Dénia
Alicante/Alacant · Valencian Community
DO Alicante47.261inhabitants
70 BCfirst mention
600 BCwine documented
A coastal town in the north of the Marina Alta (Alicante), at the foot of the Montgó. It was the Roman Dianium, Sertorius's naval base in the 1st century BC, probably on top of an earlier Iberian settlement, and in Islamic times the capital of the taifa of Daniya.
First mention: Cicero, Verrines II.1.87 (70 BC): “usque ab Dianio ad Sinopam navigaverunt”, in connection with the Sertorian fleet. Strabo (Geography III.4.6) later mentions it as Dianium and identifies it with Hemeroskopeion.
The legend
late 7th - first half of the 6th century BC (destruction level 600-560 BC)The wine presses of the Alt de Benimaquia, cradle of Iberian wine
On the slopes of the Montgó, above Dénia, a walled settlement of the late 7th century BC held something unusual for its time: several plastered basins where grapes were trodden and the must ran along a channel into a trough. The archaeologists who excavated it in the 1990s recovered thousands of cultivated grape pips there, together with native amphorae imitating Phoenician ones. In other words, the inhabitants of the area no longer merely bought the wine brought by Phoenician merchants: they made it themselves, and in quantities large enough to trade. That is why Benimaquia is cited as one of the earliest wine-producing sites on the Iberian Peninsula. Centuries later, the Roman port of Dianium went on exporting wine, and in the 19th century the moscatel of the Marina enriched the city through the raisin trade.
Alive today: Dénia belongs to the DOP Alicante, in the La Marina subzone, where moscatel de Alejandría dominates the vineyard. At the foot of the Montgó, next to the site, works the Les Freses bodega (Jesús Pobre), which makes dry and sweet moscatels and even amphora wines. The district celebrates Moscatel Day every year, and the archaeological site is open to visitors.
Wineries and their wines
Nico & Pepe Viticultura Mediterránea
- Àmfora
- Cupertino
- Dolç
- La Rectoria
- Les Freses
- Rosa
- Tallaruques
- Xiulit
Wine towns nearby