Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide Special Verema.com Edition

Canary Islands: Exotic Spanish Islands with a Unique Culinary & Wine Heritage

2009-10-30T17:57:00.001-04:00

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Tenerife's Teide, the volcano that is the tallest mountain in all of Spain

I have been traveling the gastronomy, wine and tourist roads of Spain for more than forty years, but until May of this year, when I was asked to report on my travels in The Canary Islands, I had never stepped foot on any of the seven major islands–La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote--in this volcanic archipelago located some 1100 miles (or a three-hour flight from Spain’s capital, Madrid).

Wow, did I get a surprise! I expected the Canary Islands, which is one of Spain’s 17 comunidades (regional divisions), to have a lot in common with the rest of Spain with a few interesting food and wine twists. What I found on these fascinating islands off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean is a culture as distinct from the rest of Spain as Hawaii is to the mainland United States.

In fact, the Canaries are sometimes referred to as “Europe’s Hawaii,” because it is where a lot of Europeans go for the year-round delightfully mild climate, which makes for prime beach vacations, though these islands offer far more than just beaches, as I was pleasantly surprised to find. And the wild, evocative, extinct (and not so extinct) volcano-dotted landscapes, deep blue-green seas and exotic climates that change from north to south on these generally small islands are the stage for distinctly different experiences from what you might expect to find on the Iberian Peninsula, which Spain shares with Portugal.

Here you will find not only the influences of Spain, Spanish Galicia and Portugal, but Africa as well, and certainly not least to native Canary Islanders, the still powerful pull of the aboriginal tribes such as the Guanches (Tenerife), the Canarios on Gran Canarias and the Gomeros, who communicated down the steep mountain valleys by means of the Silbo Gomera (whistling signals). Thought possibly to be descended for tribes in Africa’s Atlas mountains (Lanzarote is only 70 miles east of the African coast), the original inhabitants of the Canarias lived in these islands from at least from 200 BCE (some believe 1000 BCE) and experienced Phoenician, Greek and Roman expeditions.

The Canary Islands got their name from the fierce native dogs, canes, the Romans encountered on the islands, not Canary birds, which originated here and get their name from the islands). Europeans, mostly Spaniards, came to subjugate the islands in the 15th Century and Columbus stopped here with his ships on his voyages of discovery of the New World.

Once the native inhabitants were subdued the Spanish Crown, the Canary Islands became the last stop–and supply life line–for explorations of the New World by Spanish and Portuguese explorers and the continual sailings and return of the explorers fleets seeded the Canaries with an influx of New World products. In fact, here, many of the ingredients used in Canary Islands cooking–corn, cilantro, watercress, hot peppers, tropical fruits (papaya, mango, guava), unique varieties of potatoes and many other items–that the islanders have used since the exploration period never emerged as essential elements in most Spanish mainland cooking. But these ingredients took hold here tenaciously and form the basis for many dishes that are unique to the Canaries.

Fish and many other dishes are served with three of the most ubiquitous and defining elements of Canary Islands cuisine: Gofio (toasted flour, the true national culinary supplement that predates the conquest, though several versions include toasted New World millo, or maize, flour); the quickly addictive papas arrugadas (special Canary Islands varieties of small potatoes, including “black’ ones, “wrinkled” by cooking them in sea water or heavy salted tap water); and the wonderful mojos, or vinegar-and-oil based dipping sauces served with almost every Canary Islands meal.

Gofio flours are often served as a dip with raw onions , as an accompaniment to fish dishes, soups and other dishes

and are often put out in bowls on tables in restaurants specializing in native cuisine.

Papas arrugadas are often served as a appetizer and just as often as a side to fish or meat dishes,
along with usually two vinegar-and-oil based mojos.

The mojos most frequently encountered include:

green mojo de perejil (parsley, garlic and cumin)

or mojo de cilantro (garlic, green and chili peppers, cilantro, cumin and crushed toasted bread, vinegar and oil)

and red mojo colorado (garlic, red pepper, paprika, cumin and toasted bread).

Perhaps the star version is the famous mojo picón, made with red chili peppers and hot paprika, which makes a picante sauce that is anathema to mainland palates and is a sensation absent in most mainland Spanish regional dishes, except in gambas al ajillo (which uses a slice or two of dried cayenne pepper), in the sauces for patatas bravas and in the Basque Country, where red chilis are used in several dishes.

Other notable mojos are one made with avocados, one made with grated cheese and tomatoes, one uses almonds and another is made with orange juice.

A visit to the colorful markets in places such as Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Los Llanos de Aridane (La Palma) and La Laguna (Tenerife) reveals a wide variety of fish seldom seen in mainland markets:

Fish Available in the Markets of Las Islas Canarias

Sama (a type of sea bream from the same family as dentex and urta)

cherne (wreckfish)

vieja colorada (parrot fish)

cabrilla (a type of grouper)

morena (moray eel)

Alfonsino (emperor fish)

burro (none-too-attractively called in English, the rubber-lip grunt).

Some of the fish come from local waters (quite deep just offshore due to the abrupt volcanic nature of the birth of these islands), but many of the varieties are caught in the shallower waters off the coasts of Morocco, Western Sahara (unil 1975, Spanish Sahara), Mauritania and Senegal. Usually these fish are grilled a la plancha (on a flat-iron grill), sometimes a la parilla (grilled over wood fire) and sometimes in fish soups and stews, caldo de pescado (fish soup, Gran Canaria) or cazuela de pescado (a fish stew casserole; Tenerife).

Other typical Canary Islands dishes include fried conejo en adobo (rabbit marinated in olive oil and vinegar with bay leaf, thyme, oregano, chili pepper and saffron); potaje de berros (a watercress-based soup with beans, pork ribs, yams, potatoes, cumin and paprika); cabrito en aliño (goat marinated with white wine, vinegar, garlic, oregano and then friend and sauced with the hot marinade); and Carribean inspired ropa vieja, leftovers from a typical stew (chicken or meat, chickpeas, carrots and onions) sauteed with spices.

Desserts include bienmesabe ("it tastes good to me"), made from almonds, sugar, lemon, cinnamon and egg yolks); huevos mole (beaten eggs cooked gently in a bain-marie and served with lemon-cinnamon syrup); and bollos de millo (cornmeal buns).

There are also several distinguished Canary Islands cheeses, usually made with goats' milk, sometimes with mixed ewe's and goats' milk: Majorero from Fuerteventura is the most famous, but queso palmero (La Palma), queso de Gomera and the cooperative Arico in the Abona area of Tenerife, which made a gofio-covered goats' milk cheese that won first place in the 2009 World Cheese Awards in Dublin. One of the most typical dishes in the islands is almogrote, a spread mad from aged Gomera goat cheese, olive oil, chili peppers and hot paprika.

Canary Islands wines, above all the white wines and sweet wines are fascinating, often delightful companions to the local dishes. The Islands have a wide variety of grapes, many of which disappeared from the Iberian Peninsula when it was hit by the late 19th-Century phylloxera plague that devastated European vineyards. Some of the vineyards, especially those on Lanzarote, planted in holes in volcanic ash to collect life-sustaining moisture from dew and partial lava rock walls protect them from the forceful winds, are some of the most unusual and striking vineyards in the world. The Canary Islands have eleven D.O.s (denominaciones de origen) governing the production of wines.

Most of the best dry white wines and the best sweet white wines-among the greatest dessert wines of Spain-are made primarily from the Malvasía grape variety. Predominant red varieties include Listán Negro and Negramoll. Among the bodegas to search out are Tenerife's superb Viñatigo (Ycoden-Daute-Isora D.O), Viña Norte/Humboldt (Tacoronte-Acentejo), Bodegas Buten's aptly-named Magma de Crater (Tacoronte-Acentejo) and Tajinaste (Valle de la Orotava). Three wineries of note on volcanic Lanzarote are El Grifo (Lanzarote), Los Bermejos, and the architecturally stunning, state-of-the-art jewel Stratus (Lanzarote). And from La Palma come some spectacular sweet wines such as Tamanca's Sabro Dulce and the excellent Malvasía Dulces from Carballo and Teneguía grown on the volcanic slopes (the last major eruption came in 1971!).

On this trip, I visited Gran Canarias, La Palma, Tenerife and Lanzarote. That still leaves food and wine adventures on Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro, plus a couple of smaller satellite islands off Lanzarote. After the rich experiences I had on this trip, it will certainly not be another forty years before I return to these exceptional islands again.

--The End--

About Gerry Dawes

The Wines of the Canary Islands - Article in Wines From Spain News Fall 2009

2009-10-29T09:59:00.001-04:00

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The Wines of the Canary Islands

Article by Gerry Dawes in Wines From Spain News Fall 2009

With a short slide show.

(For full screen, click on the emblem in the lower right corner.)

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About Gerry Dawes

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Chicago Tribune's Ten Worst Dining Trends of the Decade

2009-10-27T16:09:00.000-04:00

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The Chicago Tribune just published an article on the Ten Worst Dining Trends of the Decade. Three of them, "molecular cuisine," foams and decontruction dishes, take aim at the Spanish cocina de vanguardia modernista tendencies of the past decade or so. The relates to my current article in Food Arts, Spain's Chemical Reaction.

But, one of the real jewels in these worst trends is about wine and it is in the body of the article, not on the list of the Big Ten:

"Worst trend?" said Tim Zagat, co-founder of the Zagat restaurant survey. "Buying wine to show off. It's not new but it got out of hand with Wall Street types this decade. If you spend $100 on a bottle now, you're exhibiting some degree of stupidity."

Well, yeh!

Gerry Dawes

gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Ribeira Sacra: Where Godello and Mencía are Bound for Glory Wine News (Fall October 2009)

2009-10-26T13:57:00.001-04:00

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Ribeira Sacra: Where Godello and Mencía are Bound for Glory

Ribeira Sacra: Just the Tasting Notes with Photographs

Related Article:

Ribeira Sacra: The Perfect Lunch with Almalarga Godello at O Grelo Restaurant

Slide Show on Ribera Sacra

(Click on image to enlarge, go to Google web albums page and click for full screen slide show.)

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com.
About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television

series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Having a drink with … Gerry Dawes by Jordi Melendo (English Version)

2009-05-15T14:00:00.001-04:00

Tomando una copa con… Gerry Dawes (Click here to read the interview in Spanish)

Gerry Dawes vive en Nueva York y es escritor, fotógrafo y conferenciante especialista en la gastronomía, los vinos y la cultura de España. Vivió en Andalucía durante ocho años, lleva casi 40 viajando por el país y tiene un promedio de siete viajes gastronómicos anuales a España. Fue galardonado con el Premio Nacional de Gastronomía “Marqués de Busianos” 2003 por la Academia Española de Gastronomía y La Cofradía de la Buena Mesa y es el único extranjero honrado con el Premio Cena de los Once Vinos. Es Contributing Editor de Food Arts, Wine News, Santé y varias revistas del ICEX y ha publicado centenares de artículos sobre los vinos, la gastronomía y viajes de España. Ha presentado ponencias y presentaciones en Culinary Institute of America - Napa Valley, Christie's New York, Encuentro Verema (Valencia), Philadelphia Museum of Art (seis cenas durante la exposición de Dalí), International Association of Culinary Professionals (Congreso Anual), IberWine, Madrid Fusión, Fenavin, Vino a Toda Vela y presentador de los Spain's Ten (10 mejores chefs españoles en New York). Fue Chairman de la Cena-Subasta James Beard Fundation en 2004 que fue dedicado a España, honró a Ferran Adrià y Juan Mari Arzak y batió todos los records de la fundación. Fue seleccionado para dar una charla, sobre la gastronomía, vinos y cultura de Valencia en una cena de en honor de Francisco Camps, presidente de la Generalitat Valenciana en New York (Abril, 2005).

Having a drink with … Gerry Dawes

One of your virtues:
I am loyal to my friends, especially my real friends, most of whom are in Spain.

One of your faults:

I am addicted to Spain and I am always trying to do more than is humanly possible, which causes me problems.

A virtue you value in others:

Loyalty, honesty and patience, qualities which many of my Spanish friends have.

A fault you detest in others:

Dishonesty. And the love of new oak taste of over the taste of wine. I truly detest Parkerista-style wines.

Recommend a white wine:
Palacio de Fefiñanes Albariño (unoaked, with a few years in bottle.)
A Coroa Godello
Casal Novo Godello (my house white wine)
Pena Das Donas Godello
D. Ventura Mencia red wines from Ribeira Sacra

A rosé wine:

Señorío de Sarría Garnacha Rosado Viñedo #5 (one of the greatest rosé wines in the world.)

A red wine:

A great older vintage of CUNE Viña Real Oro such a 1954, 1962, 1981; Viña Bosconia 1947; Marqués de Riscal 1945 and Riscal wines from the 1920s; young, fresh, terroir-driven Mencia from Ribeira Sacra.

A Cava:

Raventos i Blanc , also Gramona or Agusti Torelló; also love good dry Pinot Noir Rosado cavas

And a Champagne:

Pol Roger, which I have had every Christmas and New Year’s Eve since 1976; I also love Bollinger, André Clouet and Champagnes that use Pinot Noir; and especially the great Rosé Champagnes.

If you had to choose just one wine which would it be:

A great dry Garnacha Rosado with good acidity, which goes with all kinds of food. They are fresh, festive, fun, satisfying and normally have no oak. And sometimes, a fine manzanilla fina de Sanlúcar

And who would you drink it with:

The most important thing about any bottle of wine is the people surrounding the bottle:

My girlfriend, Kay. And over lunch with any (or all) of these great friends, Mariano García, Basilio Izquierdo, Javier Hidalgo, Emiliano García, Juan Gil (Galicia), Emilo Cores, Manolo & Mari Carmen Esquivias, Ambrosia Molinos & family in Roa, Isaacín Muga, Juan Suarez, Esmeralda Capel, Gabriela Llamas, Lucio, Mari & Javier Blásquez, Quím Marqués, Fuensanta Bartolomeu, José Manuel Rodríguez (Ribeira Sacra), María José San Román (y Pitu, Jorge y Geni), Adolfo Muñoz & family in Toledo, Juli Soler, George Semler, el banda de gente in Sanfermínes, Raúl Aleixandre, Juan Peña, Paco Dovalo, Javier Luca de Tena, José Andrés Carlos Falcó, Ricardo Pérez, Raúl Pérez, Pepe Limeño, the Pérez Pascuas family, Alejandro Fernández, Los Tios de Verema (José, Juan, Paco) y Las Gamberras de Chipiona. . . I have mentioned just a few and I have left out many—with profound apologies--but I am sure you only so much space.

Your favourite meal:

I have several: Rodaballo at either Kaia or Elkano in Getaria; Mariscos in Galicia, especially with Gerardo Mendez of Do Ferreiro; any meal at Bigote in Sanlúcar de Barrameda; chuletillas al sarmiento at Bodegas Pérez Pascuas; breakfast at Quím de la Boquería or Pinotxo in La Boquería; pochas con codornices in Navarra; alcachofas con jamon in La Balconada in Chinchón; arrós negre in Can Majo in Barcelona; any meal in Ca Sento in Valencia; Sunday nights at Casa Lucio in Madrid; salmorejo con berenjenas fritas at Juan Peña in Córdoba; arrós con caracoles y conejo at Casa Elias in Xinorlet; any lunch at Bodegas Muga, el menu de Gerry Dawes in La Taberna del Gourmet in Alicante; and a box of chocolates from Paco Torreblanca. There are many, many more.

Your favourite restaurant:

As you can see, I have many favourites. And I have been known to make pilgrimages to many restaurants scattered all over Spain. I love Bigote looking out on Bajo Guía in Sanlúcar, Kaia looking out on the fishing port and Basque Coast in Getaria; I love to take the ferry to Casa Cámara in Pasai Donibane (Pasajes de San Juan); and I love to eat La Balconada or Café Iberia in Chinchón overlooking La Plaza Mayor. Tengo muchos.

Your favourite city:

Madrid, many days; Barcelona, many days; Sanlúcar always and forever; mi Sevilla; San Sebastián; Valencia; Haro; Cambados; Chinchón; Getaria; too many to pick, but you get the idea.
Your favourite country:

Spain is the greatest country in the world. Nothing else comes close. The reason: See “And who would you drink it with.”

Which do you prefer, the seaside or the mountains:

So many choices, so little time. I love to be in Sanlúcar anytime and I love the Rías of Galicia, but I also love the mountains of Galicia, Andalucía, Navarra, La Rioja and the Picos de Europa.

Which mode of transport do you prefer:
Automobile outside of cities. It’s a freedom thing. Walking, metro or water ferry in some places.

Recommend a book:

Don Quixote; Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert; The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway; Iberia by James Michener; and my Homage to Iberia (if I ever find a publisher with cojones).

A song: “As Time Goes By” from Casablanca; and “Yo Soy del Sur”

A film: Casablanca

What is your favourite sport:

Baseball (I am addicted to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who haven’t been winners for 17 years, sort of like being “Zoy del Beti” and American football (New York Giants). I also follow Spanish football when I am in Spain. I was in the riot on the Ramblas when Barca confirmed a few years ago and the last game I saw was on the tele. I saw Atletico de Madrid beat Barca in La Bodegueta in San Celoni with Santi Santamaría and George Semler, which left both of them de luto.

What is your favourite colour:
Wine red (unoaked tint)

Which is your favourite man’s name:
Cayetano

Which is your favourite woman’s name:
Victoria

Which historical personality would you have liked to have met in person:
Ernest Hemingway (maybe),
Miguel de Cervantes (when he wasn’t in jail),
Salvador Dalí (I know, I know),
King Juan Carlos I (I only briefly shook his hand);
Elroy Face (A Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher from the 1950s & 1060s)
and Antonio Ordoñez, whom I did meet and became friends with before he died).

Which three things would you take with you to a desert island:

My girlfriend, Kay; enough Patrón tequila, Torres Licor de Naranja, grapefruit juice (the island had better have limes & lemons) to make margaritas; Hendrick’s gin & Fever Tree tonica for variety; and vinos de Godello, Garnacha Rosado and Viña Real Oro to keep me going until I get off the island (I am not enamored of islands, too constricting ultimately); and my laptop with a power supply.

About Gerry Dawes

Video & Slide Show: La Queimada at Bodega Caballeiro Do Val with Paco Dovalo & Members of the Asociación de Bodegueros Artesanos

2009-03-16T14:10:00.008-04:00

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The Rite of the Queimada:

La Quiemada is as old as Galician civilization. Mentions of it can be found in Celtic (on stone tablets, one presumes), Roman, Visigothic and Arabic literature.

Video of La Queimada at Bodega Caballeiro Do Val with Emilio Cores of La Cámara de Comercio de Vilagarcía de Arousa

Paco Dovalo & Members of the Asociación de Bodegueros Artesanos in Meaño, Val de Salnés, Rías Baixas, Galicia.

(Video by Zachary Minot of Devour.tv; Commentary by Gerry Dawes;

written by Gerry Dawes & John Gottfried, Devour.tv.)

"Demons, goblins and devils, spirits of the misty valleys.

Farts from the asses of doom, Shrieks of cats in heat. . ."

And whole long list of other curses to banished follows. . .then. . .
"When this drink goes down our gullets, we will be free of evil in our souls and of spells cast by the evil spirits and witches."

In Galicia, the Gallegos still claim to believe in meigas (witches), evil spirits and the like.

To protect guests they have something called La Queimada, a custom believed to have originated with the ancient Celtic race to whom Galicia was their sacred home.

Here at Paco Dovalo's bodega, Cabaliero do Val, in Meaño, a member of the region's Asociación Association of Artisan Winemakers hollows out a giant calabaza squash or a pumpkin if they have one, then fills it with aguardiente or as the Gallegos call it, oruxo (literally, "burning water or firewater"; Galician grappa or moonshine).

He ritualistically sets the booze alight then tosses in coffee beans and orange peel - - then the juice of oranges and lemons - - and dumps in a whole mess of sugar. . . then a few cups of coffee and more aguardiente!

This concoction is brewed for as much as half an hour. It flames a magical incandescent blue, cooking the coffee beans, coffee, orange peel, lemon, sugar and even steams the squash.

When he thinks the Quiemada is ready, our Gallego friend, Emilio Cores, scoops out a cup of the flaming punch . . . along with pieces of the squash.

The result is a thick liquor that is less alcoholic than the original brandy but it can still be a head banger.

We made a lot of that quiemada vanish and, in the process, banished a few evil spirits of our own. . . .at least until the next morning.

La Queimada Slide Show

Photographs by Gerry Dawes

About Writer-Photographer Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine. He has published hundreds of his photographs in scores of publications. Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

World of Fine Wines: Article on Bodegas Torres by Gerry Dawes

2009-02-12T12:58:00.004-05:00

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The World of Fine Wine

"The first cultural journal of the wine world." -- Hugh Johnson OBE

"The latest issue of World of Fine Wine, undoubtedly the most splendid, luxuriously-unconcerned-with-supermarket-wine wine magazine in the world, carries (at last) my notes on a tasting of both Vergelegen’s great white blended wine and Eben Sadie’s equally great (though arguably less good, at this stage) and

utterly different white blend, Palladius. I hasten to add that that is among the least convincing reasons why anyone should buy the mag." -- Tim James, wine writer and editor of Grape.

For information on how to subscribe to this excellent wine magazine, click here.

From World of Fine Wines Magazine December 2008 Scanned Torres Article

Lo Mejor de La Gastronómía: Chefs’ Conference Celebrates Spanish Extra Virgen Olive Oil - with Epilogue/Slide Show on the Olive Harvest

2009-01-31T12:33:00.001-05:00

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Lo Mejor de La Gastronómía

Star Chefs Compete Using Jaén Province’s Picudo Variety Olive Oil

Plus An Epilogue Featuring Slide Shows of the Olive Harvest in Jaén

By Gerry Dawes

Premio Nacional de Gastronomia 2003

(Click on slide show to amplify and see full screen.)

The Lo Mejor de La Gastronómía chefs’ conference, held each November in the Rafael Moneo-designed Kursaal center in the stunning Basque seaside city of San Sebastián, is among the world’s top five culinary events. But Lo Mejor de La Gastronómía is a culinary conference with a difference, since almost all the attention is on chefs, primarily cocina de vanguardia - avant-garde cuisine chefs from around the world, but with a focus on Spain’s star chefs who come at the end of each year to show their best dishes and techniques from the current year and give glimpses of what is to come the following year.

This year’s Lo Mejor de La Gastronómía this year included a standout presentation from Ferran Adrià, the man called “the world’s greatest chef,” and jaw-dropping demonstrations from Can Roca’s Joan Roca, El Poblet’s Quique Dacosta and super-star pastelero (desserts and chocolates) Paco Torreblanca. Torreblanca, one of the greatest pastry chefs in the world, has devised ways of using Spanish olive oil instead of butter in his desserts and chocolates, so now all his lines of supernal Totel and Barry Callebaut desserts and chocolates use no animal fats in their preparation.

One of the highlights of the event was the VI Annual “Jaén, Paraiso Interior” Premio Internacional de Cocina con Aceite de Oliva Virgen Extra (International Cooking Prize for the Best Dish Featuring Spanish Extra Virgen Olive Oil), which carried a an astounding First Prize of 18,000 Euros (about $25,000). Sponsored by the Junta de Andalucía and the Diputación de Jaén, the competition featured 11 chefs from Spain (Madrid, Alicante, Jaén and the Basque Vizcaya province), France, Germany, Italy and Portugal. Each chef, a finalist chosen from a field of 135 contestants from seven countries in preliminary contest, presented a creative cuisine dish that used Spanish extra virgen olive as a prominent taste component.

Felipe López, President of the Diputación Provincial (regional government) de Jaén, said his administration was sponsoring the contest because Lo Mejor de LaGastronómía offers “an extraordinary showcase, since it represents cocina de vanguardia, for showing the excellence of the great olive oils of the province of Jaén.”

Rafael García Santos, Founder & Director of the conference, commenting on the leap in quality that extra virgen olive oils from Jaén have made–in the six years since they have been giving the prize at Lo Mejor de LaGastronómía–said “Jaén extra virgen olive oil producers are doing ever more select olive oils. They have changed their production techniques, harvesting and the final product, which has shown a steady evolution in quality. Before Jaén was known as the biggest producer and now the name is associated with brands of extra virgen olive oil that have become universally recognized for their high quality, which has brought world-class prestige to Jaén and raised the value of the product. This has made the oils of the province of Jaén an ever more important player in top kitchens everywhere.”

This writer came to cover the conference and the “Jaén, Paraiso Interior” Premio Internacional de Cocina con Aceite de Oliva Virgen Extra cooking contest for Foods From Spain News. But, I was soon pressed into service as a member of the jury panel by Lo Mejor de LaGastronómía’s founder and director, Rafael García Santos, whose directive I followed with honor and with gusto, since it entailed tasting all the finalists’ wonderfully creative dishes, accompanied by glasses of Spanish cava. The competing chefs, while making extra virgen olive oil a discernible component, still managed to smoothly integrate the oils into each dish and make most of them visually spectacular.

The very first dish by Vitor Manuel Da Silva from Le Poivron Rouge in Portugal, which was called Mi Conserva de Sardina, featured a olive-oil dressed sardine, a razor clam and a mussel in a shellfish tin, complete with a rolled-up lid. Fernando Pérez Arellano of Zaranda in Madrid presented a seawater-colored, arbequina olive oil-infused “gazpacho en aspic al aceite de arbequina,” which was gelatinous rectangle on which he had perched a clam, a cockle, a bit of sea urchin, a goose barnacle and several tiny mussels, with several pools of olive oil-sea urchin mayonnaise alongside. Another spectacular dish was “Tomate. . .un salmorejo con caviar,” a lovely, re-constructed light orange-red tomato “shell” filled with a delicious salmorejo--made with an extra virgen olive oil with a distinct personality--from Jaén’s own chef Raúl Clemente from Restaurante Paquito Diaz in Baeza.

The winner of the competition was Carlo Cracco’s chef de cuisine, Matteo Baronetto (Cracco, Milan, Italy) , who wowed the judges with his Crema Quemada al Aceite con Cañaillas (Crême Brûlée made with extra virgen olive and winkles, or sea snails) scented with vanilla. This sensational dish was presented in two artistic silver serving vessels, one resembling a tea steeper and holding the Crema Quemada, the other a scalloped silver dish holding butter-like ribbons of a creamy extra virgen olive oil that could have passed for butter except for their distinctive olive oil flavor.

The jury, an international panel that included Rafael García Santos, Cristino Álvarez (Spain), Duarte Calvao (Portugal), Licia Granello (Italy), Jean Paul Perez (Belgium), Bob Noto (Italy), Jacques Trefoir (Brazil) and myself, judged the creations on culinary virtuosity, imagination, originality, and aesthetics, as well as the techniques used in making each dish and on how the presence of extra virgen olive oil was handled by each chef. In all these dishes, there was a lightness and fresh, healthy flavors that would be hard, if not impossible, to achieve with animal fats, so good Spanish extra virgen olive oils have become essential to achieving this healthful effect in kitchens around the western world. Matto Baronetto was awarded the 18,000 Euro prize and a sculpture trophy designed by Jaén artist Antonio Blanca.

Surrounding this intensive star chef conference is a gastronomic fair featuring products from around Spain: Joselito and other hams from Guijuelo (Salamanca), the Dehesa de Extremadura and Jabugo; a daily walk around tasting of more than 100 wines from Navarra; a multitude of stands promoting Spanish foods–cheeses, paprika, olives, tinned seafood, etc.; cookbook publishers’ stands from Montagud, De Re Coquinaría and Everest; and, of course, Spain’s superb extra virgen olive oils. One of the most frequented stands was the “Jaén, Paraiso Interior” (Inland Paradise) pavilion itself, where there were daily guided tastings of the fine extra Virgen olive oils, sponsored by the Junta de Andalucía and the Diputación Provincial de Jaén, a province that is literally one vast picudo variety olive orchard. The olive orchards of Jaén are so vast in fact that the Spanish poet Manuel Machado (brother of Antonio Machado, one of Spain’s best known 20th Century poets), in his famous “Ode to Andalucía” described the province simply as “silvery Jaén” due to the fact that in the slightest breeze the olive trees provide a constant light show of the dark-green leaf tops of the olivares alternating with flashes of silvery grey from their flip sides.

The daily tastings, of some dozen different quality Jaén extra Virgen olive oils were led by Anunciación Carpio Dueñas, a biologist who specializes in olive oil. Sra. Carpio and Jesús Zafra Ocaña from the Tourism, Local Development and Sustainability office of the Diputación Provincial of Jaén set up and led me through a private tasting of ten high quality, mostly Picual variety-based extra virgen olive oils from their province.

Using a map to show me the location in Jaén province of each olive oil producer, they expertly explained each of the different extra virgen olive oils, which included the newly bottled Vadolivo Gran Selección Royal, a deep green-yellow, pungent, grassy, complex, silky oil made from the Royal olive variety in the wild game region of the Sierra de Cazorla; Eolea Zumo de Oliva (olive “juice”), a very pungent, grassy, piquant, almondy, full-bodied blend of Picual, Picudo and Arbequina olives grown around Mengíbar near the famous town of Bailén; Oro Bailén Reserva Familiar, a deep green and intensely aromatic (fresh cut grass, plantains) with pronounced, gutsy flavors of stone fruits, but with a smooth, silky feel on the palate and Ánima Áurea, a much lighter, more neutral flavored Picual and Arbequina blend, both from the immediate area of Bailén; and Tierras de Canena Escencia Milénario, a green-gold, finely aromatic, light, smooth, silky, balanced oil from the higher altitude Picual-based orchards near the monumental towns of Baeza and Úbeda in north-central Jaén.

From Escañuela, northwest of the capital, Jaén, the Cortijo de la Torre 100% Picual extra virgen olive oil was a pretty, deep green, had a pungent nose of fresh grass, green apples and green plantains, and was full of character with grassy, picante, almond and artichoke flavors that reached every corner of the mouth; from Torredonjimeno, just west of Jaén, Carmen Edición Limitada showed a lighter chartreuse color, had a ripe nose of apple and stone fruits and was very suave with only light bitterness and no picante flavors, which makes it ideal for dishes that call for a light olive oil flavor; from Pegalar, east of Jaén, Melgarejo Selección Gourmet was a pretty green-gold color, had a very clean nose with some typically grassy and appley aromas, and showed great structure, personality and balance with very pleasant grassy, bitter almond and olive flavors.

Two of the last oils came from the mountainous areas of northeastern Jaén province near La Puerta de Segura. Oro de Géave, which produces only 25.000 bottles of ecologically cultivated, unfiltered extra virgen olive oil was typically cloudy, had a nose of riper apple and was pungent with appley, bitter almond, picante flavors full of personality. Fuenroble, the Jaén oil with the greatest international distribution, comes from the Sierra de Segura National Park area. It had a deep green-chartreuse color, a nose with some grassiness, but more apple and green tomato and was very smooth and silky with complex, pleasing, apple, bitter almond and green tomato flavors.

I felt privileged to have been personally educated about the extra virgen olive oils of Jaén and the flavors of the Picual olive variety. Later on this same trip, at Adolfo Muñoz Tapas Bar in Toledo, right next to the Cathedral, I would get another impromptu tasting, this time with owner José I. Millán Valderrama, President of Valderrama, producer of extra virgen olive oils from orchards in Castilla La Mancha and Córdoba. And upon returning to New York, I was invited to come to the olive harvest at Beloyana in Córdoba and I still owe a visit to Extremadura to the estate of the Marqués de Valdueza, which produces oils with Arbequina, Picual, Hojiblanca and the rare Morisco olives.

I have a feeling that my education in the great extra virgen olive oils of Spain is just beginning.

–The End–

Epilogue:

The next phase of my olive oil education produced this slide show on the olive oil harvest (la recogida) and Bailén de Oro olive oil mill (almazara) near Bailén in the Andalucian Jaén province with Anuncia Carpio and José Gálvez as my guides and luncheon hosts at the Resturante del Hotel Bailén (a former Parador de Turismo). Those of you who have ever driven through Jaén know that it is one huge olive orchard.

(Double click on the image above for a large screen view of my slide show on the fascinating harvest & milling process.)

After Jaén, I went on to take in another version of la recogida, this time with my old friend, Javier Hidalgo, owner of La Gitana Manzanilla (see COPA Jerez report and article on Manzanilla). We visited the Beloyana olive oil producing estate of Soledad Serrano near Espejo, a half hour southeast of Córdoba. We spent the night at the estate and my companion, Kay and I got a chance to go into Córdoba and arrived at the gates of La Mezquita just as the 5:30 bells were tolling. La Mezquita closes at six, but the security guards refused to let us in even for a quick look at it and closed the door in our faces, even after we told them that we had come to Córdoba especially for that. They were quite antipático in the bargain. These people live off tourism, but they seem to really dislike tourists, or what they think are tourists.

We strolled around the old quarter until it was time for the taberna/mesón of my old friend, Juan Peña, to open. Juan was not due until 10 p.m., but I had an employee call him and he soon appeared as did a selection of his incredible dishes, including the best salmorejo and berenjenas fritas (fried eggplant sticks) I have ever tasted. Juan makes a number of of salmorejos--his spectacularly good tomato-based one is the benchmark for this wonderful thick gazpacho-like dish that can be used like a sauce with his supernal fried eggplant. He also makes a green-and-white asparagus salmorejo and garnishes both with chopped Pedroches jamón Ibérico (a little-known, but now widely served ham from a mountain valley on the north side of the Sierra Morena mountains.

Stayed tuned for a slide show (coming soon) on la recogida (olive harvest) at Soledad Serrano's Beloyana estate and the food at Mesón Juan Peña, one of the greatest tapas bars in Spain.

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Entrevista con Gerry Dawes en Lo Mejor de la Rioja

2008-12-28T09:51:00.008-05:00

'El Rioja no es un elefante, es un león, pero no ha sabido defender adecuadamente su posición de líder' -- Gerry Dawes

Por Casimiro Somalo, lomejordelvinoderioja.com (2007)

Genuino e irónico, comedido aunque parezca provocador, el americano Gerry Dawes forma parte del paisaje vitivinícola español desde hace más de tres décadas. Como escritor de vinos (¿qué es eso?) conoce España mejor que muchos de nosotros. Amante de los clásicos de siempre, y de los vinos honestos de todos los tiempos, Dawes ha paseado su figura y el paladar en junio por La Rioja. De Rioja y de La Rioja conoce casi todo. Aquí hay algunos retazos de una charla sobre vinos, modas, tendencias, gustos y colores.

– Usted tiene cosas más europeas que de su propio país.–

A pesar de mi afición a las botas de 'cowboy' americanas, de vez en cuando pongo una corbata bolo de Santa Fe (Nuevo México), es que me siento más español-europeo que americano y me gustan más las costumbres de aquí. Ya sabes que la inspiración de las botas de cowboy venía de las botas vaqueras españoles… Me acusan a veces, como el amigo Andoni Aduriz, de tener la pinta de ‘millonario tejano’ pero no soy ni rico, ni tejano, y ,en absoluto, partidario de Bush.

– ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que se ha vinculado a nuestro país?

Más de 35 añitos, que ha sido muy poco tiempo para conocer este país tan complejo.

– En todos estos años ha tenido ocasión de comprobar cómo va evolucionando el mundo del vino español.

En mi humilde opinión, el vino español ha tenido una evolución (una revolución) enorme en cuanto a la técnica, pero lamento que a esta evolución/revolución le falte mucho en cuanto a sabores de buen vino. Se habla sobre todo de la técnica de las bodegas y poco de cómo sabe el vino y el gusto para beberlo en una mesa.

– ¿Qué le atraía del Rioja en sus primeros años?

Me encantaron los vinos del barrio de La Estación de Haro, los paisajes, los pueblos, la cocina tradicional, la batalla del vino, algunas fiestas y la gente de La Rioja.

– Analice la evolución del Rioja en este periodo de casi cuatro décadas.

Estoy un poco triste en algunos sentidos. Creo que La Rioja es todavía la zona de vinos tintos más importante del país, pero no ha defendido adecuadamente su posición de líder y no ha hecho, a veces, apologías de sus vinos tradicionales, algunos de ellos entre los mejores de mundo. CVNE Imperial y Viña Real Oro, por ejemplo, han sido vinos al nivel de Burdeos o de cualquier otra zona de vinos de gran calidad y por encima de muchos. En mi opinión habría que venderlos con confianza y no buscar que sean vinos 'más modernos' porque han estado evolucionando paso a paso y han figurado entre los vinos más modernos del país a lo largo de las últimas décadas, a pesar de ser tan agradables de beber en la mesa. También en la mesa, comiendo con ellos, algunos vinos como Monte Real Reserva y Gran Reserva pueden dar un baño a algunos de Borgoña mucho más caros en cualquier cata a ciegas. Y el 'clásico' Riscal, que ha sido desde hace tiempo uno de los vinos más modernos del país, lo que ha logrado sin pasar a ser vino de fruta sobremadurada, ni grado alto, bajo en acidez y cargado con más roble que fruta.

– Dicen o decían algunos hasta no hace mucho que el Rioja era un elefante que se mueve lentamente…

Sí, pero no es un elefante, es un león, y porque tiene unas bodegas muy grandes, y cuando despierten, a ver si es verdad que pasa… El problema, a veces, es que hay muchas bodegas de accionistas, mucha fe en el márketing y demasiada tendencia a copiar a otras regiones del mundo (y hasta a regiones españolas), cuando, en mi opinión, deben defender sus mejores vinos y promocionar fuera la idea de que deben de copiar a la Rioja y no al revés.

– Algunos clásicos que fueron vanguardia y siguen ahí…

Marqués de Riscal, Contino, algo de Muga…

– Las mejores cosechas de Rioja.

1942 (Bosconia), 1945 (Riscal) y 1947 (algunos vinos), 1954, 1962, 1964, 1973, 1981 (buenísimo), 1982, (veremos con tiempo los mejores del 94 y 95) y 2001. Pero hay que calificar las cosechas. No es que las añadas sean buenas, es que son grandes vinos los de grandes añadas hechos por las mejores bodegas. No me fío nada de una cosecha excelente en manos de una bodega mediocre.

– Los mejores vinos y añadas.

Sin lugar de dudas, Bosconia 1947 y 1942, Tondonia 54, 64, 73, 81 (y estoy todavía intentando de juzgar los jovencitos desde 81 para delante), CVNE Imperial de 1954, 64, 81 y muchos más (no tengo mis notas aquí en Tarragona) y Viña Real de 1954, 1962, 1964, 1981, Monte Real 1952, 1964, 1973, 1981 y Viña Albina de varios años, incluso 1982; Riscal 1945 (y de muchas más cosechas); Muga, Prado Enea 1981 (100 puntos). Contino de varias cosechas, incluso el magnífico El Olivo 2001, uno de mejores vinos 'modernos' de todo el país y de todos los tiempos.

– Describa el que tenga grabado en su memoria.

Bosconia 1947, que he tenido la suerte de beber cenando 3 o 4 veces, y, para mi, el mejor tinto de mi vida; 1981 Imperial en mágnum, que llevé a una cena en Nueva York y dejó a todos los vinos boca abajo; después decía un experto en vinos de Borgoña, John Gilman, quien fue la noche siguiente a una cata de La Tache, que si hubiera estado allí el Imperial habría ganado también aquella cata.

– El mundo del vino está cargado de intereses comerciales…

Sí. El que crea que el vino es romanticismo o una manifestación de la cultura del país es un Quijote perdido; como yo. Pienso que el vino debe de ser así, cultural, romántico, bebible y que te recuerde la tierra de la que viene (en este caso de mi querida España y no de Australia). Lo que sucede es que, al final, en nuestros días, es un producto mas para hacer márketing porque muchos tratan a los vinos como si fueran zapatos de Nike o Adidas.

– ¿Cómo se explica que muchos de los prescriptores quieran participar del pastel directa o indirectamente?

Lamentable, ni aquí, ni en EEUU existe la verdadera crítica de vinos. Para mí la mayoría de las publicaciones están al servicio de la industria. Si uno critica de verdad un vino, la bodega no le facilita muestras. Con los sueldos de los escritores es imposible comprar vinos que cuestan hasta 100 euros o más la botella y catarlos para escribir un artículo por el que le van a pagar 500 euros, con mucha suerte. El secreto de Parker, Wine Spectator, Internacional Wine Cellar, etc. es que las bodegas les envían muestras gratis a todos y ellos no dan puntuaciones por debajo de los 85. Y, además, cuando sacan notas de 90 puntos para arriba las bodegas y las tiendas hacen ‘shelf talkers’, que se convierten en anuncios gratis para el periódico y las altas puntuaciones hacen buena propaganda para ambos, bodegas y revistas. Cuando Pepe Peñín vino a Nueva York a presentar su guía de vinos en la primavera 2007, un escritor levantó la mano y le dijo, «Señor Peñín, si quiere usted vender sus libros aquí hay que dar puntuaciones más altas, como Parker. Sus puntuaciones son demasiado bajas». Y yo creo que las puntuaciones de la Guía Peñín son más realistas que las de su competencia americana.

- Algunos no han tenido ningún empacho en la vieja práctica del me das en especie o en publicidad o te doy leña en mi medio. Tal vez es que a muchos productores nuevos les resulta más fácil ponerse en manos de personajes mediáticos que ganarse el prestigio con el trabajo de años…

La vieja práctica nunca ha sido una práctica ética a pesar de que hay una multitud de fieles que practican una cosa y la otra. El vino es un producto cualquiera y hay que venderlo, especialmente, en esta época en la que hay un montón de gente que nunca han sido gente de vino y a pesar de que han entrado en el ‘negocio’ muy recientemente. El lago de vino ya es un mar de vino y hay que luchar como se pueda para venderlo o utilizarlo para montar un 'spa'. Así se cumple el pronóstico que decíamos hace años: acabaremos bañándonos en vino.

– Otros han derivado su crítica o su portal informativo directamente al negocio puro y duro de 'asesores', intermediarios o vendedores…

Ah! Ya me gustaría que me explicaran cómo algunos vinos imbebibles llegan a ser estrellas antes de salir al mercado… ¡Pufff…! Todos los días se aprende algo nuevo. Pero no creo que eso se deba al pasteleo publicitario, no señor, esto se debe al cambio climático (y la técnica en bodega) que ha convertido unas zonas no aptas para vinos en nuevos milagros. Ya pueden bajar el grado de vinos de doble pasta a 15 grados… Y como a todo el mundo le gustan vinos que sabe más a roble que a vino, es posible que pronto veamos un vino importante en el DO Utrera de los Mostachones. El gran problema en Utrera sería cómo vender bastantes mostachones para convertir el dinero en el roble de nuestros amigos galos (del gran Michelín que nos muestra todos los años y en los que se repinten muchísimo lo de Pepe Botellas y nos regalan una o dos estrellas más a nuestros restaurantes). Y para seguir vendiendo unas barricas al precio descontado de 600 a 2.000 euros para ayudarnos en vender vinos raros a precios justos…

– Algunas de esas regiones están atravesando malos momentos y se avecinan otros peores.

¿Cuántas revelaciones puedo entender en un solo día? Tendría que ser un genio para saber de antemano cuando se reúnen una serie de condiciones totalmente mal pensadas para aventurar como posible el desastre que viene un poco más tarde…

– Mucha ironía gasta usted, señor Dawes, ahora que al vino ha llegado gente de todo pelaje buscando dinero o prestigio social.

Bueno, prestigio social, sí, porque los clientes de su negocio verdadero pueden sentirse como reyes comiendo chuletillas al sarmiento sentados en una sala de mármol (subvencionado por la comunidad), con muchas hectáreas de viñedos jóvenes bien regados (de agua y ayudas oficiales) alrededor. Lo que me sorprende un montón es que no utilizan las nuevas barricas caras francesas para asar las chuletillas. Esto último, como bien saben vuestros lectores, es totalmente una broma, porque todos saben que con el roble nuevo joderían por completo el sabor de las chuletillas. Para asar las chuletillas es mejor utilizar los sarmientos de los viñedos autóctonos recién arrancados (para poder plantar mas tempranillo, cabernet, merlot… en zonas y tierras no aptas). Pero no estoy de acuerdo que están buscando dinero en el negocio, porque de ganar tanto para montar una bodega y contribuir a la extinción de los bosques europeos (francés, italiano, búlgaro, ruso, etc.) comprando roble nuevo, seguro que son bastante listos para haber aprendido la lección que sabe todo el mundo en California: «Si quieres ganar una pequeña fortuna en el negocio de vinos, hay que empezar con una gran fortuna».

– Muchos piensan que el mundo del vino tiene los mismos parámetros económicos que la banca o una fábrica de tornillos…

Bueno, en cuanto a la banca vea el párrafo sobre las fortunas… Por lo que se refiere a tornilllos, hay muchos que han entrado en este mundo supersaturado de vino que van a acabar pensando que les han sometido al tornillo de la tortura medieval.

– ¿Por qué muchos construyen primero una gran bodega y luego hacen un vino, por cierto, casi siempre, horroroso…?

¡Imposible! Dice la prensa que casi cada uno de estos vinos es un nuevo milagro. Como sabe todo el mundo, cada bodega que quiere hacer un gran vino puede hacerlo el primer año. No importa si la bodega es totalmente nueva y desconocida, que nadie en la bodega haya hecho una cosecha con todo el mecanismo nuevo (toldo, maquinaria, planta de fermentación, laboratorio, etc…), lo que presenta un reto enorme. Tampoco importa que la bodega esté llena de barricas nuevas --a veces no bien envinadas-- y que dan sabores asquerosos al vino. Lo más importante en este caso no es el vino, es el enchufe con la prensa especializada. Luego, los que compran este tipo de vino y beben tragos largos muy sugestionados, a veces se hartan de beberlos porque son horrorosos y se enteran tarde que han estado bebiendo tinta y papel en vez de un auténtico gran vino. A partir de ahí se plantean los problemas porque después del primer golpe de prensa tienen que subir o hundirse por mérito propio, lo que muchos no tienen.

– ¿No sería mejor hacerlo al revés y olvidarse de que tienen que crecer cada año por encima de unas posibilidades que no tienen o que deben adulterar…?

No señor. Hay que tener una bodega grande primero, porque las chuletillas van a saber mejor y esto ayuda mucho al vino. Y con el resto de las subvenciones uno puede ofrecer algo de foie-gras de primer plato, lo que ayuda un montón a los vinos heroicos y horrorosos.

– La crítica conduce a la globalización o a descubrir lo raro por lo extraño como elemento diferenciador…

Hay algunos que no reconocen que Franco ha muerto hace más de 30 años y ya está permitido no tener vergüenza en ser ciudadano de la parte de la Península que no incluye Portugal, por lo cual tienen que mostrar a todo el mundo que son capaces de hacer vinos tan malos como en California o en Australia.

– Parker y otros muchos en nuestro país son fruto de la globalización…

No es sólo la globalización, es el mismo gusto que nos induce a valorar Paris Hilton, Britney Spears y los héroes de la prensa roja. Hay un gran mercado para vinos de mal gusto, que se venden mucho más que todos los de buen gusto. El Cordobés (padre) en su día fue mucho más popular y cotizado que Antonio Ordóñez.

– Da miedo pensar que algunos prescriptores australianos, neozelandeses o americanos recorran Europa tratando de vendernos que hay que hacer vinos a la carta y nadie les diga hasta aquí hemos llegado….

Hombre, si hacemos vinos tipo australiano, americano, neozelandés, no tenemos que enviar dinero fuera para comprarlos porque elaboramos toda la gama aquí. Somos capaces de hacer muy buenas imitaciones de estos vinos en todos las partes de la Península (que no incluye Portugal). Perdemos identidad, pero no importa mucho…

– Está claro que el vino no es un producto típico para aplicar la mercadotecnia habitual de otros productos.

¡Claro! El buen vino es un producto muy moderno y se hace en la bodega con la buena técnica. Es fácil. Solo tienes que comprar una calculadora y una pila de revistas de la prensa especializada -escritas mayoritariamente por gente que viven en pisos en grandes ciudades- y después identificar las técnicas más mencionadas y contarlas. A saber. Fermentación en barrica: 1,239 menciones en las primeras 20 páginas de cualquiera; Battonage: 888 veces en ediciones mensuales, un poco menos si es solo dominical; roble nuevo francés: depende en el número de paginas de la revista, pero puedes calcular un promedio de 16 veces por página… Pero hay que ser listo y buscar los verdaderos secretos como maceraciones largas, como enterrar caca en cuernos, battonage en noches de la luna llena, etc.

– Claro que tiene que haber de todo en el mercado pero sin engañar al consumidor ni pretender ser auténticos con una imagen que no se corresponde a la realidad.

Muchos tienen que inventar su propia realidad para vender sus vinos.

– En España el dinero fácil tiene muchas tentaciones para negocios rápidos…

En cuanto al vino, les recomiendo en vez de hacer una inversión gorda en una bodega que busquen un manantial de buena (o regularcita) agua, meterlo en barrica nueva francesa algunos meses y venderlo como agua mineral con roble Radoux, Taransaud, Francois Freres, etc. Hacer un márketing fuerte el primer año y, como parece que ya la gente está acostumbrada al sabor de roble crudo, ellos acabarán probándolo. Después del primer año, hay que hacer un poco de inflación de las cifras de venta y vender el negocio a Nestlé o a Coca-Cola para millones y jubilarse de puta madre.

– Burdeos no es ni lo que fue en otros tiempos. Australia tiembla después de una gran expansión inicial y en España nacen, crecen y se venden proyectos como setas cambiando de mano en mano…

– ¿No te parece más entretenido que jugar a la ruleta en un casino?

– ¿Cómo percibe el mundo del vino de España desde Estados Unidos?

Ha crecido el interés por los vinos españoles a causa de las puntuaciones de Parker, pero creo que en los últimos años ha tenido bastante que ver con la fama de la cocina española de vanguardia, que ya tiene sus propios problemas. En las cifras de venta de los vinos españoles, que han crecido mucho, entran muchos vinos blancos (Rueda, Albariño, Penedés), mucho cava y muchos vinos baratos hechos con garnacha. Siguen ganado los vinos de Torres, por ejemplo, y algunos vinos de los grandes de La Rioja. Y después los vinos parkeristas caros. Creo que tiene más que ver con la nueva imagen positiva de España. A pesar de que Parker, The Wine Spectator, Internacional Wine Cellar y otros han dado altas puntuaciones a unos vinos que, en mi opinión, no son los mejores ejemplares del buen vino español, creo el presunto éxito de este tipo de vino al final de la carrera nos puede llevar a la situación de Australia y lo que temo que va a pasar en California. No creo que el paladar de aficionado de buen vino pueda aguantar el tipo de vino llamado 'moderno', igual que la mayoría de la gente no van a soportar a mucha cocina súper-vanguardista. Ambos conceptos van a tener una vida limitada. En cuanto al vino, la revolución ya está en marcha en USA. La gente normal (y hasta algunos nuevos ‘enorricos’ que ya van aprendiendo) está harta de vinos negros, pesados, con alto grado, bajos en acidez y horriblemente mal marcados por maderas nuevas.

– ¿Y el vino de Rioja?

Creo que, en general, todavía tiene una buena reputación, pero hay muchos que consideran –sin razón pienso yo– que los vinos de a Ribera del Duero, Toro y Priorato son más 'sexys'.

– ¿Por qué se han despreciado en España los claretes y los blancos cuando hay un mercado que lo va pidiendo cada año… y sigue creciendo…?

Hay blancos –sin barrica y sin battonage– que están entre los vinos más interesantes, deliciosos, auténticos y bien hechos del país; y encima tienen muy buena relación calidad-precio. Hay muchos que están por encima de muchos tintos. España tiene algunos de los mejores claretes, claros y rosados del mundo. Y cada año, hay cavas más interesantes y más deliciosos. La mayoría de los vinos mencionados no tienen el asqueroso sabor de madera nueva cruda que caracteriza a muchos tintos de ahora. Tampoco tienen el grado alto, ni sobremadurez, falta de acidez, etc… Si no estoy catando para una revista, casi no bebo tintos con madera ya. Y no estoy solo; hay muchos profesionales que piensan igual, incluso algún director de una revista de vinos importante en EEUU.

– Autenticidad, honestidad…

Lo que aconsejo a bodegueros familiares es hagan el vino que a ti te gusta en tu mesa familiar y no para un hombre de Maryland que no ha estado nunca en una bodega en España, que sea fiel a si mismo, haga vino honesto, auténtico y deje que su vino refleje su personalidad, sus viñedos y su tierra. Si lo haces bien, va a ser un vino único.

– El vino para catar como hacen unos o para beber como acompañante de la gastronomía…

Para mí, el vino de cata no sirve para acompañar la buena comida. No disfruto, porque me encanta buen vino en la comida y el vino hecho para el trago de cata no me invita a más tragos.

– Pues resulta que uno se encuentra vinos viejos de bodegas históricas que rompen todos los tópicos de los nuevos gurús y vinos jóvenes y desconocidos en su mayoría que sorprenderían a muchos por su gran valor…

Porque llegan a conocer que un gran vino es un gran vino. No tiene un molde específico. Ese tipo de vinos te deja con buen sabor en la boca y lo echas de menos cuando se acaba la botella. Hay vinos modernos honestos que, también, son así.

– Madera y alcohol han marcado las tendencias de los últimos años…

Muchos quieren echar la culpa al cambio climático, pero la verdad es que están tratando de convencernos de que han hecho grandes vinos en sitios de gran calor y donde nunca en la historia han hecho verdaderos grandes vinos. Algún día vamos a llegar a considerar el abuso de madera nueva un sabor tan despreciado como el vino de pellejo o el resina griega. La barrica era un recipiente para criar y envejecer el vino; ahora ya se ha convertido en un agente que aporta sabores. Lo de las virutas es lamentable. Prefiero que dejaran adulterar el vino que la esencia de frambuesa o mora, que es mucho más agradable. Para mí, el abuso de madera nueva ha arruinado más vinos en los últimos 20 años que la TCA y los malos corchos juntos.

– Y la fruta, ¿dónde queda la fruta original y natural, sin técnicas de laboratorio por medio?

¡Hombre! Mientras se vendan los vinos como cargados de ‘¡fruta!’. La verdad es que están cargados, punto final, de fruta sobremadurada, alcohol y roble, y muchos no tiene la acidez para soportarlo ni tres años. Son como los toros gordos que no embisten. Entran bonitos y impresionantes y después caen como una piedra y son flojos de remos.

– ¿Qué importancia tiene el color?

El color es lo que tiene más importancia en el vino. Si puedes ver el fondo de la copa es defectuoso… Tiene que ser negro el vino, como el ‘arrós negre’. Por eso en las catas a ciegas no se cata en copas donde no pueden ver el color, porque al más negro hay que dar la máxima puntuación. Si puedes ver el fondo de la copa y el vino tiene tonos rubí-rojo-amarillo es que han echado agua y azafrán, así como esencia de frambuesa, y esto es fraude….

– Tiene usted muy mala uva… En Rioja siempre lo tuvieron mucho más abierto que lo que han dejado entrever las nuevas tendencias.

– En La Rioja han hecho vinos fatales durante siglo y medio, pero ya están aprendiendo que el vino bueno debe de ser negro. ¿Lo tenemos claro? Hablando de claros, los claros (ojo de gallo) del Sur de La Rioja son una maravilla, pero como no son negros, los bebo con los ojos cerrados. También los doy a mi amiga ciega y le digo que no son negros y no haga caso.

– Por cierto, qué efímeras son las modas…

No, señor. Está usted equivocado. En los últimos 2000 años los que hacen vino han ido buscando el vino verdadero. Esta generación lo ha encontrado. Y es negro… y tiene que tener bastante madera nueva para construir un chalet de puta madre en las afueras, en las Guadarramas… y tener bastante alcohol para poder llegar en coche, por los túneles de peaje, por supuesto.

– Modas que no aguantan tantos años como algunos vinos. Ya veremos cómo evolucionan en la crianza…

Joder… Vamos a ser pesados y pensar que viviremos una vida larga bebiendo este tipo de vino. Es mejor pensar que este tipo de vino triunfa en el mundo donde mandan Cheney y Bush. Son aptos para la época.

– ¿Qué es un vino honesto?

El vino que no te harta de beber, que te invita a otro trago y que no te emborracha de una sola copa. De verdad, yo prefiero este tipo de vino, hecho con uvas autóctonas, que refleja la tierra, el clima, el sitio de donde viene y la gente honesta que lo hace. Y que no sea marcado con madera nueva de ningún tipo. Si quiero que mi vino sepa a madera chupo un palillo antes de cada trago.

– No tiene miedo que alguno le llame talibán…

Lo más importante es que me llamen; aunque –parece mentira– me han llamado cosas peores. Pero saben que amo a los países de esta Península, a veces incluyendo Portugal, con todo corazón. ¡Que viva er vino güeno, manque pierda puntos parkeristas!

About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television

series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Americans are Discovering That Spanish Wine & Food Pairing Possibilities are Limitless

2008-12-27T12:31:00.007-05:00

(Note: A version of this article, directed at an American professional chef and food aficionado audience, is featured on the new Culinary Institute of America’s Worlds of Flavor Spain-dedicated website www.worldsofflavorSpain.com, which debuted in December 2008. This is the first time that The Culinary Institute of America, widely regarded as the world's premier culinary college, has launched a Web site dedicated to the food, wine and culture of a single country. The CIA’s Worlds of Flavor Spain website offers exciting sponsorship opportunities for Spanish companies seeking to reach the vital American culinary and wine communities, a large, affluent, very active demographic. For more information about sponsorship opportunities contact author Gerry Dawes, gerrydawes@aol.com.

Click on text box for captions or click to turn off captions. All photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes 2008.

Several years ago Spain’s cocina de vanguardia movement vaulted into the spotlight on the international culinary stage and, along with two decades of striking advances in business, architecture, fashion, cinema, etc., the country’s full-fledged status as a great modern European nation was assured and so was world-wide awareness of things Spanish, including Spanish wines and how diverse and versatile many of them are with, not just Spanish, but a wide range of cuisines and cooking styles.

Foreign Visitors to Spain, New-wave Cuisine and American Tapas Bars Create Demand for Spanish Wines

Some 60,000,000 people, including more than 1,100,000 Americans (2007), visit Spain each year and become acquainted with Spanish food—much more the traditional and creative traditional food than the new-wave cooking of Ferran Adrià, Juan Mari Arzak and their avant-garde cuisine disciples. Many of these visitors become enamored of Spain, its unique culture, its wide range of regional cuisines and its wines that are sometimes so beautifully matched with local dishes and have transcendent culinary and wine experiences. In the United States, the fame of the Spanish vanguardia chefs generated a tsunami of favorable raves from American food writers and thus a second wave of interest in Spanish wines and Spanish food products. And the proliferation of tapas and small plates bars and restaurants in the United States (there are more than 70 establishments in New York City alone) in recent years have all combined to create a heightened interest of historic proportions in things Spanish. These tapas bars and restaurants with their by-the-glass sales and adventurous Spanish wine lists has helped introduce a multitude of new consumers to the jewels of the Spanish wine world.

Likewise, savvy sommeliers around the country, once attracted by price, now by the quality levels of Spanish wines are giving them places of prominence on the wine lists of a broad range of restaurants, including the mostly highly regarded chef-driven restaurants in the country. This has also been spurred by the rocket-ride of Spanish cocina de vanguardia, which has propelled Spain into the culinary stratosphere, attracting many American chefs and foodies to Spain to see the fireworks, where the discovered the wide gamut of Spanish wines in the process.

Importers of Spanish Food & Wines

American Importers of Spanish food products and wines such as New York’s Despaña Brands (www.despanabrands.com), Tienda.com (www.tienda.com) in Virginia and The Spanish Table (www.spanishtable.com) in Seattle, Berkeley, Santa Fe and Marin County are all prospering, as are a number of Spanish wine importers, so that more and more consumers have access to ingredients and wines. The scores of tapas restaurants that have opened and prospered in such places as New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and even in suburban Connecticut, where Barcelona Wine Bars is opening its sixth tapas bar-restaurant, have greatly expanded the possibilities for Americans to experience Spanish wine and food matches. And, since these tapas and small plates establishments often have creative chefs who often quite purposefully depart from straight-up interpretations of Spanish cuisine, diners often find Spanish wines paired to dishes drawn from much broader, more diverse cooking influences.

In this article, I will make some broad sketches of the different Spanish wine types and equally broad recommendations about some the foods they might pair with. With some tasting and experimentation, chefs and restaurateurs will find a whole new world of exciting new possibilities within the range of Spanish wines now available in many markets.

Vinos de Jerez - Sherry Pairing

Spain’s great classic wine, sherry, has long been pigeonholed as a wine to be served with Spanish tapas or perhaps, in its sweeter versions, sipped in front of a fireplace, accompanied by quiet conversation or a good book. Relatively few people understand that sherry and its nearby cousin, montilla, range in style from bone-dry to richly sweet, which makes them excellent matches for anything from Japanese (especially sushi and tempura) and other Asian cuisines to fried foods to a broad range of artisan cheeses (sweet sherries matched to blue cheeses are spectacular). Among the dry sherries, all of which should always be served chilled, crisp, fresh, salty, appley manzanilla is a great match for shrimp, oysters, scallops clams and a variety of shellfish; it is the quintessential accompaniment to tapas; and offers a refreshing counterpoint for cheeses, especially Spain’s aged ewe’s milk cheeses. Fino, from inland Jerez, is also bone-dry and a bit weighter, gutsier and more alcoholic, but is still a good match with many of same foods as manzanilla and is also a good substitute for sake with Japanese food. Amontillado, which is some of the best version are also dry, but many have been sweetened for broader market appeal. The drier versions are longer aged and more complex than manzanillas and finos are splendid with richer dishes like game, duck risotto, and organ meats, as well as being superb companions to cheeses. The sweeter amontillados also go well with cheeses and especially foie gras.

