As a consequence, this terroir offers some very suggestive whites, rosés and reds, be they young or aged wines, which surprise and delight even the most sophisticated palates for their quality, balance and aroma as well as their intense flavour and colour. Moscatel de Alicante or Fondillón, not to be forgotten.

Thanks to the winemaking methods and the selection of the grapes, young wines are notable for their freshness, their fruity character and their floral aromas, being a true reflection of the vine’s authenticity and the grape’s flavours. The crianzas and reservas, made from traditional varieties or coupages of foreign varieties, represent the triumph of diversity and imagination, giving rise to wines with a marked Mediterranean character where their acquired wood nuances fuse in a balanced harmony with the fruit’s primary aromas.

Moscatel de Alicante, also known as ‘mistela’, is a sweet Muscat liqueur wine, made from the Moscatel de Alejandría (Muscat of Alexandria) variety grown in the Marina Alta region. Proximity to the sea and the humidity the vines obtain from the breeze give this variety its uniqueness. The traditional winemaking process affords a sweet, unctuous wine, with distinctive aromatic qualities as well as a bright and clean aspect in which a wide range of colours are present; from straw yellow to the darkest amber.

Fondillón, a name exclusive to DO Alicante and one of the five luxury wines acknowledged by the EU, is made from the Monastrell variety, over-ripened on the vine and aged for many years, (usually a minimum of 10), in oak casks according to the region’s traditional winemaking process.

Furthermore, together with the more classic-style wines, in recent decades a lot of encouragement has gone behind making single-plot, signature and high profile wines.

Thanks to this, and last year’s good weather, DO Alicante wine bottling reached all-time highs: 10 million bottles, of which a third is sold on foreign markets, mainly in EU countries and the US.

As to the future, DO Alicante’s Regulating Council aims to invest in strengthening its wines’ presence on the local and domestic markets as well as increasing international sales, and improving the wines’ quality and personality; a key marketing and image factor. However, investment in ecotourism as well as marketing for Fondillón on all fronts is also on the agenda.