Visit to the Celler del Roure winery in Valencian Tuscany

The winery is located in the municipality of Moixent, in the region of La Costera. It is located in the middle of nature, a few meters from the Iberian site of La Bastida de Les Alcusses and in the so-called Terres dels Alforins, a triangle formed by three towns: La Font de la Figuera (Fuentelahiguera), Moixent and Fontanars dels Alforins. In this environment the vineyards of 11 native wineries are concentrated, which have been grouped together to join forces and value the area. A natural space whose climatological characteristics, landscape and quality of the land, have made it worthy of the nickname of “Valencian Tuscany”.

History

El Celler del Roure, is a young winery that was born in 1996 as a personal project of the Calatayud family, and specifically of Pablo, who with the support of his family and Josep Lluís Pérez (Más Martinet winery), began as a small family winery with the will to grow, recover traditional production methods and ancient varieties of this historic wine-growing area (Les Alcusses, IV century B.C.).

At this moment they have 42 hectares of vineyards in property and another 36 hectares in lease on several plots of limestone soils (about 600 meters above sea level) in Moixent.

The space

As soon as we arrive, we are struck by how the buildings blend in with the environment, not giving the feeling of being in a modern winery. Also interesting is this outdoor space where you can sit and watch the vineyards quietly.

Next to the vineyards we can see a series of Almansa jars of 200 or 300 years and between 300 and 400 liters of capacity, which rest for now in the field.

But they will be part of the next stage of the winery. After having been collected from La Mancha wineries to replace them with steel containers and waiting for their turn to be placed on a base in the new underground cellars that have been excavated. As we have mentioned, the owner’s idea is to recover traditional production methods, and these jars are the bet of the winery, since the aromas of the mud is almost imperceptible, wanting to relegate the flavors of wood in the wine.

After going through the offices to pay for the visit. We wait for our guide to start the visit.

The winery-inn of Moixent

We start the visit by the oldest winery. The winery Celler del Roure acquired a few years ago the old winery-inn of Moixent. Built in the first half of the seventeenth century, it is an authentic heritage of the area.

It contains one hundred clay jars of between 1,000 and 3,000 liters, perfectly preserved where its “old” wines rest, at this time the rosé Les Prunes 2019 and the Cullerot 2020. The jars are embedded under the floor of a gallery, which was excavated in three different periods finally giving a U-shape. The lids of the jars close hermetically thanks to a pneumatic system.

The underground gallery

Then we go down to a newly built underground gallery, which has been made to store the wines in barrels. Apart from an open space, which served to clean the jars and barrels. But once built they realized that the space was ideal to be used as a small auditorium where they could host events and musical performances, the other great passion of the owner of the winery and that he has had to put aside, as well as his instrument, the euphonium.

Also interesting is to be able to see at the end of the gallery the large wooden doors of an old monastery, which have been recovered.

The tasting

After the visit, our gRupo stayed in the gallery to do the tasting and the other, went upstairs to the tasting room. Here we taste three wines, two whites and one red.

The wines they produce are of the monastrell variety within their collection of “classic wines” Maduresa and Les alcusses, aged in French oak barrels and foudres. They also produce four “old wines” Parotet, Safrá, Vermell and the white Cullerot. For this collection they use traditional minority grapes such as Mandó, Arcos, Garnacha tintorera, Verdil, Pedro Ximénez, etc. and raise them in the clay jars of the winery-inn.

After the visit, we went to eat at the restaurant El Pitxó (Moixent) located very close to the winery. In the middle of the countryside in a beautiful building. An ideal place to enjoy the local cuisine and disconnect from technology, since from here there is no mobile coverage, so you will not receive any WhatsApp while you eat.

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