A Visit to La Viña

If you drive towards Albacete from Valencia, the last town you come across is Font la Figuera. Next to the sports centre you can find La Viña Co-operative, where they produce wine, olive oil and almonds. (they also help create cosmetics with their by-products).

The story goes back to 1945, in the dark, post-war days when 38 local farmers decided to come together and form the co-operative, which today consists of 2,000 members, and is the engine driving the local economy.

At the weekend you can visit the installations and guided in Spanish, Valencian or English by Miriam, you can learn the history and workings of the ‘Bodega’ and (most importantly) sample the wines.

There are different kinds of visits, including a family visit, where your children will create a future for themselves by designing the label for your next bottle.

There are various brand names, the most famous of which is Juan de Juanes, named after a well-known local painter, although my favourite turned out to be the Enhebro (meaning juniper) white, using two autochthonous grapes, verdil and meseguera, saved from extinction by the caring hands of local farmers.

Their Venta del Puerto is also very popular and comes in three different forms. The name refers to an inn that used to provide accommodation for travellers, being located at a point where the Muslim kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia met.
La Viña also has a long history of bringing happiness to the needy, and is in fact situated on the remains of a Roman building that served the same purpose, located next to the Via Augusta Roman road. And next door is a pilgrims’ hostel on the Valencian version of the Camino de Santiago.
On the tour you can see where the grapes come in, where they are fermented in giant vats, before being moved to barrels to mature. Each barrel contains enough wine for 300 bottles, and the bottling section can bottle between 10,000 and 15,000 bottles in an hour, so nobody need go thirsty.

Today, the descendants of those 38 farmers export all over the world, even as far as China, keeping alive the heritage of their ancestors.

At the end of the visit there is a modern tasting room, where you can sample the goods, along with some local cured meats and cheese.
When we visited in November 2024 they were celebrating their own version of a popular local festival, the Moors and Christians, but including Smugglers in the local mix.

C/ Portal de Valencia, 52,
46630 La Font de la Figuera, Valencia
+34 962 290 078
infoweb@vinosdelavina.com