Did you know that Almuñécar used to have its own variety of grape? Yup, it did, until in 1908 when the Grape-phylloxera plague wiped it out. Is nothing sacred?

The Almuñécar variety is almost a clone of the Alexandra moscatel and has a slightly elongated body. In 1807, wine egghead, (enologist) Simón de Roxas Clemente y  Rubio mentioned it in his book on Andalusian vines.

Anyway, back in 1908 when the bug wiped out our grapes, which coincided with sugar-cane prices dropping through the floor, lots of Almuñequeros packed up and buggered off in search of work.

Nowadays, Rio Verde valley is back on the wine map with Horacio Calvente’s excellent white wine; sought after by restaurants all over the world.

Bodega Calvente, situated eight kilometres above Almuñécar in Jete, started from scratch 15 years ago and has since, thanks to that delicious moscatel scent to it, barged to the front of the young white wines league.

They now produce about 150,000 bottles of different varieties a year, and even do tintos, but as long as there is at least a box of Calvente left for me, then I don’t begrudge New York restaurants the odd bottle.

(News/Culture: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)