This is what Bobal is really made for: red wine. Utiel-Requena sits at around 720 metres on average, a plateau inland from Valencia with hot summers, cold winters and cool nights. For the Negro, Vicente Gandía picks its highest vineyards and lets each vine carry less than a kilo of grapes. Fewer grapes, more flavour in each one.

Character

The grapes first spend four ice-cold days on their skins, then ferment and soak for another ten days. Half of the wine then goes into lightly toasted French oak for a year, the other half doesn't. That way it keeps its fruit but gains roundness and a warm, slightly smoky edge. Deep in colour, full on the palate, and at 14% no lightweight.

Tasting notes

• Colour — intense red with a violet rim.
• Nose — broom, red fruit, toffee and a light smoky note.
• Palate — full and round, with the warmth of the oak.

How I serve it

At 16 to 18 °C. Feel free to give it half an hour in a decanter; it only gets rounder.

• With a slow-cooked beef stew or braised oxtail.
• With a rib-eye or lamb chops off the barbecue.
• With arroz al horno, Valencia's oven-baked rice with sausage and chickpeas.
• With a board of chorizo, Manchego and a few walnuts.

What to do with it

The Negro is the bottle I take to a winter dinner: a Spaniard that isn't Rioja, from a region your hosts probably don't know, in that eye-catching round bottle. If you really want to impress, give all three Bobals together — Blanco, Rosa and Negro, one grape in three colours.

Origin & facts

• Grape — 100% Bobal, selected from high-altitude vineyards
• Origin — DOP Utiel-Requena, Spain
• Alcohol — 14% vol
• Volume — 75 cl
• Winemaking — harvested mid-October, under 1 kilo of grapes per vine; four days of cold soak at 3 °C, fermented at 26 °C and another ten days on the skins; half goes through malolactic fermentation and 12 months in lightly toasted French oak
• Producer — Vicente Gandía, Chiva (Valencia), winemakers since 1885
• Allergens — contains sulphites