Wines of Valencia

But as I was heading to the checkout I was rather shyly asked by a doe-eyed young thing in a little black dress whether I’d like to try some wine. “What wine?” I asked. “Some wine from Valencia”, came the reply. “From Heretat de Taverners in Moixent.”

…an attempt to enable the largest wineries to buy their grapes from anywhere in Valencia — to their economic benefit, but to the detriment of the specific local character that underpins the different Valencia region wine areas

So, I was on my mettle to do Valencia and ourselves proud over three days and two nights in the face of a highly discerning wine lover, who was pretty much born with glass in hand. Chris’s father ran Harvey’s of Bristol in its pomp, and his godfather was Harry Waugh, “the man with the million-dollar palate”.

The circus theme of the label and names — apart from the high-wire acts on the L’Equilibrista, the Uvas Felices range includes El Hombre Bala (The Human Bullet) and La Mujer Cañón (The Cannon Woman) — doesn’t quite seem reflected in a playfulness of the wines.

Just as I’ve recently looked at wines beyond Valencia, last Saturday I signed up to a cheese and craft beer tasting. It was held at Godè, a smart new place in Russafa that describes itself as a gastro-club.

So, an unexpected evening in the world of Valencia wine. Old and new friends combining in the discovery of an excellent wine shop in Valencia previously unknown to me, with a soon-to-be-star of the Valencia wine scene announcing herself

Jan Reinhart, a writer and translator who specializes in Catalan literature, reviewed Joan C. Martín’s “Valencians contra la Fil·loxera” in Wayward Tendrils Quarterly vol. 22, no. 2. This blog is grateful to Jan for recommending the excellent novel “Purgatori” by Joan F. Mira, which one day he hopes to translate. Without further ado, here is […]