Daniel Belda’s Little Shop of……..Wine

Tucked away in the tiny village of Fontanars near Onteniente is an Aladinn’s Cave for those who like a little wine to accompany their Arabian nights and days.

Fontanars barely boasts a mini supermarket and a bakery, and yet at the weekends wine lovers descend upon the town, visiting the surrounding vineyards and popping into Daniel Belda’s shop on the main (for want of a better word) street, there to discover how many things you didn’t realise that you needed.

Belda is the man who saved the Verdil grape from extinction, something for which I for one am grateful. This indigenous Valencian grape was on its last……vines when Belda plucked it back from the brink and now produces one of the best white wines you’re likely to find.

Such an achievement is more than enough to pardon some of the other stuff on sale in his shop, such as the multiple olive wood carvings that seem to be variations on an ashtray

or the selction of silly hats, lethal knives and frankly unappealing dolls.

The tiles seem amusing after a few glasses, but are hardy and it’s good to remember that if you buy one, you’ll have to live with the same amusing slogan pretty much forever.

The variations on a barrel are distracting enough to get you from the time you return from visiting a vineyard to the time that it’s reasonably late enough to turn up at the restaurant.

Fortunately, even if you don’t buy anything, the shop assistant’s cheery disposition makes the drive to Fontanars worthwhile, especially as the streets are wide and empty enough to reenact your favourite scene from High Noon.