38.68° N · 0.22° W · Guadalest and the Guadalest Valley
In Benimantell, down the valley from the castle, the Vidal Balaguer family has replanted vines on an estate that already had vines in 1237. You visit the winery, taste its four wines with the house oil and, if there is time, have lunch with pairings.
Part of Guadalest and the Guadalest ValleyUnusual places to stay in Spain
Who offers it
Independent companies: you book with them, on their terms. Prices are as they publish them and may change.
Step by step
Enter at opening through the Casa Orduña and climb the keep.
History of Mas de Ondara, the vineyard and the winery.
With produce from the valley and Oro de Masos oil. Between visit and tasting, an hour and a half.
The reservoir kayak or Les Fonts de l'Algar, if someone else drives.
The Vall de Guadalest had vines for centuries and lost them overnight. MASOS is the attempt to recover them, and it is in the same valley as the castle.
MASOS is at Mas de Ondara, an estate of 353 hectares in Benimantell, in the same valley as the Castell de Guadalest. It was a Muslim alquería and already appears in the Llibre del Repartiment of Jaume I, of 1237, which mentions the cultivation of the vine. It was a Morisco alquería until the expulsion of 1609, and after the repopulation it passed through the families that shaped the valley, the Cardona and the Orduña: the same ones as the Casa Orduña and the castle. Today the estate keeps a farmhouse with its own winery and a chapel, among centuries-old olive trees.
In 1759 the botanist Cavanilles described the valley's extensive vineyards. In 1905 phylloxera reached the Alicante vineyards, destroyed them and drove many locals to emigrate. A century later, the Vidal Balaguer family opened the winery, restored four farmhouses with their estates and planted more than five hectares of vines following the contour lines of the mountain.
The winery makes a white, Mas de la Mona; a rosé, Penya del Castellet; a red, Albor de Masos, and a selection red that bears the family name, Vidal Balaguer. It also bottles an extra virgin olive oil, Oro de Masos. The visit goes through the tank room and the barrel room of the farmhouse.
They are bought on its website, where it also sells gift cards from €25, or ordered on 965 295 577 and at [email protected]. It sells wine to over-18s.
The 12:00 visit fits after the castle, which opens at 10:15: castle first thing, before the coach parties from the coast, and the winery at midday. If you do the pairing menu, you already have the day's lunch. The website links the estate's location on the map; confirm it when you book, because it does not publish a postal address.
Who it's for
What to bring
Map
What you have around the starting point.
More to do
Itineraries
Tips
For ten euros more than the simple tasting you see the winery and try the fourth wine, the selection one.
The pairing menu has a children's menu at €35.
Oro de Masos is sold in its online shop, as are the wines.
Questions
On the Mas de Ondara estate, in Benimantell, in the Vall de Guadalest.
The three-wine tasting, €25; the winery visit with a tasting of four wines and oil, €35; the pairing menu, €95 with drinks.
The visit with tasting, an hour and a half.
Yes, the 16:30 one. The 12:00 one is in Spanish.
Yes, on its website or on 965 295 577.
A white, Mas de la Mona; a rosé, Penya del Castellet; a red, Albor de Masos, and a selection red, Vidal Balaguer.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/valencian-community/guadalest-and-the-guadalest-valley/things-to-do/masos-winery-tasting
