Sax
Alicante/Alacant · Valencian Community
DO Alicante10.346inhabitants
1239first mention
1517wine documented
A town of the Alto Vinalopó at the foot of its castle, conquered in 1239 by Aragonese knights of Calatrava and Castilian after Almizra; part of the province of Alicante since 1836.
First mention: In 1239 Artal de Alagón died attacking Sax; at the end of that year the knights of Calatrava, together with James I, conquered the town.
The legend
vineyards in H. Colón's Cosmography, c. 1517; aguardientes in Madoz 1845–50; winery quarter beside the railway, 1859The “fine valley of vines” that Hernando Colón saw
Around 1517 Hernando Colón, the admiral's son, travelled through Spain for his Description and Cosmography, and passing through Sax he noted a town of 160 households with a “fine valley of vines and irrigated gardens”. Three centuries later Madoz recorded wine, cereals and oil in the town, and no fewer than four aguardiente distilleries. With the Madrid–Alicante railway, in 1859, a quarter grew up around the station on the other side of the Vinalopó that attracted wineries and workshops. In that Barrio Estación stands today the Bodega Cooperativa San Blas, which sells its wines and oils under the name of the castle of Sax. Colón's remark is a documented fact, although here it is known through Wikipedia.
Alive today: La Bodega Cooperativa San Blas, in the Barrio Estación (“Castillo de Sax”), and dry-farmed vines behind the olive and almond trees; mistela is part of the local gastronomy.
Wineries and their wines
Wine towns nearby