For those who know me, even a little, it must be quite surprising that I haven’t yet written a post on wine for this blog.  Usually, you can’t get me to stop talking about wine.

I guess the problem is that I’ve been too busy drinking the stuff and not diligent enough to share the little that I have managed to learn about local wines.  It just seems so daunting to start on the subject for the very reason that I have SO much to say about it.

For a (hopefully) interesting look at a local grape variety, Bobal, you can see an article that I wrote for Catavino here.  It’s a start…

But you’ll have to wait at least a few days for me to even begin to start thinking about describing the experience of a wine tasting that Katie and I were lucky enough to attend this morning, thanks to a tip-off from local wine expert and publisher of the Wines of Valencia website, John Maher.

We weren’t able to sample all 26 wines on offer, but we did a pretty good job for non-professionals starting well before noon.  (Non-professionals who aren’t really comfortable spitting in public, I might add.) Details about some of the wines we tried, the store - Las Añadas de España - that hosted the event etc. will follow soon, but for now let me just say what a positive experience it was.  The pretension and stiffness that many associate with wine functions (and that we have experienced ourselves many times) was entirely absent.  Smiles and affable conversation always go well with wine.

Of course my experience of Valencia’s wine scene goes beyond this event - we have been here for a month now.  I should have much more to share, and I do, but find myself feeling uncharacteristically trepidatious about where it might lead.  It’s a very similar feeling to the one that I get when I reach for yet another bottle of wine to open well after our dinner guests have finished their meal and might be considering heading home for the night: is it too much?  I don’t want to be the one to cross the line of moderation and yet I don’t want our guests to feel deprived.  When it comes to exploring the local wine offering in Valencia I similarly fear opening up a topic that may very well refuse to be re-corked.

Yet, despite these reservations, I can see that now is the time to begin.  I vow to start sharing the interesting finds that I am coming across and to keep any and all interested in learning about this region’s viticultural past and present as informed and entertained as I can.

Stay tuned…