What is so different about this sleepy village compared to any other in Spain? La Pobla del Duc, in the Vall de Albaida, is in the hinterland in the province of Valencia. A quaint town with cobbled narrow lanes, jaunty buntings and festive street lights, is once again holding “La Raima” or the “Battle of the Grapes” in late August. An unusual and little publicized festival, except to the Spanish.
Thousands of grapes are thrown in this festival, which is a legacy of a bizarre event upholding the area’s viticultural tradition, going back to the 1930s.
Five or more trucks distribute ninety tons of Garnacha Tintorera grapes among the participants. The Garnacha (and the Tempranillo) grapes are used to make full-bodied red wines. Much like the “La Tomatina”, the tomato-throwing festival in the town of Buñol, this is done with grapes instead. Basically, a free-for-all no holds barred grape-fight.
It sounded like a fabulous day out. On the day of the festival, we drove from our place, just outside Santa Pola, up through the hinterland. Passing villages on the hillsides, and orchards planted with lemons and sweet Valencian oranges, we made our way inland and occasionally interrupted pockets of almond growers, their harvest well in hand.
Soon, a sea of grapevines greeted us, ripening in the hot sun ... we’re getting closer to our destination. We arrived in Pobla del Duc, at 11:20 a.m. Just in time, we thought, for the start of the grape fight. It was about to commence at noon close to the Wine-Making Cooperative, on the edge of town. We parked and wondered where everyone was - almost deserted, other than seven trucks parked nearby in a row, fully loaded with luscious, black grapes—the ammunition, looking sweetly innocent.
