Uva de Mesa Embolsada del Vinalopó
The grape that gets hand-covered with a paper bag while it ripens on the vine, a technique documented in Novelda since 1919 and which today protects the only table grape in the world with Protected Designation of Origin status.
💡 Local tip: It's sold mainly in winter, timed to the twelve grapes eaten at midnight on New Year's Eve; look for the bunch still wearing its paper bag as a mark of origin.
A resident of the Vinalopó valley, Manuel Bonmatí Abad, had the idea of protecting each bunch with a paper bag closed at the stem and open at the bottom, shielding the grapes from direct sun, pests and knocks while they ripen on the vine. Records of the practice in Novelda go back to 1919.
The technique spread through the towns of the Medio Vinalopó and Campo de Alicante areas, and in 1996 the European Union granted Protected Designation of Origin status to the uva de mesa embolsada del Vinalopó, made from the Aledo and Ideal varieties. It remains, to this day, the only table grape in the world protected under this label.
The bagging is done by hand, bunch by bunch, at the start of ripening in June and July, and it's why these thin-skinned, translucent grapes are the ones eaten at midnight on New Year's Eve in many Spanish households.
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