Bodegas Castaño

Cantina e Vini

In 1950, Ramón Castaño Santa, son and grandson of viticulturers, had already built up his own winery and was, by the time, broadening the family vineyards. In 1975, came the acquisition of the first plots in Las Gruesas, the estate that would eventually become relevant to Bodegas Castaño for its size and quality. A few years later, in the early 80s Ramón Castaño Santa purchased the first bottling unit and with it, the real improvement and development started to take place, always bearing in mind quality as the main leitmotiv. At the beginning of the 90s, his three sons, Ramón, Juan Pedro and Daniel were fully incorporated to the family business. It was then when the international expansion began to be a reality. The presence of Bodegas Castaño in the main trade fairs around the world, commercial survey trips and international tasting events became a constant feature. Then the first national and international recognitions and awards arrived. This expansion to different markets provoked the necessity of advanced technological developments within the premises so as to reach higher quality rates and favour the competitiveness of Bodegas Castaño. In 2002 a new air conditioned storing warehouse of 3000 sqm in two floors was built. It included a storing room for bottle ageing with capacity for 500.000 units and cooling room for the pre- fermentative maceration of grapes at harvest time.

The dry climatic conditions in Yecla provide a very regular grape ripening that nearly allows a scheduled harvest starting point year after year. In those years with a higher rainfall rate or prolonged cooler temperatures, a delay of 6-10 days may occur. Chardonnay, the French-origin variety, has the shortest ripening cycle, so its harvest usually starts by mid August, being the varietal that first arrives to the winery. On the other hand, the local variety Monastrell, with a longer maturing scheme, is not finished harvested until mid October. This means that harvest in Yecla are usually very long. After an exhaustive selection of vineyards, we proceed with the ripening control, which it is carried out by our experienced team. At a first stage, this control is only visual, checking leaves, stem and berries. As ripening progresses, the tasting of grapes becomes essential, as well as a physical test and analysis. The parameters to supervise are sugar content, acidity and sanitary state of the berries among others. When all the necessary data have been collected, the beginning of the harvest for each variety can be established.