Inspiration In a Bottle: Impulsive Trip to Bodegas Juan Gil

When a bottle of wine inspires a trip to Spain!

Have you ever made an impetuous decision that resulted in a memorable trip? The foundation of mine started years ago in a tapas restaurant in St. Louis called Modesto. Modesto had excellent food and an excellent red wine, Atteca, which is an Old Vine Granacha from Spain. That wine was big and full and earthy and I loved it! Modesto replaced it with the Juan Gil Silver label, a Spanish Monastrell, which I liked almost as much. Later, they replaced the Juan Gil with La Atalaya, a combination of Monastrell and Granacha. I have Modesta to thank for the start of my Spanish wine obsession!

Fast forward to 2019, when I moved to Cincinnati and found my favorite restaurant, Mita’s. Mita’s introduced me to the Juan Gil Blue label, which is so outstanding, it’s hard to put words around it. Upon tasting it, one of my friends said, “Why would I ever drink anything else??” Yes. Welcome to my world! I introduced my neighbor, Beth, to the Juan Gil Silver and Blue and we continued to explore other Monastrell wines. One Friday night, after a bottle of Juan Gil and a bottle of Atteca, we realized that all of our Spanish favorites are under the Juan Gil family umbrella. And then, the wine-fueled idea…
“We should go to the winery!!” And so we did.

Bodegas Juan Gil is located in the Jumilla wine region of Spain about an hour from the town of Murica. The Juan Gil label and the Honoro Vera label are produced at this bodega (winery), but the Gil family also has 9 other wineries across Spain. We stayed in the coastal town of Alicante because, thanks to erroneous information on the rome2rio website, I thought we could easily get to the bodega on public transport. That is not the case, so we took a taxi for the 2 hour trip. It turned out that everyone we met on our winery tour drove two hours from different locations, so you do need a car or plan on an expensive taxi ride (about $200.) After finding that out, I was happy we chose to stay in Alicante because it is a gorgeous seaside town with wonderful food and a lot to do.

While I’ve visited other wineries, Bodegas Juan Gil is the best experience I’ve had. We started by touring the vines and the production facilities while hearing the fascinating and impressive history of the Gil family. They have been producing wine for over 100 years through a balance between tradition and new technology. The wines start fermentation in stainless steel and end in French or American oak barrels, or both. My favorite part of the tour was standing in the barrel room where the scent of oak was so strong you could almost taste it. It brought to mind fireplaces, campfires, old wine, and great friends!

After the tour, we had a tasting to illustrate differences between wines from young vines, 30-40 year old vines, and 80-90 year old vines. The young vine wine was Juan Gil Yellow label, our beloved Juan Gil silver represented the 30-40 year vines, and a wine called Alaya Tierra was from the old vines. We also tasted a white and a cava. Interestingly, we did not taste the Juan Gil Blue label because it’s so popular, and so much is exported, that there was none left at the source! There was a lot of tasting (taxi is a good idea) accompanied by delicious bread, cheese, and cured meats. We learned about the other Gil Family wineries while tasting, and Beth and I were probably those annoying students who kept raising our hands with questions or comments!

After the tasting, we browsed the bottle shop and purchased a few, including another heavy red called Bruto, that was absolutely delicious. Our taxi driver was right on time to take us back down the winding hills to Alicante.

What made this bodega visit so special is what the Juan Gil wines represent to me. A growing appreciation for fine wine and food. A constant through a couple of major life transitions. Fun, laughter, tears, and good times with dear friends across different cities. And most of all, the freedom to chase this great wine all the way back to its source. Thank you Juan Gil ♥

You can learn more about the Juan Gil family and their wines on the Gil Family Estates website. If you wish to visit them, their email is on their Wine Tourism page. Stay tuned for an upcoming destination report to help you plan your trip to Spain!

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