The Gil family bet on Almansa in 2007 with the aim of making this little known appellation of origin known to the general public.
Located a stone's throw from the Mediterranean, this is an area that still maintains a continental influence due to its location in the province of Albacete, in thetransit zone between the Castilian plateau and the Mediterranean Sea.
The winery's first harvest dates back to two vintages prior to the purchase by the Gil family. At that time Atalaya belonged to Pepe Sáez from Albacete.
Since then, progress has been made in the facilities and research with the varieties Garnacha tintorera and Monastrell,to give shape to the current range of products that reflect the character and personality of the land and these native grapes of Almansa.
Bodegas Atalaya thus maintains the imprint that the Gil Family Estates group wants to reflect in all the wines in its portfolio, showing the most genuine essence of the wine-growing areas where they come from.
Both the winery facilities and part of the estate vineyards are located about 2 kilometers north of Almansa, on mainly limestone soils and at an altitude above sea level ranging between 700 and 1,100 meters.
The owned vineyards occupy about 25 hectares and the rented ones about 35 hectares more, but all of them are between 35 and 50 years old and in all of them the quality of the grapes is pampered by controlling the yield of the vines.
The area has a continentalized Mediterranean climate and rainfall is usually below 350 mm per year, slightly more than in the Jumilla area, where the Gil family is from.
Although the vines suffer less in Almansa than in Jumilla, because they have more water, in the vineyards of this winery the yield of the vines is also controlled by performing a green pruning at the beginning of the summer, with the aim of achieving the highest quality grapes.
Frank Gonzales, an Australian winemaker with an Asturian father, is in charge of the technical direction.
The
Garnacha tintorera and
Monastrell used to make this wine come from vineyards in the Almansa area located between 700 and 1,000 meters above sea level, planted in
sandy soils with a high concentration of limestone at the base. A
red wine with lots of color, intense and fleshy, but at the same time with
a certain freshness and complexity.
