Valencia is one of Spain’s most popular wine regions, particularly internationally. Located on the middle East coast of Spain, the region enjoys a mediterranean climate, although with significantly higher temperature fluctuations than other, neighbouring regions.
To say that Valencia has a long history of winemaking traditions is an understatement. In fact, wine growing in this area can be traced back as far as neolithic times. The region is also unique in many ways, as despite its mediterranean climate, still experiences extreme daily temperatures due to a very dry, desert microclimate.
Due to these extreme temperature fluctuations, vines are often planted in bush style rather than the traditional trellising to help protect the grapes from direct sunlight and high heat. The main challenge affecting grape growing in this area is unsurprisingly drought, and as such the grapes traditionally grown in this area tend to be hardy, drought resistant varietals such as Bobal, Granacha and Tempranillo. For some of the new varietals on the scene, such as Cabernet and Syrah, these tend to be grown at higher altitudes where it is cooler and the grapes can be trellised.
One of the benefits of the sometimes difficult temperature fluctuations is that the wines themselves end up needing significantly less ageing time. Even the local ageing laws in this area differ from the Spanish norm to allow for less mandated time in oak than neighbouring Spanish wine regions.
Valencia also exports more wine than any other Spanish wine region, partly due to the faster ageing time allowing them to speed up production, and partly do to the “cheap & cheerful” food friendly and palate pleasing wines. Locally, these wines are traditionally paired with Paella since they can stand up to the wide variety of flavours present in the dish. They also pair well with jambalaya, a wide variety of tapas such as olives, manchego cheese and salty, cured meats.
Find tasting notes and commercial equivalent for Milagro here…
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