Frona Eunice wrote one of the first books on Californian wine, but her life was fascinating and multi-faceted. From a harsh frontier childhood and teenage marriage and motherhood, she became a celebrated authoress and “Club Woman”. She was a Californian whose personal trajectory embodied that of the state itself from “Gold Rush” scrabbling to sedate grandeur.

WTQ is by subscription only, so you have an excuse for not reading the article. For those who care to discover more about the remarkable Frona, I’m making the PDF available here Frona Eunice Wait: “Herculean Deeds of Worthwhile Achievement”.

The event was held at the 8th floor restaurant of the El Corte Inglés on Av. Francia, with its terrace overlooking the Ciutat de les Arts i de les Ciències.  There was a worrying array of men in suits at the head table, but their speeches were short, impassioned (in the case of the heads of Valencia’s 3 Denominaciones de Origen: Alicante, Utiel-Requena and Valencia), and some were very funny – the guy from the Academia de Gastronomía de la Comunidad Valenciana. It was good to see Joan’s 30 years of devotion to the cause of Valencian wine, both as wine writer and winemaker, being celebrated. The West Indian intellectual C.L.R. James famously asked, “What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?”, and so it is with Joan that his writing goes beyond wine to span life and literature, wisdom and folly.

Joan Martín Book Launch Invitation

After the talks, the assembled company was invited out onto the terrace to enjoy some of the wines mentioned in the book. I wasn’t able to do the rounds, as I had been called by Bodega Primitivo Quiles (the Comunitat’s oldest winery) to say that they weren’t able to make it and could I lend a hand and look after their stand. I was delighted to do this, as I love their classically traditional wines and I have a lot of kindnesses to repay them.

After wrestling with the pull-up banner I saw that in addition to the 3 wines they had said they’d provide – their sweet Moscatel “Extra Extra”, the moderni-style Monastrell-Merlot “Roble”, their eternal Monastrell “Raspay” Reserva – the delivery company had mistakenly left 6 bottles of their historic Fondillón Gran Reserva Solera 1948. I was a bit nervous about opening this liquid treasure, but the public is no fool, and they made a beeline for these bottles. Some had never tried the region’s unique wine, and having heard Joan refer to it as the embodiment and pinnacle of the region’s ancient wine tradition, now was their chance.

We have several Russian friends visiting, who have a discerning sweet tooth, and the dark, golden, luscious “Extra Extra” hit their collective spot.

One woman offered to marry me, mistakenly thinking I was Primitivo Quiles in person and could get her a lifetime’s supply of the Raspay, I had to confess that I was an impostor but that she could get hold of the wine, for under 7 euros a bottle, at Bodegas Santander‘s two outlets in Valencia.

I didn’t even have to carry the remaining bottles, as Sergei used to work in a  circus throwing hefty Russian acrobats and Russo-Californian sun-worshipper Greg Orduyan, when not creating amazing computer animation, is to be found doing press-ups on the beach, and they insisted on carrying everything. I held the banner ahead of them, though.

A great event, and I was sorry not to reacquant myself with the wines of the other bodegas, listed below (apologies to any I’ve missed out):

Dominio de la Vega

Finca San Blas

Heretat de Cesilia

Vicente Gandia

La Casa de las Vides

Chozas Carrascal

Hoya del Castillo

Coviñas

Vegalfaro

Bocopa

Hispano-Suizas

Have just come back from shopping. Cigalas (crayfish, I think) to start, with a Rias Baixas Albari√±o (Se√±or√≠o de Sobral 2008) rather than a Valencian white, I’m afraid. This to be followed by a duck ‚Äì surprise preparation from Olga. I think this is a suitable occasion for bottle number 3,341 of the 5,001 made by Joan C. Mart√≠n of his historic Cordial Gran Reserva Millennium 1994 (DO Valencia, Tempranillo and Garnacha Tintorera), the wine from Joan’s late-lamented Companyia Valenciana de Vins i Espirituosos that blazed a trail for fine winemaking in the Comunitat Valenciana.

Pudding is going to be Portuguese custard tarts, courtesy of Not Quite Nigella, which we’ll try with the light Cristal·l√≠ Moscatel vino dulce natural from Vins del Comtat, and maybe contrast with the quite different sweet red (Garnacha) El Dulce from Chozas Carrascal.

Somewhere along the way we’ll enjoy a bottle of Artemayor Brut Nature cava from Dominio de la Vega.

But really it’ll be all about looking back together over a beautiful voyage, with a wondering eye on the horizon ahead.