The event was held at the 8th floor restaurant of the El Corte Inglés on Av. Francia, with its terrace overlooking the Ciutat de les Arts i de les Ciències.  There was a worrying array of men in suits at the head table, but their speeches were short, impassioned (in the case of the heads of Valencia’s 3 Denominaciones de Origen: Alicante, Utiel-Requena and Valencia), and some were very funny – the guy from the Academia de Gastronomía de la Comunidad Valenciana. It was good to see Joan’s 30 years of devotion to the cause of Valencian wine, both as wine writer and winemaker, being celebrated. The West Indian intellectual C.L.R. James famously asked, “What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?”, and so it is with Joan that his writing goes beyond wine to span life and literature, wisdom and folly.

Invitation to Joan Martín Book Launch

After the talks, the assembled company was invited out onto the terrace to enjoy some of the wines mentioned in the book. I wasn’t able to do the rounds, as I had been called by Bodega Primitivo Quiles (the Comunitat’s oldest winery) to say that they weren’t able to make it and could I lend a hand and look after their stand. I was delighted to do this, as I love their classically traditional wines and I have a lot of kindnesses to repay them.

After wrestling with the pull-up banner I saw that in addition to the 3 wines they had said they’d provide – their sweet Moscatel “Extra Extra”, the moderni-style Monastrell-Merlot “Roble”, their eternal Monastrell “Raspay” Reserva – the delivery company had mistakenly left 6 bottles of their historic Fondillón Gran Reserva Solera 1948. I was a bit nervous about opening this liquid treasure, but the public is no fool, and they made a beeline for these bottles. Some had never tried the region’s unique wine, and having heard Joan refer to it as the embodiment and pinnacle of the region’s ancient wine tradition, now was their chance.

We have several Russian friends visiting, who have a discerning sweet tooth, and the dark, golden, luscious “Extra Extra” hit their collective spot.

One woman offered to marry me, mistakenly thinking I was Primitivo Quiles in person and could get her a lifetime’s supply of the Raspay, I had to confess that I was an impostor but that she could get hold of the wine, for under 7 euros a bottle, at Bodegas Santander‘s two outlets in Valencia.

I didn’t even have to carry the remaining bottles, as Sergei used to work in a  circus throwing hefty Russian acrobats and Russo-Californian sun-worshipper Greg Orduyan, when not creating amazing computer animation, is to be found doing press-ups on the beach, and they insisted on carrying everything. I held the banner ahead of them, though.

A great event, and I was sorry not to reacquant myself with the wines of the other bodegas, listed below (apologies to any I’ve missed out):

Dominio de la Vega

Finca San Blas

Heretat de Cesilia

Vicente Gandia

La Casa de las Vides

Chozas Carrascal

Hoya del Castillo

Coviñas

Vegalfaro

Bocopa

Hispano-Suizas

Castellón wine tasting

Outside the region’s three main Denominaciones de Origen (Alicante, Utiel-Requena and Valencia) there is another area that has a long history of winemaking — Castellón. This tradition was all but obliterated in the 19th and 20th centuries, but the process of recovery is well under way. Vins de la Terra de Castelló (VdeTC) was established in 2005 as an Indicación Geográfica Protegida. “Vinos de la Tierra” is a strange category. In the Comunitat Valenciana it is a status adhered to by one of the region’s grandest bodegas, Bodega Mustiguillo, which is in Utiel, but has rather magnificently opted to remain outside DO Utiel-Requena as the sole bodega in its own Vino de la Tierra El Terrerazo. Mostly, Vinos de la Tierra status is a rung below Denominación de Origen, along the lines of France’s “Vins de Pays”.

Castellón is a bit of a Cinderella in Valencian wine terms, with its three larger DO sisters, but every year Guzmán Orero, secretary of VdeTC and the man behind the wines of Masía de la Hoya, is a buzzing bundle of enthusiasm at the VdeTC stand at the Mostra de Vins, Caves, Licors i Aliments Tradicionals that takes place in the old Turia river each spring. So, it was a particular pleasure to be invited by Enocata.com to attend a wine event set in the imposing Antiguo Casino (built in 1814) of Castellón — apparently the first official wine tasting event open to the public to be held in the town. This was organized by the Asociación de Sumilleres de Castellón y Provincia (ASUCAP), whose 50-odd members had a blind-tasting of Castellón’s wines in November 2009, and selected the highest-ranking 14 wines (from 9 bodegas) for presentation to the public on Saturday January 30, 2010. It was good to see several hundred people in the Casino gardens really paying attention to and enjoying their local wines.

