Julia was on her way to becoming a professional cellist when, in 2015, she decided to re-route and devote herself to wine. I first heard about her while working with Viki Torres in La Palma – something about a young Spanish wine-maker who'd designed a mobile winery and plonked it in the middle of a nature reserve in Murcia.
As a wandering winemaker, I was particularly inspired by Julia' story - and her 'flatpack' winery. This tailor-made, container-style construction can be taken apart and moved anywhere. It contains a kitchen, plumbing and drainage systems, her fermentation casks, cement tank, tinajas... there's even room for her cello.
Julia chose as its first home a place called Venta del Pino in Bullas. She is married to monastrell and this elevated site, surrounded by forest and carpeted with Châteauneuf-style pudding stones studded with hardy old bush vines, was perfect for the fresh styles of monastrell she loves. Her flagship wine, La del Terreno (the local name for monastrell, as well as for her label), exemplifies her lightness of touch with this grape. She describes it as “tough… but with a really tender heart, like wood enveloping a flower”.
In summer 2020, Julia hauled her winery 50km east from Venta del Pino to a regenerative farm called Finca La Junquera, a centuries-old farm that lies on an ancient trading route on a semi-arid steppe bordering Andalusía. Its 1,000ha were once planted with monocultures of hemp, then cereals. But the site is gradually being regenerated by its current owners, along with a team of 12 or 13 young academics and volunteers. Julia has joined them as the resident viticulturist and winemaker.