Transcript:
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Hello and welcome to your new Bonner Private Wines video, where we learn and explore together the wonderful world of wine weekly. Today I want to take you to Spain and tell you about an appellation that is quite popular and famous within Spain, but not well-known or understood internationally. And it's a shame because it has its own local grape variety, yes, from there, an interesting history, and it makes really good wines. Also, we are bringing you a delicious example of vino from there in your upcoming Spanish collection from the club, so you have to know about it. Here's what you need to know about Utiel-Requena.
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Although Utiel-Requena is not super famous outside of Spain, and despite being named after two rather obscure towns in Spain, the wine appellation itself is not small. It's not huge like Bordeaux or Rioja, but it still covers 32,000 hectares or nearly 80,000 acres. So it's not just anecdotal. And if you ever travel to Spain, well, chances are you will come across those wines in wine shops and supermarkets and restaurants all over the country.
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I really want to get talking to you about the wines themselves and what they taste like, which we'll discuss in just a short moment. But as I always say, to really enjoy a wine more you need to understand it first. So let's talk about a few key facts. So it's a fairly large mid-size wine appellation counting with 110 different bodegas.
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So it's pretty big, and nearly 5,000 wine growers because cooperative wineries are strong in the area and growers bring their grapes to them. So you have a myriad, many, many, many small growers that bring grapes to the bodegas. The location is very interesting. We're on a plateau with some altitude at 25ft above sea level, at about 40 miles from the Mediterranean coast and the city of Valencia, which is very famous.
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You know, the city where the paella was probably invented, or paella. This plateau is quite high and flat. So locals call it the Mesita, or the little table in Spanish, and it's virtually all covered in vineyards. We have a rather continental climate here, almost like in central Spain. Super hot summers and rather cold winters. But the Mediterranean provides some cooling influences in summer and a bit of a warming effect in winter.
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The soils are really poor, really Spanish, very sandy. They're red, they're very dry, but with a high limestone content, which is excellent for viticulture and freshness in the wine. So we have a lot of really good combinations of factors for the terroir to be excellent. The appellation surrounds the city of Utiel, the local capital, and the town of Requena.
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So it takes its name from those two locations. So we’re on an elevated island of vineyards, if you want, a really rural, rugged and traditional Spanish area.
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Locals love to say that the wine has 2,600 years of history because unlike many parts of Spain or Europe where viticulture was introduced by the ancient Romans, here it seems that grape growing was already taking place before them, as we have traces of ancient Iberian settlements making wine as far back as the seventh century BC. But sure, the Romans brought in new grapes and techniques in the first century BC.
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So really old tradition there. What's interesting is that this part of Spain was occupied by Arabs for about 800 years during all the Middle Ages. So producing wine wasn't particularly popular with the Muslims. But apparently it was tolerated in the region. So they continued the tradition. The appellation really took off during the 19 century and the phylloxera crisis that affected most French and European vineyards that were decimated, while many vineyards of Spain weren't affected at all by the bug, because of those dry soils, the bug couldn't live in Spain.
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And so Utiel-Requena could supply large quantities of vino all across Europe. So the region took off after World War two, which I reckon was mainly famous for producing large quantities of affordable wines, reds and roses, primarily for the local tourism industry in particular, which is huge around Valencia and all along the Mediterranean coast, but which I reckon was also, supplying broadly wines to the whole of Spain.
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In short, that's the history of the region, really long tradition, but also making a lot of affordable wines for the local tourism industry. What about now?
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Like in many parts of Spain, the huge majority of wines in Utiel-Requena are made from red grapes, which represent 95% of vineyards here. But thanks to the altitude and the cooling Mediterranean breeze, white grapes can also be grown in cooler areas. They crop a little Chardonnay and a bit of Sauvignon blanc, and even grapes for the Spanish sparkling cava, proving that it's not as hot everywhere in that area as one would imagine.
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Pinot noir does really well, too, as our wine from your Spanish collection demonstrates. Utiel-Requena used to produce a lot of rosé wines, in particular for the local tourists. But more and more reds are made now, and the king of reds in the region is in fact a local grape native to the area called bobal. They sometimes blend in little Tempranillo or Cabernet Sauvignon, especially for the affordable wines, but bobal accounts for two thirds of all plantings here.
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And what's interesting is that half of those vineyards are very old, older than 40 years old. So the appellation is a massive source of old vine wines; producers can tap into to produce delicious and really characterful reds from there from their own local grape. And with the popularity of those unique local styles now, now producers have passed the era of global wine standardization, and more and more wine connoisseurs want something more typical.
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As we discussed last week in last week's videos, local bodegas had a huge card to play with their own local bobal grape. Bobal is a thick skinned, a red grape delivering plenty of color, big tannin, and it can be a little rustic sometimes because it has a tendency to mature unevenly. But that's where the old vines help a lot.
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The best examples are really dense and powerful, with tons of plum and ripe red fruit flavors, but also some delicate floral elements as well, like violet flowers aromas. Many affordable wines are meant to be drunk young within 2 or 3 years, and they represent excellent value for money. At $1,520, you'd already find excellent examples. If you spend a little more, you'd get delivered really solid old vine wines that are characterful, quite big, but still elegant, and that can easily aged for ten years or more.
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The Appellation Bureau of the area reports that 60% of the wines of Utiel-Requena are in fact exported. So yes, the appellation is mostly recognized within the borders of Spain. But you can and you should buy Utiel-Requena wines anywhere in the world. And now you know why you should try them and explore. Give them a try. Here you have it.
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What you needed to know about Utiel-Requena. I love exploring the wine world with you like we did today, and realizing there are ancient and traditional wine regions in styles that are even. I had hardly ever thought about before, but that really have interesting stories and more importantly, interesting new wines and unknown flavors and histories that we can taste and experience.
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Take care. I will see you soon in the wonderful world of wine. Very soon. Cheers!
