Enomaníacos. Definitive guide to wine tourism in Valencia

Colin Harkness

I’m proud to say that I started in the Wine Tourism Sector in Spain before the word ‘Enoturismo’ existed! Having founded the wine column, Cork Talk, in the Costa Blanca News Group in 1997, I found I was perfectly situated to take advantage of a market that was yet to happen.

I’d been gathering information about wines and their producers through e-mails, phone interviews and, of course, real-time visits. It was on one such visit that I hit upon the idea of asking the bodega owner; Felix Martinez, if he would mind if I brought some friends along sometime to enjoy the same tour and tasting that I had just enjoyed.

Felix is a gentleman, an excellent winemaker, but also an astute businessman. For the negligible layout of a few bottles of wine and perhaps a little cheese and jamón there would be: excellent publicity in my column, surely at least some sales then and there, with probably more in the future as my clients would see his wines in wine shops and buy because they knew the producer and loved the wines!

However, I admit that it might have been a bit of a shock to Felix when I called him a few days before arriving that in fact we were a full coach of 54 people – rather than just a few friends!

You see, the idea caught on – and some! I made a TV series about Wine Tourism in SE Spain, advertised my small, but expanding travel agency and made sure that bodega visits were a part of many of the day trips and short breaks I arranged with Tin Lizzie Tours. Being honest and considering Spain’s natural conservative attitude to something new, some bodegas were slow to come onboard, some even rejecting the idea.

Then ‘La Crisis’ happened.

Many businesses faced serious difficulties during this aptly named financial depression, including, of course, wine businesses. Some went under, others were sold to larger concerns, the Spanish squeeze was on and times generally were hard. Suddenly my idea (along with others in different parts of the country – I wasn’t the only one in Enoturismo by this time), actually seemed like a lifeline.

Across Spain bodegas were trying to out-do each other. You could visit the vineyards by helicopter; by river on an inland booze-cruise; you could breakfast in the vineyards and/or dine there at night with lights, music and so on; bodegas converted old outhouses (or built new ones) to make accommodation for overnight stays; they advertised nighttime harvesting under floodlights; and many more exciting wine tourism ideas came to fruition.

But where do you find out about such exciting and tasty visits?

Well, there is now a definitive guide to wine tourism in Valencia, written in both Spanish and English – strewth, it would have been so much easier in my day, if this had been available then!

My friends at 5Barricas kindly sent me one of the guides to review, for you, yes, but also to use myself!

Enomaníacos: Adj. ‘[A person] who acknowledges their attraction to the world of wine and all its culture entails. Someone who needs to visit unique and unforgettable places, enjoy inland gastronomy, and voraciously live out fascinating adventures around a glass of wine.’

Well, that’s a definition that certainly applies to me – and Enomaníacos, the guide, is exactly what I, and I know many of you also need. Bravo 5Barricas for coming up with the idea; for undertaking all the research; for designing such a user-friendly guide; for attracting the necessary sponsorship; and for boldly going to print!

The guide is divided into sections – there’s an intro, of course; an explanation of how to use the book which also explains the very useful symbols (for example, they indicate such things as: if the bodega has accommodation; if there are activities for children; through to whether it is pet friendly!)

Then the colour-coded four major areas of production within the Comunitat Valenciana – Utiel-Requena; Valencia; Alicante; and Castellón are detailed. This includes a brief history of winemaking in each of these areas (and what a wealth of history there is here!), before a listing of all the bodegas open for wine tourism.

It’s exactly what you need.

You’ll read about brand new bodegas, about bodegas which go back for generations, as well as bodegas that have existed for millennia. You’ll learn about wine making influences of the Phoenicians, the Romans and even the Moors, whose religion forbade them to partake in alcohol, but didn’t stop their commercial aspirations! All of this is in bite-sized pieces of information as part of the intro to each area and/or part of the description of the bodegas themselves. It’s very impressive.

It’s colourful, with simple diagrams and beautiful photos, including pictures of the winemakers, the owner families and even the animals allowed to roam freely in some cases as part of the organic and even biodynamic philosophy of the bodegas.

Plus, you’ll find recommendations for restaurants and nearby accommodation for those wineries that don’t have rooms. Tastings, you’ll see, are often accompanied by local-produce tapas, nibbles and even full-scale lunches and dinners. Some bodegas also include music performed by local artists and many organise special events. Examples of such are hot-air balloon flights, tasting under the moonlit sky at night with an astronomer on-hand and night harvesting by visitors.

Wine Tourism in the Valencia region is fabulous, for individuals, couples, families and groups – and you can find everything about it by reading this really excellent guide. It’s in Spanish and English and is very easy to use.

Ladies and Gentlemen I give you – ENOMANÍACOS. Available to purchase https://5bseleccion.es/producto/enomaniacos/

Available to buy at good wine shops.

0 comentarios en Enomaníacos. Definitive guide to wine tourism in Valencia

Este sitio usa Akismet para reducir el spam. Aprende cómo se procesan los datos de tus comentarios.