As the end of summer arrives, the harvest season begins in Castilla-La Mancha, a land where wine is one of its defining features. This wine-producing region stands out worldwide for both the quality of its wines and the number of designations of origin that Castilla-La Mancha holds, delighting palates throughout Spain and around the world.
September is an excellent time to visit some of the region’s most prominent wine towns, starting with one located in the center of the natural region of La Mancha. At the vertex where Ciudad Real meets, Cuenca, Albacete and Toledo, we find Tomelloso, a large white town with the smell of wine, the main driver of its economy and culture since the 19th century. To learn about the town’s wine history and present, one can visit any of the dozens of wineries in the municipality: Tomelloso currently has the largest Wine Cooperative in Europe.
The town’s vast wine production has encouraged the creation of a large number of alcohol companies with unstoppable output, making it the leading producer of wine alcohol globally. Many of its chimneys can be visited on an interesting route through the town, where hundreds of winery caves lie beneath the streets of Tomelloso.
During a walk through the city, the Posada de los Portales is sure to capture your attention. This old inn, with traditional architecture dating back to the mid-18th century, served travellers until the 1960s. Today, it is a cultural center and houses the Tourist Office.
Not far from Tomelloso is Valdepeñas, known for its wine production. The Wine Museum offers an educational and interactive insight into the cultural practices surrounding vine cultivation and wine production, as well as the entire history and tradition of the Valdepeñas Denomination of Origin. Furthermore, the town’s most significant festival, the Harvest and Wine Festival, declared of National Tourist Interest, takes place from the 1st to 8th of September. Before these festivities come to an end, another ten days of celebrations begin in another part of La Mancha whose name is synonymous with festivities. Albacete celebrates its fair from the 7th to the 17th of September, an event that attracts several million people from across the region, Spain, and the world, all eager to come year after year to have fun with the enormous cultural, recreational and gastronomic offer of the city. Ten days and ten nights of non-stop fun.
The great festival of Albacete, simply known as La Feria, is declared of International Tourist Interest. Its immense and historic fairground, located in the city center, was built in 1783, a magnificent example of La Mancha architecture originally oriented towards its commercial activity. Nowadays, everything fits in the fairgrounds, from commercial activity to the latest disco music, diverse gastronomy and entertainment for all ages.
If you still have any energy left after enjoying the Albacete fair, it is a fantastic option to continue visiting Castilla-La Mancha during the harvest season along one of its most interesting routes: La Mancha Wine Route, part of The Wine Routes of Spain, a project promoted by ACEVIN (Spanish Association of Wine Cities) which unveils to travellers the wine, cultural, historical and natural heritage of areas where wine has been and remains the cornerstone of the history and life of its people.
The route, set in the heart of the La Mancha plain, covers several towns: Alcázar de San Juan, Campo de Criptana, and Socuéllamos in the province of Ciudad Real; El Toboso in Toledo and Villarrobledo in the province of Albacete.
Once the harvest and the wine routes are complete, we could continue with the saffron route and visit towns such as Consuegra, which celebrate their festivals in October centred around the cultivation and harvesting of this plant. Castilla-La Mancha produces saffron of the highest quality, coveted by the finest restaurants around the world. Saffron is a hallmark of many towns in Castilla-La Mancha, where the cultivation of this spice has forged their identity, but this is a trip for another occasion.
Valdepeñas (Ciudad Real)
Tomelloso (Ciudad Real)
Albacete
Consuegra (Ciudad Real)