The Furniture Maker & the 100 Amphorae

The story of Celler del Roure begins not in a vineyard but in a furniture workshop. Pablo Calatayud was born into a family of furniture makers in Moixent (also known as Mogente), a village in the Clariano sub-zone of Valencia, tucked behind the Serra Grossa mountain range, roughly 70 miles southwest of the city of Valencia. The family had no history in wine — they worked in wood, not vines. But after completing his agronomy studies, Pablo became fascinated with the potential of his homeland's viticultural heritage. In the late 1990s, he and his father, Francisco (Paco) Calatayud, launched a wine project with a few tanks and barrels in a corner of the family furniture business. It was a humble beginning, but the intention was vast: to prove that Valencia could produce wines of genuine quality and identity.

Their first wines were made in tiny quantities — blends of Monastrell with international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and Petit Verdot. These were the grapes of choice in the area at the time, and the wines found success both in Valencia and abroad. Pablo's early wines were far superior to anything else being made in the region, and they quickly attracted the attention of local sommeliers. "Valencia has wonderful culinary traditions and restaurants," Pablo explains, "but for a long time there was no Valencian wine on restaurant wine lists. I had to change this." Yet as Pablo travelled more widely — tasting, learning, and absorbing the wines of Europe — he realised that the path of international varieties and new oak was not the one that would reveal Valencia's true potential. He was heading down the wrong road, and he knew it.

The turning point came when Pablo met a local grower who was using his Mandó vines for simple, homemade everyday wine. Mandó — a local red variety that was nearly extinct — stood out for its freshness compared to other local grapes. Pablo was captivated. He began grafting his Tempranillo and Merlot vines with Mandó, seeking out old vineyards of the variety, and eventually included it in the blend of his top red, Maduresa. "If one farmer had 300 kilos of Mandó, I paid him with 600 of something else in order to get the finest fruit," Pablo recalls. This was the beginning of a radical shift: from international varieties to indigenous ones, from modern cellar techniques to ancient practices, from a generic style to a deeply local one.

In 2006, the family bought a 17th-century estate in Moixent with 40 hectares under vine. The property included an ancient underground cellar with around 100 earthenware jars — tinajas — buried in the earth. A couple of years later, Pablo and his father began experimenting with them, maturing some of their wines in these clay vessels. They were astonished to discover that the amphorae imparted no flavour, allowing the wines to express remarkable freshness and purity. This was the beginning of the Vins Antics line — a completely new range of wines made from indigenous varieties and aged in the ancient cellar, identified by the image of a dragonfly. Today, the team includes Pablo, his father Paco, winemakers Javier Revert and Paco Senis, and a dedicated crew who farm the estate by hand. Pablo is also a proud member of Futuro Viñador, a pioneering group of producers including Telmo Rodríguez, Pepe Raventós, and José Maria Vicente, who are transforming the Spanish wine scene by championing old vines and indigenous varieties.

The guiding philosophy of Pablo Calatayud is expressed in a single conviction: indigenous varieties, treated properly, can create wines of wonderful quality, freshness, and concentration. Pablo is a pioneer — the earliest and most vocal proponent of Mandó, a Valencian red grape that was on the edge of extinction, and a champion of other forgotten varieties like Arcos, Forcallà, Verdil, Tortosina, and Merseguera. His approach has evolved from the modern, technology-driven winemaking of his early years to a style that is increasingly minimal, intuitive, and respectful of tradition. Today, he is committed to minimal intervention: certified organic farming, hand harvest, indigenous yeasts, low sulfur, no fining, no filtration, and an increasing use of whole-cluster fermentation, which he finds produces more refined, savoury wines.

The methodology splits into two distinct but complementary paths: Vins Clàssics and Vins Antics. For the Vins Clàssics — Les Alcusses, Maduresa, and 16 Gallets — grapes are hand-harvested and fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks or stone lagars, then aged in French oak barrels and foudres. These are the more "modern" wines of the estate, though still made with minimal intervention and an increasing proportion of whole clusters. For the Vins Antics — Cullerot, Vermell, Safrà, and Parotet — the process is deliberately ancient: hand-harvested grapes are fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel or stone lagars, then transferred to the buried tinajas in the subterranean cellar for aging. The amphorae, which hold between 600 and 2,800 litres, impart no flavour — they simply allow the wine to evolve with gentle micro-oxygenation and perfect thermal stability, preserving the freshness and purity that Pablo seeks.