The bodegas included:

Bodega Vicente Flors
Bodegas Vega Palancia
Mas de Rander
Viñedos y Bodegas Mayo García
Vinos Masía de la Hoya
Bodega Sanjuán
Bodegas y Viñedos Baron d’Alba
Bodegas Vinya Natura
Bodega Bocoi

I very much enjoyed the wines, which were mostly reds, and the bottles that linger most clearly in my memory are the Clotàs from Vicente Flors, the Vega Palancia Etiqueta Negra, the Selección from Masía de la Hoya, and the Magnanimus from Mayo García.

There’s a lot to be said for wines like these from areas that are on the fringes of today’s wine map. The people who make them tend to be passionate about what they do and their locality. The battles they have fought and continue to fight to get recognition for their wines have steeled them to produce the best wines they can. I thoroughly recommend keeping an eye out for the wines of Castellón, and also visiting the city and province. This was my first proper visit, and I know that there is plenty more to discover, gastronomically and otherwise. The next day there were some 12,000 people on the streets of Benicarló — once famous for its wine — celebrating the “Demostración Gastronómica de la Alcachofa de Benicarló” as part of their annual artichoke festival. I look forward to exploring all such possibilities more fully.

It was particularly good of Castell de Sorells to provide us with their Castell de Sorells Cava Brut, as this time of year is naturally frenzied for the wine world in general, and Cava especially. There were three representatives from Castell de Sorells (Víctor, Fran and Antonio) despite an assortment of colds and sore throats. Perhaps something to do with working in a winery that is a replica of a 15th-century castle. They explained to all and sundry that this Cava, a snip at under 7.00 euros, had been disgorged (when the yeasts and sediment from the second fermentation are frozen in the bottle’s neck where they’ve gathered and removed and the cork put in) only the day before. This was a reserva from 2006 (though this is not stated on the label) so it had been given plenty of time to develop subtleties and generally come together. The fizz was matched with Eddie of Tahine’s exotic bon bon of foie coated in Peta Zetas® (popping candy).You can then fascinate your guests with a detailed explanation of how and why Castell de Sorells is the only Valencian Cava producer allowed to make Cava outside the area of Requena.

From this longest-standing Cava producer in Valencia we moved on to what must be the youngest bodega, Bodega Sánchez Zahonero. I’ve written about Alfonso and his L’Essència elsewhere in these pages, and it was a pleasure to have this energetic, enthusiastic and gold medal-winning young winemaker at the event, with Lorena and a brother who looked identical to him under the soft lighting and after a glass or two – though not to Lorena, one hopes. Again, Eddie broke with conventions with the two red wines, by matching this vibrant young wine with marinaded red tuna with wasabi. Absolutely delicious.

And the third wine was an old favourite in every sense, the Raspay reserva 2003 from Primitivo Quiles. The family has been involved in the wine trade of Alicante since the eighteenth century, and they make their Monastrell wine the old-fashioned way. This hasn’t prevented it from being awarded 90 points bby Robert Parker‘s “Wine Advocate”. You should try Googling this wine and see how US and other international wine sites rave about how distinctive and unusual and magnificent it is in a world of global homogenous wines. It is not that easy to get hold of in Valencia, however, and it was a great help to have José Luis Llorens of Bodegas Santander (and their excellent sister shop Beals), the only stockists, to tell people all about it. I thought that this highly distinctive wine might not be to everyone’s taste, but it went down a storm, to my delight. There was the added excitement of a sort of light show in the form of Eddie and colleagues’ live flambéeing of langoustines, another unexpected and successful combination.

We’ll see those who sign up in time at the January event. Can’t wait to see what Eddie comes up with to match the wines I’m setting out to find.

I Mostra del Cava Valencià

Here are the Cava producers taking part, which is, I think, all of Valencia’s current producers:

Dominio de la Vega
Torre Oria
Castell dels Sorells
Bodegas Vicente Gandia
Bodegas Murviedro
Daniel Belda
Bodegas Torroja
Vegalfaro
Vera de Estenas
Sebirán
Chozas Carrascal
Vegamar
Unión Vinícola Del Este
Bodegas Hispano-Suizas
Coviñas
Pago de Tharsys

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:

Bodegas Cherubino Valsangiacomo
Criadores Artesanos
Bodegas Hispano-Suizas
Bodegas Coviñas
Bodegas Utielanas
Bodega Aranleón
Bodega Sebirán
Viña Castaro
Bodegas y Viñedos Torres Luna
Bodega Emilio Clemente
Bodegas y Viñedos Carres
Bodega Sierra Norte
Bodegas Sinarcas
Chozas Carrascal
Finca Ardal
Latorre Agrovinícola
Bodegas de Utiel
Vicente Gandia
Dominio de la Vega
Viñedos La Madro√±era
Bodega Mas de Bazan
Vera de Estenas
Vinícola Requenense

Three events isn’t many, I know, but you do get a bit of a sense of things – familiar faces, out and out loyalists who’ve been to all of them, people who have heard of it from someone who’s been, and in the case of our new friend Robert from Portland, someone who’s on holiday and happened to wander into The Ginger Loft last Sunday as we were tasting the wines and listening admiringly to Mike and Santi come up with just the right food pairings ‚Äì matches that would never have crossed my mind.

