I slowly drive on the National Highway that crosses the Serra Grossa and for now I can only guess the landscape, because the world around me is lost in the morning fog. But then, by bending a curve, the thick white mantle disappears and shows the fields and meadows. The vineyards extend naked and peeled to the right and the left of the road. Soft hills as far as he looks, here and there some picturesque small farm stands between the vineyards. Despite the winter climate, it is quickly clear why this area is called La Toscana de Valencia. The landscape has something gently romantic, a wine region taken from an enlightened book.
In the middle of the small hills is the Roure Celler, which we will visit today. In October I met Pablo Calatayud at the rice collection party in La Albufera and tried his excellent wines. As we are in Bocairent right now and the winery is very close, we approach here.
Unlike many wineries that carry several generations cultivating wine, the Calatayud family just began to transform sweet grapes into fine wines in 1999. In the last century production in quantity was the predominant throughout Spain. The small native grape varieties were practically displaced by the most productive French varieties. But fortunately that has changed for a long time. Today, more and more wine producers are focused on the quality of their wines.
Inspired by winemakers such as Daniel Belda and Sara Pérez (Bodega Mas Martinet), Pablo Calatayud set out to make high quality wines from traditional grape varieties. Before the phylloxera crisis broke out in the nineteenth century, grapes such as the Monastrell, La Arco, sent it and others were native to this region.
Pablo, who grew near Moixent, bought land and started working. The little winery now bottles her exquisite wines every year, since the concept has been a success. Despite all the concerns, the risk was worth it. Celler’s wines The Roure get the highest scores for their excellent quality. What was initially a small project quickly became a large one, since in the land of the farm there were treasures: an underground warehouse in which wine had been stored for 200 years.
During the visit to the winery we can also know the Winery Fonda an underground cellar with 97 large clay vessels, the Clay jars in which wine matures. With great love for the landscape and culture of their homeland, the family also launched this adventure and experienced with the storage of wines in the ancient ceramic vessels. The result was outstanding. Unlike wood barrels, clay jugs do not affect the taste of grapes. Instead of the typical aromas that the French or American oak brings to the wine during storage, here the fruity notes of the grapes predominate.
In addition to the impressive Winery Fonda, We can also take a look at the new winery. Also located underground, so that it is not visible from the outside, it is here that the wines rest and mature in traditional oak barrels. An unusual cellar with exceptional wines. You can feel and savor the love for the landscape in each drop.
One of the labels is decorated with a text in Iberian writing that was discovered in the nearby archaeological site. To this day, this millenary writing has not been deciphered.
Information about Alcusses wines
Among the peoples of Moixent, Fontanars and Font of Figuera is the “wine triangle” of The Valencian Tuscany . 11 Bodegas have joined to form “Terres dels Alforins.” Visit to the Roure Celler winery with wine tasting: 15 euros
Celler del Roure, Carretera de les Alcusses (CV-652) km 11,1 46640 Moixent (Valencia) Tel. 962295020 Web Alcusses.es
You can know more about the wines of the Valencia here: www.dovalencia.info/bodegas/
The scaffold of the Alcusses
Not far from the winery is an important archaeological site, the Bastida de Les Alcusses. At the highest point of the Sierra is a settlement of 650 meters long and approximately 150 meters wide of the Iberian Tax of the Answer, that inhabited this area more than 2,000 years ago. The first excavations took place in 1928, but it was not until the 1960s when an exhaustive archaeological investigation of the site was conducted. Among other things, they met the Moixent warrior, A tiny warrior figure whose original is preserved in the Prehistoric Museum of Valencia. The little warrior is considered, together with the Elche Lady, One of the most important findings of the Iberian culture in the Valencian Community. When the Romans arrived at the Iberian Peninsula, they answered us disappeared, as well as all the other Iberian tribes. Their settlements were destroyed or forgotten.
The visit to the Bastida de Les Alcusses is free. Access only Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from 16 to 18 H, Sundays only from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free guided tours: 687 836 717 and 687 836 545 O (Email Protected)
Official website: bastidaalcusses.es | Moixent.es, a brochure on the archaeological site in PDF format
This article was reproduced with authorization from the author.
The author loves to travel, and it is not always necessary to go very far, because even in central Europe there are still small unknown places, exciting landscapes and exciting stories that expect to be discovered. After finishing his studies, Nicole Biarnés moved to Spain, where he has resided near Barcelona for 23 years. As an independent writer, she writes travel books, writes texts for several websites, conducts in situ research for television productions and reports life in the Mediterranean in her travel blog www.freibeuter-reisen.org.
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