Fondillón Alicante: an ancient wine on the silver screen

I still remember the first time I heard the name Fondillón. A friend from Alicante mentioned it almost in a whisper, as if it were a secret reserved for the initiated. “A wine even kings used to drink,” he added. It sounded like a myth — until I discovered that Fondillón truly exists, and is in fact one of the most extraordinary wines in Spain.

In the lead-up to this Wine Month, Enrique García Albelda, sommelier at BonAmb, tipped us off that there’s even a film dedicated to Fondillón Alicante.

A wine with centuries of history

Fondillón is not a wine you’ll casually find on the shelves. It’s made from the Monastrell grape, native to this stretch of the Mediterranean. The grapes are left hanging on the vine extra long, until they become overripe and develop concentrated sugars. It doesn’t work every year — and that makes production rare.

What follows is a process of endless patience. The wine ages for at least ten years in enormous, centuries-old oak barrels — often the very same casks that have stood for generations in the bodegas of Alicante. In silence, in the dark, without haste. The result is a wine that, through the centuries, became famous among royal courts and writers, and placed Alicante firmly on the world map.

The film: time as a luxury

It’s precisely that patience and history that take centre stage in the short film Fondillón, El tiempo es un lujo — Time is a Luxury. The film about Fondillón Alicante was nominated for the Málaga Film Festival and portrays how this wine embodies the cultural heritage of the region.

(The text continues below the video)

More than a glass of wine

For me, this film shows above all that wine in Spain is always more than just a drink. It’s culture, heritage, and a story passed down through generations of families. Fondillón may well be the finest example of that: rare, precious, but above all a symbol of patience and tradition.

And as I write this, I know that later this month there will also be space in Gusto to focus on wine and gastronomy. But today, in Viva Cultura, it’s about the other side — how a glass of wine can be a source of inspiration for film, art and history.

This story is part of the
The Sound Of The Costa Wine Month
. Throughout the month, Costa Lifestyle’s features focus on wine — in collaboration with Grupo BonAmb.

Image: still from the film Fondillón, El tiempo es un lujo