Working from an 18th-century building set over ancient underground cellars, Mariano Taberner makes some of Valencia's most artisanal wines, including pet-nats from grapes most growers had written off.
Backstory
Bodegas Cueva sits in the DO Utiel-Requena, inland from the city of Valencia, in an 18th-century building set over ancient underground cellars. The site's winemaking history reaches back to the 1700s, while the current bodega was formally established in 2000. Mariano Taberner produces an average of around 20,000 bottles per year, keeping the operation small and hands-on.
The Region
Utiel-Requena is a high plateau west of Valencia, traditionally the homeland of the Bobal grape. Its elevation and continental swings between hot days and cool nights help preserve acidity and freshness, while the Mediterranean influence rounds out the fruit. It is one of Spain's most important sources of old-vine Bobal.
Vineyards & Farming
Cueva works with organically certified vineyards, including centenarian vines, and Taberner was an early adopter of organic certification through the Comité de Agricultura Ecológica de la Comunidad Valenciana, making him a pioneer of organic wine in the Valencia region. Biodiversity and the long-term vitality of the vineyard guide the farming.
Winemaking
The cellar work is deliberately minimalist, carried out in the least interventionist way possible. Fermentations run on native yeasts, the sparkling wines are made by the ancestral method as pet-nats, and sulfur is kept low throughout. The wines rest in the estate's old underground cellars, the caves that give the bodega its name.
The Wines
Grapes include Bobal, Tempranillo, Tardana, Macabeo, Xarel-lo and Moscatel. The range features ancestral sparkling wines such as a Xarel-lo Macabeo and a Bobal pet-nat, plus the Tardana-based sparklers, an orange Utiel-Requena, and still reds and whites that all carry the imprint of the Mediterranean plateau. Across the lineup, Taberner channels the character of inland Valencia through low-intervention, terroir-driven wines.
