Bodegas Pinoso

Bodegas Pinoso - A winegrowers' cooperative goes organic

Bodegas Pinoso is located in the village of the same name in the Alicante wine region in southeastern Spain. Bodegas Pinoso was founded in 1932 as a cooperative, and working in the vineyards faithfully maintains the winemaking traditions of the region. The association and the efforts of the founding members of Bodegas Pinoso led to the winery quickly becoming known for the quality of its wines. For this reason, many other winemakers wanted to join the cooperative in the following years, and first in 1969 and later in 1974, the winery was expanded to make room for the new producers. After another enlargement in the early 80s, the winery was able to produce up to 19,000,000 liters. This made it the most important winegrowers' cooperative in the province of Alicante, with 650 members.

At the end of the 90s, the winery began to rethink its quality policy in order to improve its bottled wines and, at the same time, to designate the first areas of the winery for certified organic vineyard plots. In 2000, the winery began to bottle its own wine. in 2003, the export of its own wines followed for the first time. In 2010, an important milestone was reached with the organic certification of half of all vineyards. Today, Bodegas Pinoso has 250 members who can draw on 1200 hectares of vineyards.

A trip to Alicante

The Alicante region is characterized by dry, hot Mediterranean climate, with soils of limestone and with little organic content. Here, the hot continental climate meets influences from the Mediterranean Sea, which is not far away. These conditions put a lot of stress on the vines, but it brings out the best in them: the wines become more structured, more colorful and have greater aromatic potential. 

In these conditions, the Monastrell grape thrives wonderfully, which is considered one of the original varieties of southeastern Spain. The plant grows slowly and produces small, compact grapes with thick-skinned berries. It is the character grape of Bodegas Pinoso, giving the wines spicy aromas of thyme, cinnamon and black pepper.

The ecological management of the vineyards is a particular concern of Bodegas Pinoso. No pesticides are used, biodiversity in the vineyard is promoted and the nutrient balance of the soil is sustainably strengthened. In addition to direct actions in the vineyard, the winery has a recycling line for cardboard and uses lighter bottles to make transportation less energy-intensive.

The wines of the Pinoso cooperative

Five lines of wine are produced today by Bodegas Pinoso:

• Diapiro - wine according to the tradition of the region
• Vergel - traditional wines with a modern twist
• Pinoso - terroir wines of excellent quality
• Vermador - organic wines with production methods as close to nature as possible
• Cristatus - young, direct wines

The portfolio is broad, from white to rosé to red wine. Accordingly, in addition to the main variety Monastrell, a variety of other grape varieties are used, such as Airén, Macabeo, Syrah, Merlot and many others. In recent years, they have also begun to produce some vegan wines.