DO Valencia

Where it is

DO Valencia spreads across much of the province of Valencia, mostly in the hills and valleys inland from the city. The city’s port has a long history of shipping wine abroad. Two neighbours have DOs of their own: Utiel-Requena, on the high plateau to the west, and Alicante, to the south.

The DO has four sub-zones. Alto Turia is the high hill country of the upper Turia valley, in the north-west. Valentino, in the centre, is the largest and makes a bit of everything. Moscatel de Valencia, a group of villages west and south-west of the city, is home to the sweet Moscatel. Clariano, in the south, makes reds and whites.

Landscape and climate

Near the coast, the climate is classic Mediterranean: hot, dry summers and mild winters. Inland and higher up, it is cooler, with a bigger gap between warm days and cool nights. Those cool nights help grapes keep their freshness, the lively, mouth-watering side of a wine, which is one reason Alto Turia, the highest sub-zone, is known for crisp whites. Sun-loving Monastrell prefers the warmer spots.

Grapes and wines

DO Valencia makes almost every style, so check the grape and style on the label.

Whites are usually crisp and dry. Merseguera, the traditional local grape, is light and discreet, often herbal, with a hint of almond. Macabeo, Malvasía and dry Moscatel (all grapey perfume, no sugar) are common too.

Rosados (rosé) tend to be fresh and fruity. Reds run from juicy and young to deeper and oak-aged, often from Monastrell, Garnacha Tintorera (whose juice, unusually, is red too), Tempranillo or Syrah, alone or blended.

The classic sweet wine is Moscatel de Valencia. Wine alcohol is added to freshly pressed Moscatel juice, which stops it from fermenting and keeps the grapes’ sweetness. That makes it a vino de licor; in Valencia the style is traditionally called mistela. Expect a golden wine that smells like a bunch of ripe grapes, with orange blossom and honey.

A few producers are also reviving old local grapes: Verdil (white), Mandó and Forcallat (reds).

At the table

Valencian cooking revolves around rice, vegetables and the sea.

• Paella valenciana, rice with chicken, rabbit, flat green beans and garrofó (butter beans), with saffron and no seafood: a fresh rosado, a crisp white or a light, young red.
• All i pebre, the Albufera’s eel and potato stew with garlic and paprika: a dry rosado or a Merseguera.
• Esgarraet (roasted red pepper torn into strips with salt cod, garlic and olive oil) or steamed clóchinas, small local mussels in season from late spring into summer: a crisp, chilled white.
• Arròs al forn, oven-baked rice with pork, morcilla (black pudding), chickpeas, potato and a head of garlic: a red, such as a Monastrell.
• Moscatel de Valencia with turrón (almond nougat), pastries or fruit desserts. It is stronger than most table wines (usually 15% vol or more), so it comes in small glasses.

Big, oaky reds rarely suit rice dishes: heavy oak and the drying grip of tannin tend to flatten the saffron. Not drinking alcohol? Horchata, Valencia’s cold, milky tiger-nut drink, is a local classic.

Good to know

• A DO guarantees where the grapes come from and that the wine followed the area’s rules. It does not guarantee a taste.
• The official list of authorised grapes and the sub-zone borders are kept by the DO’s regulatory council, the Consejo Regulador, and change over time. The grapes on this page are ones you will often meet, not the full list.
• Moscatel alone won’t tell you whether a wine is sweet: look for dulce, mistela or vino de licor for sweet, seco for dry.
• Styles vary a lot between producers, so treat these notes as a starting point. For the rest of Spain, see the list of DOs.