1915
LIFE CYCLE
4
ROOTS
+104
GROWTH
45
Our winery is family owned and this is the fourth generation of the Piqueras family to have overseen the property since it was established in 1915. The Piqueras winery is in Almansa, in south-east Spain, some 40 miles from Alicante and the Mediterranean Sea.
Our vineyards are in a winegrowing area of the Almansa D.O. characterized by its low fertility and low rainfall which, together with the semi-arid climate, combine to create the ideal conditions to produce richly aromatic wines of intense colour.
It has been a family-run property ever since the founding of the bodega by our great-grandfather Luis in 1915. Our history and tradition is reflected in the way that we tend our vines, to make quality wine to be bottled and exported to over 45 countries.
At Bodegas Piqueras we use indigenous grape varieties in almost all our wines. Our main varieties are Garnacha Tintorera and Monastrell, the traditional grapes associated with D.O. Almansa.
We have kept on growing as generation has succeeded generation, constantly seeking to enhance our wines, from the ceaseless tending of the vines to the care with which the choose our oak casks, in order to achieve our goal of producing wine with a distinctive identity and sense of place.
Our main aim is to provide extremely high quality wines, by taking the greatest care with every aspect of winemaking, from the choice of the individual vine to the design of the labels, while remaining true to our roots and our history.
For over a hundred years we have been making wine that is true to our family and its values. Our wines, to which each of the four succeeding generations has brought its own improvements, conveys the essence of our land and our people, while being at the same time modern, elegant and expressive.
THE VINEYARDS
Finca los Timonares
The family-owned Los Timonares estate is in the southern part of Almansa, standing at 2,500 feet above sea level, and is over 500 acres in size. The area under vine is on the stony, lime-rich, less fertile ground that is so well-suited to growing good wine grapes.
Finca los Cuchillos
The Los Cuchillos estate is home to our oldest vineyards, with vines that are over 60 years old. These are Monastrell and Garnacha Tintorera bush vines growing on stony soil to produce our most concentrated and intense wines, reserved for the finest wine that the Bodega produces.
Finca El Vínculo
El Vinculo comprises 280 hectares of land, and is our latest acquisition of vineyards at the winery.
The estate is located in the natural environment of the Almansa reservoir, an ideal place for agriculture and winegrowing. These new lands comprise vines, olive trees, almonds and cereals, all surrounded by Mediterranean scrubland in an ideal climate for agriculture. Like the rest of the yields from Piqueras, the grapes from El Vinculo are certified as organic.
BIODIVERSITY
We grow our grapes in harmony with nature, in a natural microenvironment in which wildlife, plants, sun, earth and air combine in perfect synergy to create ideal conditions for grapevines.
There is an organic sheep farm on the property, where the flocks graze freely by Finca Timonares. The grazing sheep help to keep the height of the surrounding plant life low and their natural fertilizer nourishes the soil.
As well as our vineyards, we have an extensive area given over to growing olives and cereals, both organically. The extra virgin olive oil, pressed from the yearly harvest of our favoured CORNICABRA variety of olives, is made primarily for our own use, though we do sell some locally.
EL ALJIBE
In the middle of Finca Timonares stands a limestone water cistern, an old Moorish-style ‘Aljibe’, as they are called here, that still collects rainwater for irrigation when we have prolonged dry spells.
The ‘Aljibe’ was built in the late nineteenth century to supply water to nearby farms. The outer structure was renovated in 2001 to return it to its original purpose.