Also, for the first event or two, the bodegas were a bit unsure what we were doing and I was asking of them. Now that there’s a bit of backstory, it’s easier to convey. Bel√©n Garc√≠a-C√°rceles from Aranle√≥n and Mar√≠a Jos√© L√≥pez Peidro from Chozas Carrascal added lustre, expertise and enthusiasm ‚Äì a rare combination ‚Äì to proceedings. Concha Rubio of Romeral Vin√≠cola would have brought yet more to the party if she’d been able to make it. She was a model of efficiency in getting the wines to the restaurant in good time and good humour.

For the first two events we had a wine each from the three Denominaciones de Origen of the Comunitat Valenciana (Alicante, Valencia – their website will be working one day, I imagine – and Utiel-Requena), but this time we had three red wines from Utiel-Requena. First, a 2008 Shiraz from the Ardilla range of monovarietal wines from Romeral Vinícola. This is an excellent value (well, cheap as chips at around 3 euro plus VAT) range stressing straightforward varietal characteristics plus that Utiel-Requena je ne sais quoi. For UK readers there is the added delight that 2% of all sales revenue goes to a project devoted to the reintroduction of the red squirrel into Spain (Ardilla means squirrel).

Next came the Helix 2005, a very special limited edition wine only normally available to the Circle of Friends of the Bodega. A silky yet opulent blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (40%), Tempranillo (30%), Merlot (20%) and Utiel-Requena’s own Bobal (10%). Bel√©n showed off not only this wine and a display bottle or two of the bodega’s other wines, but also the social skills she deploys as the public face of the bodega. Though she wasn’t so good at protecting the empanadas that guests are allowed one of ‚Äì these ran out suspiciously early. She is busily developing the social networking side of Aranle√≥n in LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

The third wine was Las ocho 2006 from Chozas Carrascal. It has been Piet’s ambition to have this, a wine that really kindled his enthusiam for Valencian wines. As the name suggests, it is an ambitiously complex blend of eight varieties. Mar√≠a Jos√©, the owners’ daughter, was constantly surrounded by a throng of people hanging on her every word. At least I think it was what she was saying that had their attention.

Have a look at the photos. For those of you in the vicinity of Valencia, do register for the next one when the list opens in a week or two, for the rest, there’s always Twitter and the other social networking stuff.

Above all, gracias mil to everyone who took part.

I enjoyed last night’s “Fiesta de la revista del Open de Tenis y Tendencias: la moda en la pista”, celebrating the Valencia Open tennis tournament that starts in Santiago Calatrava’s brand new (well, just about ready in time) Agora arena this Saturday. Plenty of smart and beautiful tennis and fashion people delighted to see each other.

It was a slight surprise in this environment that the introductory drink should be bottled “Agua de Valencia“, a product that in one fell swoop tarnishes two of Valencia’s finest offerings – oranges and Cava.

It seems hard to imagine that a smart event in Madrid or Seville would kick off with bottled sangr√≠a (which Valsangiacomo also market, as it happens). I know that this confection has been acquired by one of the evening’s sponsors, Bodegas Cherubino Valsangiacomo, and good luck to them, but surely there is a time and a place.

I have nothing against a freshly-made Agua de Valencia, which legend has it was created in the Cervecer√≠a Madrid in 1959 by the late artist-barman Constante Gil Hernández. A standard recipe is half a litre of cava -semi-seco is fine – half a litre of orange juice (freshly squeezed); 60 centilitres of gin, 60 cl. of Cointreau and another 60 cl. of vodka; two tablespoonfuls of sugar; ice and orange slices as garnish. Jolly enough, and with a deceptive kick, but not a particular favourite of mine. However, the bottled version — concocted and marketed in the mid-90s and primarily a tourist souvenir sold at grotesque price at Valencia airport — is a long way from being something that you would allow into your home. I hope its acquisition by the mighty Cherubino Valsangiacomo operation doesn’t see me come across it too often.