Spanish Wine Outings

Just an hour outside of Valencia…

Valencia was often known for its cheap bulk wines, but it has already blossomed into one of Spain’s most interesting wine regions.

Rehabilitated long-forgotten local grapes like the red Mando and the white Verdil are coming back to life, with the rediscovered use of amphoras.

You will find interesting vineyards with underground caves where the summer production temperature is even a constant 14 degrees. Vineyards in the Clariano region, Valencia’s hinterland, a region with an enormous wine potential and some French grapes, but also old local varieties, bear witness to the Valencian wine history (even if most of them are long forgotten). 

Alcusses is a name reference to an Iberian settlement dating 4 centuries BC with paleo-hispanic labels. Several other estates started producing quality wines, in accordance with their terroirs and tradition. On one winery a real treasure was discovered: nearly 100 dug-in amphoras in an almost perfect state of conservation. This is something really unique, all the more so as these amphoras are nearly 500 years old!
Local winemakers grafted Monastell onto Tempranillo, since this last variety did not seem suited to the area.

The wine producing site was first described in 1909 by Luis Tortosa with archaeological excavations begun in 1928 by the newly created Servicio de Investigación Prehistórica of the Valencian Community.
250 rooms were excavated and a number of important artefacts were recovered, including the Guerrero de Mogente, small lead plaques with inscriptions in the Southeast variant of Iberian, and weapons and jewellery. In newspapers of the time, the site was described as a “new Pompeii”.

Our outing also took us to Fontanars dels Alforins a small village of about 800 inhabitants, located south of Valencia and north of Alicante, 630 metres above sea level. With a dry, inland Mediterranean climate the vines flourish in harmony with other crops such as cereals, almond and olive trees.

I enjoyed Celler del Roure’s ‘Cullerot 2023’ by winemaker Pablo Calatayud and it’s great value at €10 a bottle! Interestingly it has a blend of Chardonnay with Malvasia, Macebo, Pedro Ximenez and Merseguera. For reds in the area I’d recommend a private tasting at Bodega Rafael Cambra. The ‘Minimum 2011’ is exquisite – and retails at just €12. It’s produced from Spanish Monastrell (a name given to Mourvèdre grapes grown in Spain – a big wine with complex and deep flavours). Or try Rafael’s rioja: Mateo Cambra. 

Get in the car (and a plane if you’re not in Spain) and take a Spanish road-trip to some smaller wineries! 

-Spanish Wine Outings written by John Thackray – one of the international Thacks Awards panelists, living in Spain.  When not traveling and wine-tasting, John is an iGaming specialist reporting into director level in the sports betting industry with a degree in Information Technology.

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