A town of the Medio Vinalopó, separated from Monóvar in 1826 (Día del Villazgo); known for its Monastrell vineyards, its Cabezo de la Sal and its marble.
town status 1826; vineyard dominant c. 1880; cooperative 1932Pinoso, the town that grew with the vine
Pinoso broke away from Monóvar in 1826, and the vine did the rest: by around 1880 it was already the most representative crop in the municipality, and in 1887 the population, including Algueña, was close to 7,700. Phylloxera and the crisis in the vineyards later brought emigration and decline. At the beginning of the 20th century the oenologist Primitivo Quiles Verdú founded his winery here, which in 1926 moved to Monóvar to ship its wine by rail. In 1932 the growers set up their cooperative, which after successive expansions reached some 19 million litres and 650 members in the early 1980s, the largest winery in the province. In 2001 Pinoso was the leading wine producer in Alicante, with monastrell as its queen grape.
Alive today: La Bodega de Pinoso (the 1932 cooperative) and other wineries; some 3,830 ha of vineyard