The special cuvées are made with the same care and attention to place. Cullerot — the name means "tadpole" in Valencian — is a white blend that changes its makeup according to the year, typically including Macabeo, Tortosina, Malvasía, Verdil, Merseguera, Pedro Ximénez, and sometimes Chardonnay. Pablo had to search far and wide to find growers willing to farm these old white varieties, paying them per hectare to ensure quality. After a short maceration, the wine goes into the tinajas for around six months. Vermell blends Monastrell, Garnacha Tintorera, and Mandó. Safrà is a Mandó-based blend with Arcos. Parotet is an Arcos-based blend with Mandó. Les Filles d'Amàlia — named after Pablo's mother — are a direct pressing of Mandó made as both a still rosé and a sparkling wine, capturing the joyous, lighter side of the variety. La Pebrella, the top wine, is a tribute to two of Pablo's employees, made from Arcos and Forcallà — old, forgotten varieties that lend the wine a lively, energetic punch.

The cellar is a study in contrasts: above ground, a modern, minimalist facility with stainless steel and French oak; below ground, a 17th-century cavern lined with 100 ancient amphorae, stone channels carved into the bedrock, and the quiet darkness of centuries. There is no consultant recommending corrective enzymes, no recipe that overrides the vintage, no pressure to produce polished, sterile bottles. There is only Pablo, the 60 hectares, the indigenous varieties, and the patience to let each wine take the time it needs — whether that is six months in a tinaja or several years in a foudre. The result is a portfolio of wines that are honest, precise, and alive — wines that have earned a place on the wine lists of discerning restaurants and shops from Valencia to New York. As Robert Parker noted, Pablo's Mandó is a wonderfully fruity, somewhat Beaujolais-styled offering with more body and texture than most Beaujolais possess.

Pablo Calatayud is not merely a winemaker; he is a preservationist and a pioneer — a man who has almost single-handedly transformed the reputation of Valencian wine by championing the indigenous varieties that were on the verge of extinction. In an era when much of Valencia was dominated by bulk production, international varieties, and anonymous blends, Pablo represents something rare and vital: a bridge between the deepest traditions of Valencian viticulture and the most forward-thinking practices of minimal-intervention winemaking. He is proving that Valencia is not merely a source of cheap wine and oranges, but a region capable of producing wines of genuine freshness, originality, and emotional depth — provided the winemaker has the courage to look backward in order to move forward.

The legacy of Celler del Roure extends beyond the bottle. Pablo has become a reference point for natural wine in Valencia — a producer who demonstrates that certified organic farming, indigenous yeasts, low sulfur, and ancient amphora aging can coexist with commercial viability and international recognition. His wines are found on the lists of discerning restaurants and shops from Valencia to New York. His approach — certified organic, hand harvest from 15 to 75+ year-old vines, spontaneous fermentation, low sulfur, no fining, no filtration — has influenced a generation of younger producers in Valencia and beyond. And his commitment to indigenous varieties — to the idea that Mandó, Arcos, Forcallà, and Verdil are not merely grapes but the living memory of a region — is a model for viticulture in an era of homogenisation. As a member of Futuro Viñador, alongside Telmo Rodríguez, Pepe Raventós, and José Maria Vicente, Pablo is part of a movement that is transforming Spanish wine from the inside out.

The future of Celler del Roure is tied to the future of Valencia's indigenous grapes. As the region fights to maintain its identity in the face of industrialisation and climate change, Pablo continues to expand his work — not in hectares, but in depth. More old vineyards of forgotten varieties. More experiments with the ancient tinajas. More wines that push the boundaries of what Valencia can be. And more wines that taste of nothing but the Mediterranean — the clay, the limestone, the old vines, and the quiet persistence of a man who started in a furniture workshop and ended up restoring 100 ancient amphorae in a 17th-century cellar. The story of Celler del Roure is the story of a man who chose to honour his homeland by making wines that are alive, honest, and true to the place — wines that go from the roots to the glass with nothing but freshness and heart. It is a story that is still being written — one bottle, one vintage, one forgotten variety at a time.