Colin Harkness visits El Racó de lo Nostre in Jalón

Colin Harkness

Jalón has been a winemaking centre since the North Africans, the Moors, first brought vines to valley floor and the surrounding mountains – that’s hundreds of years ago.

It’s a small area in the province of Alicante which itself is a larger part of the Comunidad Valenciana. Imagine then how many wonderful Valencian products there must be in the part of the world where we have made our home for almost thirty years – Valencia! Wouldn’t it be great to be able to find many of these products under one roof rather than having to drive many kilometres to experience each town and village’s specialities?

Enter, El Racó de lo Nostre, the relatively new retail arm of the thirty years old wholesale business of the family Fullana, which has been supplying a vast array of Valencian products to many shops throughout the Comunidad.

With five representatives travelling far and wide advising and supplying many retailers in all three provinces there is plenty of office work, as you can imagine. Chatting about this just a few years ago the family had the idea of moving their cramped warehouse office to a new location in their hometown and opening a retail outlet themselves in the same building.

It’s not yet so well known, but it should be. El Racó de lo Nostre is found at the end of the small road that runs down from the Correos (with the Farmacia on the corner) to where it meets Jalón’s ring road. Monica, daughter and once one of the Reps. (who therefore knows the business inside out), will welcome you. You’ll have time to walk around (it’s small at the moment but with space to expand) and/or you’ll be able to ask Monica for information and advice about the products – including the wine, of course.

Facebook users may have seen my two or three posts about El Racó, particularly the fairly recent one telling readers about the amazing value of the Cava Reserva that they sell – lots of, now! However, it’s not just this Cava (details below) that is well priced – all their wines offer the same value for money. The wholesaler part of the business must buy in bulk in order to satisfy demand from all of the Valencia-wide retailers they supply, which means that they are given a very good price from their producers. Sensibly, this saving is passed on to their customers meaning that we all benefit.

Monica prides herself on being able to offer advice when customers come in with an idea of what they like but they’re not sure which of the wines on view will satisfy that requirement. She also has clients who are looking for a present for somebody – I think we all like presents that we can eat and drink, so there is plenty of choice here. Plus, it’s almost exclusively made in the Valencia region. Gift Packs are a speciality.

However, that’s not to say that it’s not possible to buy some wines from outside the area – Monica is aware, for example, of the demand for white wines made with Albariño, so there’s some at El Racó as well. Also, there have been times when customers have asked about a particular wine from a wholly different area, wondering if Monica would be able to order some in for them. She’s often happy to do this and in this way, we may find that her wine selection, very good though it is, starts to expand a little – whilst always retaining the very Valencia nature of the business.

I’m not sure how many times I’ve visited El Racó de lo Nostro – it’s mostly for wine, of course, but I’ve certainly enjoyed some of the nibbles you can find there too. For example, the jar of Nisperos preserved in a sweet juice I recently came away with was finished so quickly that I didn’t even have time to photo the jar! However, don’t worry, I’ve plenty of photos of the wines I’ve bought, some on multiple occasions – my problem here is which ones I should write about, there have been so many!

Let’s start with the aforementioned Cava Reserva. As I said on my first social media post I can’t understand how this fine sparkling wine, made with Champagne’s Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes can be sold for just 7.20€! Cava Marevia Reserva Brut is one from the category Cava de Guarda Superior – these are the cavas that are so superior to those that sell for three euros, yet look at the price. It’s a steal and we always have some in!

Wine writers like myself are sometimes accused of writing exclusively about dry/very dry white wines – I take the point and I admit it’s often true. So, I’d like to mention the first of the three Bodegas Volver wines that I’ve recently tasted. If you are one who doesn’t like sweet wines but finds dry wines a little too harsh, then Tarima Mediterráneo may be for you. It’s what we would call on off-dry style with a little fruit sweetness coming from the Moscatel grapes with Merseguera adding a lovely floral note on the nose too. Retails at only 8€.

Tarima is also the name of the lovely rosado wine that I’m actually enjoying at the moment! It’s made with the regional variety Monastrell (you’ll hear that again in a short while!). One of those oh so pale rosé wines it, as it the case with most, is far from being shy in terms of flavour and aroma. Pale colour does not mean a weak wine! A lovely rose petal nose with soft red fruit in both the aroma and the flavour, it’s super aperitif wine, really ideal for Spring and Summer, but that’s not all.

This dry rosado wine has the body and the fresh acidity to complement salads, vegetarian cuisine and fish dishes – we’ll soon be enjoying it with Salmon. (Incidentally it’s quite fun to pair the colour of wines with the colour of the food – so salmon and trout, for example, works well with rosé and in Tarima’s case with a mild Thai red curry!)

Talking of value for money (which we are with all the wines from El Racó de lo Nostre) it’s difficult to find a better example than their Madame Bobalú, whose cool cartoon style label attracts the eye. It’s made with 100% Bobal, a local variety which in fact is one of my favourite grapes for red wine! It’s a pure expression of the variety, no oak, just black cherry and damson fruit. It’s not complicated but it’s got body in the mouth meaning that it will pair with food, meat of course, also pasta, pizza and BBQ food, as well as being just a nice wine to drink on its own. The price – 6€!!

Finally, I’m going back to Monastrell and to Bodegas Volver, well, to be specific to Bodegas Volver’s founder and Head Winemaker, Rafael Canizares. Rafa has a more private project of his own going on and is attracting a lot of attention. At 16.95€ his wine called simply, (+) de 50 de Tarima, because the vines are more than 50 years old, would cost a lot more were it from a more famous Spanish area of production.

I think it needs opening and decanting probably two hours before serving, then you will find a deeply coloured and richly flavoured fine red wine with some oak back-up and a long finish.

There you have it ladies and gentlemen (who does the wine buying in your house, I wonder?) the small El Racó de lo Nostre vinoteca +, with a big Valencian heart!

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