Editor’s Note: If you remember, a little while back, Ryan reviewed the book “Valencia, Land of Wine“, written by Joan C. Martin and translated and edited by John Maher. While, in Valencia, we asked John how he felt about writing the occasional piece for us on Valancian wine, being our resident expert and all. And to our great surprise, he agreed. You’ll see from his elegant prose and witty humor that our choice was a good one! We are very happy to have him join us and suggest you check out his profile on our “About” page for more information.

That said, his piece today is a request on my part to have him share his knowledge on the native Valencian grape, Vernil, as a reaction to a rather blah experience we had while in Valencia. Although Vernil had a nice aromatic nose, we found the palate to be a touch empty, lacking in both body and acidity. So I tried to do a little research on the grape to see if others were having the same experience, when I came across John’s description of Verdil on his website, Wines of Valencia. The proverbial light bulb went off, and it suddenly occurred to me that there would be no better person to tackle this subject than John.

John, thanks and welcome aboard!

The wine reference books I have to hand don’t have much to say about the Verdil grape. The “Oxford Companion to Wine” says it makes “rather neutral wine” in Yecla and the southernmost part of Valencia, while my much-thumbed “Dictionary of Drink” says incorrectly that it is grown in the Alicante region. …

Don’t even tell me that you didn’t think “Orange!! Orange!!” If you’ve ever been a kid in the USA, you are well aware of the famous Valencian orange. Like Kleenex, Q-tips and Chiquita bananas, the name has been embedded in our heads related as a juicy, sweet fruit. However, I would suspect that the majority of people have zero idea where this city is located? I can admit, with my tail between my legs, that I honestly believed that Valencian oranges were from Venezuela as a child. I figured that because much of our fruit came from South America, this one was no different, and the name itself derived from a city deep in the jungles of the country. Shows you how well I was taught geography in Chicago.

So today, allow me to give you a quick recap of our trip, before we provide you with some deeper studies on the area.

Where is Valencia?
The political region of Valencia is located just south of Catalunya on the eastern coast just north of Murcia in Spain. Within this political region you also have the Denominacion of Valencia containing several vineyards that are all in Valencia province but are generally at least 30 km inland and often tucked within pocketed valleys. There are four subzones within DO Valencia, but I’ll get more into the regional wine information in a future article. For now, what I’d rather focus on is Valencia’s wide diversity and beautiful scenery.

Boats, Cars, Fruit and Fireworks
This was my first trip to Valencia, and hopefully, not my last. A city filled with sleek modern white architecture such as the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences) and the Museo Príncipe …