Utiel-Requena, the plateau of the Bobal

The territory: a plateau between 650 and 905 metres

Utiel-Requena is a plateau of about 1,800 km² inland from the province of Valencia, some 70 km from the sea, between 650 and 905 metres altitude and crossed by the Cabriel and Magro rivers. Nine municipalities make up the designation of origin: Camporrobles, Caudete de las Fuentes, Fuenterrobles, Requena, Siete Aguas, Sinarcas, Utiel, Venta del Moro and Villargordo del Cabriel.

The climate is Mediterranean with a strong continental influence: cold winters with frost risk, dry, hot summers, and a wide temperature swing between day and night. The average temperature is 13.9 °C in Requena and 12.2 °C in Utiel, with extremes ranging from several degrees below zero in winter to 40 °C in summer. Rainfall is scarce: about 400 litres a year on average (407 in Requena and 396 in Utiel), mostly in autumn and spring —October is on average the wettest month, with about 50 mm, and July the driest, with about 10— and there are around 2,700 hours of sunshine a year. According to the DOP, in the driest years rainfall can drop to 150 litres, and the average altitude is 720 metres. Hail and drought also occur.

The soil: limestone, pebbles and clay

The soils are mostly loamy and alkaline, with plenty of gravel and pebbles, high (total and active) lime content, and low levels of organic matter, phosphorus and magnesium. In the Magro river plain, alluvial soils predominate, and on the other side of the Sierra de la Torrubia, clay soils.

Geologist Antonio Yeves Ochando explains the origin of this soil: the region's crops —almost entirely vineyard— grow on a detrital formation of red marls with bands of sandstone and conglomerates, formed by erosion of the nearby ranges (mostly Cretaceous and Jurassic), with inputs of Triassic clays, sands and pebbles, and frequent layers of 'caliche' (calcareous crusts). According to the DOP, these soil features strongly influence the wines' aromatic qualities: in the whites, the calcareous character gives floral and white-fruit aromas and a freshness that comes from natural acidity. And since it rains little during ripening, the risk of fungal disease is very low, so the vine usually needs no treatments —a strong argument for natural wine.

Bobal, the house variety

The Bobal is Utiel-Requena's native, emblematic variety: it accounts for 63,5 % of the planted area, and 42,5 % of that Bobal is vineyards over 40 years old (DOP Utiel-Requena data, 2023). It's grown mostly as dry-farmed bush vines. Its reds tend to have an intense red colour and aromas of black and red fruit, with body and acidity; according to the DOP, high resveratrol levels have been detected in Bobal, attributed to the area's climate stress, though those studies are still ongoing. Get to know Bobal.

Alongside Bobal there's a very scarce native white, Tardana (Planta Nova), and also Macabeo y Merseguera. Projects such as Valora Bobal (since 2018, with the CSIC and the IVIA) work to preserve Bobal's diversity and select clones suited to today's climate.

The plateau's varieties in our wines

The Tren de Vida Wines range is a good way to try the area's varietal diversity. With Tardana there are El Príncipe Feliz y La Princesa Feliz (100 %), Alfa (95 %) y Tren (80%, with Bobal). The Bobal is in Tren and in Vida (10%). The Monastrell from Requena, at 900 metres, is the base for the rosé Alegria. The Macabeo from Siete Aguas, one of the designation's nine municipalities, gives Ulu and, with Moscatel, Un Mar de Dudas. And there's Royal, a residual variety of the area whose genetic identity is still to be confirmed, in small amounts in Alfa, Ultramarino y Movida.

Other young projects in the area, such as Ramones and El Regreso, work with the same varieties —Bobal and Tardana in one case, Tardana and Royal in the other— but aren't yet in our selection.

A plateau of cooperatives and growers

The designation covers 31,565 hectares of vineyard in production, 4,390 growers and 116 wineries, and is Spain's fifth-largest by registered area. The wine tradition is very old —there are amphora remains at the Iberian site of Kelin (Los Villares)— but the current structure grew out of smallholdings and cooperatives: according to rural sociologist Francisco Torres, in 1965 there were 36 cooperative wineries, more than 6,000 member growers and 95% of the vineyard, with production mostly sold in bulk.

That model has been changing: more bottling, more private wineries and, lately, more growers wanting to make wine with a character of their own. The number of people involved is also changing: between the 2018/19 and 2022/23 seasons, the registered area fell by 3.8% and the number of growers by 11.8%.

The organic plateau

Against this backdrop, the organic vineyard keeps growing: between 2015 and 2024 Utiel-Requena's organic area grew by around 116%, while the total registered area fell. The designation holds 79 % of the Valencian Community's certified organic vineyard and 91% of that of the province of Valencia, and 52 of the 123 Valencian organic winemakers (2023) are here.

Climate change is already noticeable —it moves growing stages earlier and heightens water and heat stress. According to the work of Celia Ripollés (Polytechnic University of Valencia, 2025/26), organic farming helps: it improves soil structure and boosts biodiversity, two key factors for the vine to withstand a drier, hotter climate.

Utiel-Requena and natural wine

In our view, Utiel-Requena is one of the Valencian areas with the most potential for natural wine and, at the same time, one of the least celebrated: there's altitude, dry farming, few vine diseases and plenty of old vines — exactly what a low-intervention wine calls for.

At Terroir Radical we work with Tren de Vida Wines: Sete Castro, a cook by training, makes wine in Venta del Moro with grapes from certified organic growers on the plateau (Las Monjas, Los Marcos, Siete Aguas) and from Chiva, with no additives or added sulphites.

More voices to come

Utiel-Requena has many growers who work with real standards. We want to bring more of them into Terroir Radical, but only those who meet our criteria —hand harvest, spontaneous fermentation and minimal sulphites— and want to tell their story. If you're a grower in the area and this sounds like you, write to us.

Sources

Specifications of the DOP Utiel-Requena (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 2023); data from the DOP Utiel-Requena (2023) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (2023), collected in the master's thesis of Celia Ripollés Vergara, Impacts of climate change on viticulture in the D.O. Utiel-Requena and assessment of organic production as an adaptive strategy (Polytechnic University of Valencia, 2025/26); Francisco Torres Pérez, “Glocalised” rurality. The Utiel-Requena wine region (Valencia) (University of Valencia, 2013); and Antonio Yeves Ochando, Geological aspects of the Requena-Utiel region and nearby areas of the Levante sector of the Castilian branch of the Iberian Range (Centro de Estudios Requenenses, 2000).

Producers of Utiel-Requena at Terroir Radical

The producers we work with who have their project in this territory: