I have just returned from a break in Valencia, Spain, staying in the wonderful Caserio del Mirador in the hills near Jalon. Driving up into the mountains to my accommodation, dreaming about all the paella to come, I noticed that there were lots of vineyards amongst the stepped olive groves.

Let face it, vineyards are pretty uninteresting to look at. Just lots of small stumpy bush like protrusions with large floaty green leaves. It does not help that in the summer they are planted 'en vaso' (low bushes) due to the heat, giving them an awkward stunted look. From a distance they add a sort of order and beauty to a hill side I suppose, as much as a golf course transforms wasteland. In reality all you really want to do is play the game or indeed drink the wine. A great big vista of a carrot, teasing you.

So it's is all very well taking in the viticultural views, but where could I buy the local juice?

Luckily you do not have far to look. Jalon itself is crammed with bodegas where you can drop in and pour yourself wine at around one euro per litre straight from the barrel. Fantastic. I drank plenty of the local stuff in this way and it was great. This is where plastic bottles and wine are a perfect partnership. Just pop into and fill them up.

I would not be surprised if instead of a milkman there was a 'wineman' who delivers fresh wine to the local inhabitants every day, so ubiquitous is the stuff.

The red is very thick and strong due to the hot summers (high sugar content) and grape varieties (I think mainly Monastrell and Garnacha).The white I tried was Moscatel, sweet and delicious, a very famous pudding wine from the area. This was all interspersed with the odd fino sherry, again from the bodega barrel.

This part of Valencia (Jalon) is away from Benidorm and Alicante on the coast (Costa Blanca). It is very rural and fairly bereft of mass market tourism. This is not to be confused with Valencia the city which is the third largest in Spain and the capital of the Valencia region. Spain is in fact divided up into 17 autonomous states, the 'Comunitat Valenciana' being one. The Valencian Community is then divided up into three provinces of Alicante,Castellón and Valencia, and within that 34 counties.

But how does the regions wine map look overlayed?

Most people just think of Rioja when it comes to Spain, mass marketed to us in most supermarket Spanish wine sections. Let's remove the commercial blinkers...

Now we are getting into opening Russian dolls..

Within the Valencian Community there are four DO's ( Denominación de Origen) which are the classification boundaries.

Alicante, Utiel-Requena,Cava and Valencia

Valencia DO has further sub zones (Alto Turia, Valentino, Moscatel de Valencia, Clariano) as does Alicante (Alicante, La Marina)

I was staying near Jalon in the Alicante DO where the principal white grape is Moscatel (aka Muscat) and red Monastrell (aka Mourvèdre)

If this gargantuan geographic gobbledegook was not confusing enough there are the languages to contend with. Two in fact, Valencian (Catalan) and Spanish. Still my schoolboy Spanish and wild sign language was sort of adequate to get me by.

Have your say

Name (optional):
Email (optional):
Website (optional):
Message: