RSS FeedEvery year at around this date, Denominación de Origen Utiel-Requena organizes “Las Añadas de Utiel-Requena”, a showcase of the DO’s latest wines and vintages. In recent years the event has taken place in the glamorour environs of the five-star Las Arenas hotel down by the sea and the Norman Foster-designed (in his more restrained vein) Palacio de Congresos.
I don’t know if this year’s change of venue had anything to do with some bodegas’ mutterings that there were too many “ordinary” members of the public to the detriment of proper trade activities, but it was a lot harder to get to this time. It took place this year in Puçol, a small town some 13km north of Valencia just before Sagunto.
The Consejo Regulador laid on buses, but there was little further information, and only about 8 people were on my bus. The driver promptly got lost and indulged in some hair-raising recovery manoeuvres, but eventually got us there.
The brand new Myrtus is rather amazing in its all-white, Austin Powers sort of way, and there were the participating bodegas (see full list below). We were glad to see Belén (from Aranleón) and María José (Chozas Carrascal) from November’s Vino Valencia event. We knew their wines, so couldn’t dawdle. However, sticking to my Austin Powers “eye for the ladeez” fantasy, I headed straight for the Viñedos La Madroñera table and their Constantia 2006. Not only have I enjoyed and admired the previous vintage of this wine at April’s Mostra de Vins i Aliments Tradicionals, it is a self-professedly “Bodega de Mujeres” whose Constantia is described as a “vino con toque femenino”. We chatted about wine and gender politics with Patricia, Cristina and Elisabet, and it has to be said that there is a feline suppleness and grace to the wine. I look forward to meeting more of their wines and their personnel.
Whatever the reasons for the new venue, there were plenty of people, but it was less of a free-for-all this time. There was a sense of occasion and, more importantly, a real chance to talk to the bodega personnel while tasting their wines. I won’t try people’s patience by going through the other wines and bodegas. You can taste them for yourself between 27-29 November at Mercado Colón (all proceeds go to charity) — and you won’t have to wait in the cold for 45 minutes for your bus to turn up as we did on Monday night.
For the funkier nocturnal crowd, Utiel-Requena is reaching out to the 25-35 demographic with a wine night at Pacha Valencia.
These are the bodegas taking part in the week’s events:
