A friend from England asked me recently: “Has wine basically become part of your interior by now?”I laughed — not because it was exaggerated, but because it was actually quite true. Here, wine is quite literally part of life — not just in the glass, but in the way you live in your home. And that might be the most beautiful lesson life on the Costas teaches you: you don’t […]

This guest article by Juan Martínez Barberá tells the story of Aliats – a project that shows how sustainable wine and bats work hand in wing to create a new balance between nature and viticulture. In October, evening falls early over Fontanars dels Alforins, an hour inland from the Costa Blanca. The region – often called the Valencian Tuscany – is known for its rolling hills and vineyards. Above the […]

When I still lived in England, a glass of wine was reserved for special occasions — a dinner, a birthday, or one of those evenings when you felt you’d earned it (after three hours of wrestling with London’s public transport, for example). Here in southern Spain, I learned something entirely different: wine isn’t a reward. It’s part of the rhythm — a ritual. Sunday lunch: wine as the beating heart […]

Some journeys begin without you even realising it. A glass of wine, the scent of earth, a name on a label — and suddenly you’re on your way. As I travel along Spain’s ancient wine routes, I’m struck by how wine here isn’t just something to drink, but something to experience. It travels with history, winds through time and landscape, and tells along the way what words sometimes cannot. The […]

When I still lived in London, the word “winery” made me think of rows of bottles in a cellar that smelled faintly of damp cardboard. That changed when, in my twenties, I first stepped into a bodega in Andalusia: a cool hall with vaulted ceilings, thick stone walls and that magical play of light and shadow. That’s when it hit me — a bodega isn’t a storage space; it’s a […]