Celler del Roure, Vermell, Valencia, Spain

This wine is in part a tale of the perils of the power of the press. The Calatayud family have been farming and producing wine in Valencia for generations but they had a bit of a change in direction when demand from the USA led to them making wines which were big, powerful, high in alcohol and lavished with expensive oak maturation. The kind of wines the US press loved at the time. Pablo, the current owner, realised however the potential of the indigenous varieties and fermenting and maturing in tinajas (traditional clay amphora he was fortunate to still have a cellar full of) to make much more subtle elegant wines. The kind of wines that they used to make. This is one of them, made using a type of Garnacha that has red juice and flesh as well as skin, and local hero Mandó which keeps fresh in the heat. Minimal intervention in the cellar and minimal sulphur at bottling.