Why do we eat twelve grapes on New Year's Eve in Spain?
Eating 12 grapes while listening to the New Year's Eve bells is a ritual in Spain that marks the end of the year and the beginning of the next.
For each of the twelve months of the upcoming year, each grape represents a wish.
This custom has its origins in the year 1909. According to legend, Alicante saw a strong grape harvest, so the Valle del Vinalopó farmers in Alicante chose to sell them as "lucky grapes", packaging them in 12-grape packets to represent the 12 months of the year.
Newspaper clippings from 1894 that discuss "The Beneficient Grapes" and the identical practice of eating grapes when hearing the first chime of twelve have also been discovered. The French practice of hosting private Christmas parties at which champagne was consumed and grapes were served as a side dish was imitated by the Spanish nobles.
Due to the loud and boisterous actions of the Madrid residents, the city council of Madrid banned the Christmas celebrations. They made the decision to ignore the municipal side by taking to the streets. Eating grapes while mocking the aristocracy who were permitted their own parties as they congregated in the present-day Puerta del Sol.
The twelve months of the year are represented by the twelve grapes. The fruit grape is frequently connected to luck, love, happiness, pleasure (god Bacchus), or spirituality.
Denominación de Origen Uva de mesa embolsada del Vinalopó
We are living where this tradition began. The Medio Vinalopó comarca of our valley is where the grape is grown.
Denominación de Origen Protegida de la Uva de Mesa Embolsada del Vinalopó towns include:
Aspe
Novelda
Monforte del Cid
Hondón de las Nieves
Hondón de los Frailes
Agost
La Romana
Because of its unique maturation process, La Uva de Mesa Embolsada del Vinalopó is a fruit that is unique in the entire world. In contrast to other table wines, Vinalopó wine develops under a paper bag that protects it for at least 60 days and keeps all of the grapes' seeds in tact until they are placed in the hands of the consumer.Because of this unusual system of cultivation, the Vinalopó table wine has exceptional physical and gastronomic qualities that have allowed it to be recognized as the only embalmed wine deserving of a protected designation of origin.
