Bobal

Bobal is Spain's second most planted red grape and one of its least exported. It belongs to Utiel-Requena, on the high inland edge of Valencia, where the vineyards sit between 600 and 900 metres and the nights stay cold. The name comes from the Latin for the head of a bull, which describes the shape of the bunch.

The grape holds acidity in heat better than almost anything else grown around it, and the skins are thick and darkly coloured. For decades that combination was treated as a raw material rather than a wine: Bobal was sold in bulk to add colour and freshness to paler blends elsewhere, or bled off early to make vast quantities of rosé. The vines were old, dry farmed and cheap, so nobody looked closely at them.

The reappraisal came late and is still going. Growers who pick Bobal ripe, handle the tannin gently and keep the oak in the background get a dark, savoury red with real acidity and a sour cherry and iron character. The old bush vines at altitude are the ones that matter. The wine is firm rather than plush, and it wants food.