#Aside from being an iconic example of art nouveau architecture in Valencia, and a national monument, Mercado de Colón is best known for its many fine restaurants. One of Mercado Colón’s fine eateries is ‘Mi Cub’, an open-air tapas bar and restaurant. Located on the first floor of the market, the gastronomic terrace serves high-quality bites and wines for reasonable prices. Today, we had the pleasure of visiting Mi Cub for the opening tasting of their latest collaborative project with Valencian wine distributor, Voravins.

Entitled ‘Vinos con Encanto de la Comunidad Valenciana’, this collaboration will give wine-lovers the opportunity to taste a new wine every 15 days throughout the year at Mi Cub. Each wine chosen represents specific grapes, and are presented by the wineries themselves.

Alicia Silvestre, director of Voravins, explained the reason for their wine selection: “We have selected our most characteristic Valencian grapes and within each of them, we have chosen the most representative wines. Our philosophy is to work with wineries with soul and are family-run, so we are very happy to present the wines at Mi Cub. Located in an emblematic place, it perfectly conveys the essence of wine and is the best showcase for this objective.”

For the opening tasting this February, we tried three wines from three different wineries, paired with delicious tapas from Mi Cub. The initial wine, a 2019 dry muscatel ‘Casa Diva Cosecha Dorada’ from the Gutierrez de la Vega family-run winery, was introduced by the owner Felipe Gutierrez de la Vega. After Felipe described the grape the wine is made from, we were served the tapas to pair with this delicious dry white. An oyster each, with a slice of lemon, over ice. The oyster paired wonderfully with the sharp white, which softened and warmed into a fruity aftertaste.

The second wine of the day was a 2020 Monastrell red from the Pepe Mendoza Casa Agrícola winery, introduced by Pepe Mendoza himself. Pepe described his philosophy of creating wines that are characteristic and representative of the place they come from, wines that don’t seem young and that position Valencian grapes at a level comparable with vintages worldwide. This complex red was served with the perfect crispy-outside and creamy-inside croqueta.

The final wine was introduced by winery founder Toni Sarrión of ecologically-minded Mustiguillo winery. Toni’s philosophy is that wines are a project of a lifetime, concentrated in a family, that reflect your own life. This red wine, La Garnacha, was sharp and light but built nicely in flavour. Served with a mini-beefburger with sesame brioche bun and caramelized onions, this pairing balanced each other perfectly.

In March, the protagonist will be the Muscatel grape represented by two wines from Alicante: Casta Diva Cosecha Dorada from the Gutiérrez de la Vega winery and Pepe Mendoza Casa Agrícola Blanco from the Pepe Mendoza Casa Agrícola winery. In April, the Monastrell grape will be the focus. The Pepe Mendoza Casa Agrícola winery will return with its wine Pepe Mendoza Casa Agrícola Tinto, alongside Tallaruques from the Alicante winery Les Freses. The month of May will give way to the Mandó grape and two representative wines of this variety, Les Prunes and Safrà by Celler del Roure, will be highlighted. Finally, in June, the merseguera grape will feature the wines Mestizaje and Finca Calvestra from Bodega Mustiguillo.

Report by Julia McGee-Russell

Article copyright ‘24/7 Valencia’

MI CUB

Mercado de Colón.

Calle Jorge Juan, 19

46004

València.

Website: https://micub.es/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiCubVlc

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MiCubVlc

VORAVINS

Website: https://voravins.es/bodega