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THE PLEASURE OF GOOD EATING

In recent years Valencian catering and restaurateuring has made great strides forward. In the most unimaginable places- sometimes hidden away in villages of the interior, or next door to a tourist resort along the coast one can find restaurants with a style of their own, offering quality products, practising modern Mediterranean cuisine and sometimes delving into the adventure of the


avant-garde, but always faithful to their roots, making extraordinarily chromatic, picturesque and convincingly healthy dishes. There are many fine examples of the way the new generation of Valencian cooks respond to demand using new techniques, lots of imagination and benefiting from their deep knowledge of the region's raw materials. This is part of the culinary richness of the Land of Valencia, where regional recipes are an important source of inspiration for professionals involved in the culinary field. The progress being made in Valencian restaurateuring is so notable that certain geographical areas have numerous establishments with star listings in fine gastronomy guidebooks. In addition to restaurants, there are many attractive tapa bars offering freshly made snacks and appetisers. Alicante is known as one of the best tapa areas in Spain in view of the quality of its raw materials, where the Spanish ritual of tapa eating reaches sublime levels.

Tasteful Mediterranean cooking in the Land of Valencia is very much alive today, bringing new delights each year. Here cooking harmoniously combines pleasure and health in equal proportions. If you know the places to go for gastronomic secrets, eating can become a true fiesta in this region.


VALENCIA WINES - INCREASING QUALITY

In Valencian gastronomy the role of wine is no less important than that of food, with regional wines increasing their quality substantially in recent years. White wines, red wines, roses and sweet wines come from three officially recognised denominations of origin Alicante, Utiel-Requena and Valencia to which the wine-growing areas of Beniarres, north of Alicante, and Sant Mateu, in Castellon province, can be added. Using monastrell and tempranillo grapes, to which other varieties such as cabernet-sauvignon, merlot and syrah have been added, Alicante province manages to achieve very straightforward, fruity wines with medium bodies and outstanding tannin levels. There is a famous Alejandria muscatel wine, some very pleasing white wines, either dry or sweet, and fragrant fruity wines. Modern sweet muscatels from La Marina Alta are the pride of the district. Another quality Alicante wine is called Fondillon, a typical old maderised white wine with a high alcohol content, rich and red in its early stages but turning amber following barrel maturation, made from grapes drenched by the sun and held up on cane supports, some of which are also ideal as

dessert grapes. The roses are balanced and fresh, with an agreeable flavour, and the reds have medium full bodies, savoury and elegant with all the characteristics of the finest Spanish wines.