than 6 million kilos of grapes a year arrive at this cooperative, mostly from Tempranillo, a variety that in this area is known as cencibel.

It should be noted that 95 percent of its production is marketed for wine in bulk through the second degree cooperative DCOOP.

The wine tourism visits You have to reserve them in advance, and you can start in the surrounding countryside with 11 hectares of its own vineyards where there are also olive trees.

It should be noted that during this visit you can see a warehouse with 192 cement jars 5 meters high and 18.000 liters capacity each, and during harvest time you can see the natural wine fermentation.

You will also visit the cave with more than a thousand French oak barrels where the aging wine is made.

Councilor is the brand of the wines of this cooperative, all monovarietals with grapes green, Arien y Tempranillo.

Félix Solís Wineries in Valdepeñas

But if what catches your attention is visiting one of those enormous wineries that characterize the wine-growing areas of Castilla-La Mancha, with facilities with the most modern technology, in Valdepeñas you have the opportunity to visit Bodegas Félix Solís.

This is one of the largest wineries in Europe and belongs to a large business group that also has wineries in La Mancha y Ribera del Duero.

It has 400 hectares of own vineyards and receives grapes from almost 5.000 farmers in the area.

From its enormous dimensions, the information that it has a storage capacity of up to 325 million grapes, and exports to 115 countries.

But it is during the visit that you will really be impressed, for example, with its new area with 100 state-of-the-art wine tanks, with all automated operation.

Or also their ships with up to 60.000 barrels American oak for aged wines DO Valdepeñas and, above all, its bottling hall with 14 lines of all types of formats and with a production of 150.000 bottles per hour.

Said ship, together with its palletizing area, I assure you that it will remind you of a car factory, if you have had the opportunity to visit it.

In short, quite an experience.

Real Wineries in Valdepeñas

Now in Valdepeñas not only can you visit traditional wineries or huge wineries with the most modern technology, you can also visit a typical type winery chateau in the middle of the countryside and surrounded by vineyards.

To do this you must go to Royal Cellars, whose facilities are located in a typical farm paid o chateau with 700 hectares of vineyards and olive trees.

It is a second generation family winery that came to Valdepeñas in 1989 in order to produce wines with the personality conferred by the area's terrain, which are marketed under the brand Finca Marisánchez.

Its annual production is 500.000 bottles, and its wines are made from various varieties of grapes that they began planting in 1984, since Tempranillo y Grenache Tintorera, Cabernet Sauvignon, syrah, chardonnay y Maccabee.

Since its foundation, Royal Cellars has given great importance to wine tourism activities, for which it has modern facilities, including a restaurant.

You can visit Bodegas Real on Saturdays and Sundays at 12 noon.

Photos of Valdepeñas wineries

Below you have more photos of the wineries you can visit in Valdepeñas.