Jumilla is a wine-growing region in Murcia and small compared to other wine regions in Spain. Jumilla's wine legacy goes back to the time of the Phoenicians.
When phylloxera destroyed much of the vineyards in Europe, Jumilla surprisingly escaped contamination. and so entered a period of economic expansion as wine merchants from France came in great numbers to buy wine. For this reason the vines were never regrafted onto resistant rootstock from the New World as was the case in the rest of Europe. However, the phylloxera pest unexpectedly struck in 1989, devastating the vineyards and reducing production by 60% over the next five years. Replanting and grafting was slow and expensive but allowed the region to adopt the new methods of grape growing and wine making that were already proving successful in the neighbouring DOPs of Alicante and Almansa.
Today the vineyards of Jumilla produce some of Spain's most renowned wines The monastreel grape is the centerpiece of winemaking in this region.