Olorosos come in both dry and sweet versions and can be among the most monumentally great and emblematic sherries. Dry oloroso, it is often said, are best in front of a fireplace with a serious contemplative attitude, a good book and a dish of nuts, but these wines are also superb when sipped as a course match on a tasting menu, especially with a game bird offering or a dish with cheese in the sauce. Sweet olorosos and cream sherries make for lovely sipping, are good matches for foie gras and game courses and may just be the perfect match for sipping with espresso, late or café con leche. Super sweet, syrupy Pedro Ximénez sherries, redolent of orange peel, raisins, prunes, figs and baking spices can be sipped alone, but are used by many chefs to sauce foie gras and game dishes, but can also be poured of ice creams as a fabulous sauce, especially when blended with chocolate. There are also some delicious, exotic sweet sherries made from moscatel, for which the Atlantic sherry country town of Chipiona was once famous.

Cava Pairing (Spanish Sparkling Wine)

Cava, the Spanish equivalent of champagne, made mostly in Catalunya by the same exacting standards as in France, is very versatile; it can be used as an ideal, inexpensive by-the-glass aperitif and in bubbly drinks such as mimosas, but its palate-refreshing qualities also make it ideal with not only with Spanish tapas; all kinds of seafood--especially mollusks and crustaceans; and American appetizers. With the fiery picante qualities of many Mexican dishes, cava can serve as a cold, refreshing counterpoint to the heat and it is delicious with a broad range of Asian cuisines (sushi, Chinese food and even spicy Thai dishes). Cava also marries well with modern cuisine dishes with complex flavors and multiple ingredients. After all the Catalan stars of Spain’s cocina de vanguardia pour cava liberally with many of their creative cuisine tasting menus.

Spanish Vinos Blancos (White Wines)

Albariños: The Great Galician White Wine Star

For a very long time Spanish white wines were in the shadows, especially when compared to the great white wines of France, the lovely Riesling-based wines of Germany, many American Chardonnays and Northern Italian wines. That is a thing of the past. Rías Baixas whites from northwestern Atlantic Spain, including the now famous Albariños, are so readily delicious and versatile both for stand-alone sipping and as companions to a wide variety of dishes. Albariños have had great success recently: They are fresh, lively, well-balanced and delicious—often with lovely lime, pear and mineral flavors--and are very versatile, both for stand-alone sipping and as companions to a wide variety of dishes. Albariños suit cooking styles that range from the supernal shellfish and fish of northern Spain to contemporary American chef-driven cooking to Asian cuisine or any food that calls for a crisp, fruity, often mineral-driven white wine. Because of their versatility and consumer acceptance of these wines, American restaurant wine directors consider Rías Baixas wines a must on wine lists, so much so that the United States is now the region’s most important export market.

Other Surprising Galician White Wines with Potential

But versatile, high quality white wines in Galicia don’t stop with Rías Baixas. There are a number of superb whites emerging from Galicia, many of them exhibiting surprising, terroir-driven character, wines that show a distinct sense of place due to native grape varieties married to a fortuitous combination of rainfall, sunlight, altitude and, above all mineral-laced soils (granite, pizarra slate, calcareous). Many of them are reminiscent of great French white wines from Burgundy, the Loire Valley and Alsace. Wines from the denominaciones de origen (D.O.) Ribeiro, Ribeira Sacra, Valdeorras and Monterrei are showing the potential, and food pairing affinity, that will soon place some of the best Godello- and Treixadura native variety blends among the world’s greatest white wines.

More White Wines From Rueda, the Basque Country and Navarra

Other excellent Spanish whites are from Rueda, south of the historic town of Tordesillas near Valladolid, where wines based on the native verdejo grape are versatile and affordable; from the northern Basque country, whose “green,” fresh, crisp flavors of Txacoli are so palate refreshing; from the Atlantic-influenced and Mediterranean Contintental climates of Navarra east of La Rioja, where well-balanced whites based on chardonnay are are some of the most food-friendly white wines in north central Spain; and from La Rioja itself, which, in additional to its stellar red wines, has some oak-aged viura-based wines of distinction.

The Mediterranean White Wines of Cataluña

Cataluña also has a broad range of superb Mediterranean-influenced whites, including some chardonnays from Conca de Barberà (Tarragona) and Penedès that rank among the best in Spain; native variety xarel-lo, macabeu (viura) and parellada mono-varietal and blended whites from Penedès; and some surprising, unique, full-bodied garnacha blanca whites from Montsant and especially, Terra Alta, south of Priorat. Alella, virtually on the outskirts of Barcelona makes a lovely, crisp fresh white from pansa blanca (the local name for the xarel-lo variety). This wines marry well with traditional local dishes such as arròs negre (black rice flavored with squid ink), Catalan mar y muntanya (surf and turf) dishes such those using seafood and goose and suquets (fisherman-inspired seafood stews). These wines are also proudly served in Catalonia’s famous star chef restaurants paired to cutting edge cocina de vanguardia dishes.

Spanish Vinos Rosados (Rosé Wines)

Among the most refreshing, delicious and versatile of all of Spain’s wines are its rosados, a beautiful collection of rosé wines that range in La Rioja from the ethereal, pale, onion-skin garnacha-and-viura blends in the southern part of Spain’s most famous wine region to fuller-bodied, strawberry-esque, tempranillo-based rosados from the north. Nearby Navarra also produces some fine rosés, especially those based on garnacha grapes, which can be among the best rosé wines in the world, and they also make rosado blends that include merlot and cabernet sauvignon.

Other regions producing notable rosados include Cataluña, whose rosats, as rosados are called in Catalan, tend to be deeper and darker in color and consequently more intense in flavor and aroma; Valencia, which produces some unique rosados from the native bobal; and Cigales, the Castilla y León rosado zone that traditionally has been famous for its tinto del país (tempranillo)-based rosés.

All these wines are delightful and, for the most part, quite dry. Although some rosado producers make market concessions by leaving residual sugar in their wines, most are excellent companions to a broad range of foods-- seafood, pork, Asian cuisines, American barbecue, Mexican and South American cuisines and of course, with a wide variety of Spanish dishes from patatas a la Riojana (potatoes with chorizo), pochas con codornices to seafood- and land-based ingredient paellas.

Spanish Vinos Tintos (Red Wines)

Spain is best known for its red wines, offering a broad range of options for food pairings. Reds run the gamut from Galicia’s lovely, lower alcohol Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras, to medium-weight reds from Bierzo in the north of Castilla y León, all made from the mencía grape. Tempranillo-based wines from La Rioja range from lighter, well-aged reservas and gran reservas to the winemaker stars--dark, concentrated wines made from single vineyards or old vines. Depending on whether they come from the cooler up-river Duero Valley Ribera de Burgos area, or from the muy caliente downriver areas in Valladolid province, Ribera del Duero’s tinto fino (tempranillo based) wines have drawn rave reviews in the past decade and are staples on many American wine lists. Because of their balance, these wines go with a wide range of food from by-the-glass tapas bar fare to the most sophisticated modern cuisines. They are great with just about anything that calls for glass of good red wine, including pizza, pasta, steaks and game dishes.

Powerhouse Reds

Big, powerful, voluptuous extracted wines, some of them among the most highly rated wines in many popular wine publications, but often not as food friendly as more restrained, better balanced wines, come from Toro (west of Ribera del Duero) and its tinto de toro grapes; from Jumilla in the Mediterranean Levante where the monastrell grape is a revelation; from Castilla-La Mancha, where there are a number of high-powered notable estate reds; from Penedès in Catalonia, where a number of first-rate cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah blends and 100% varietal wines are made; and from Cataluña’s Tarragona province, where the quality of Priorat’s licorella slate soil adds unique nuances to its old vine garnacha- and carineña-based wines. Often blended with varying percentages of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah, the wines of Priorat are among the greatest red wines of the Mediterranean. Neighboring Montsant uses the same grapes, but has a wider variety of soils and offers a more affordable approximation to the wines of Priorat.

And, surprisingly, the province of Madrid is producing some balanced, very promising reds from native and foreign varieties grown in high altitude vineyards. Because of the low acid, high alcohol and wood component in these big wines, I find them better shared among four people. These wines do well with pizza, steaks and cheeses. They can also work well with Mexican and southwestern American cuisine. Since there is such a wide range of red wines made in Spain, the pairing possibilities are as endless as those using Bordeaux reds, Burgundies, Rhone Valley, Italian Piedmont and Tuscan, Napa and Sonoma, and Australian, Chilean and South African wines.

Vinos de Postre (Dessert Wines)

Except for dessert sherries, Spain has not been famous for dessert wines, but there are an incredible and unique range of sweet and off-dry styles, especially from the warmer, Mediterranean-influenced areas. Besides sweet sherries, Andalucía also has superb Pedro Ximénez-based wines from Montilla and late harvest moscatels from Málaga. The Levante—Valencia and Alicante—produce some luscious moscatels and the legendary monastrell-based fondillón, a rare and unique, off-dry to sweet wine that is on a par with a great tawny port. Always versatile Navarra produces some stunning late-harvest moscatels; the volcanic soils of the Canary Islands produce a superb malvasia; and the warm climate Mediterranean areas of Cataluña produce some old-style garnacha, moscatel and malvasia-based wines that may date to the Roman era. Try some of these wines with egg-based, nut-based and chocolate desserts.
These wines can be wonderful with desserts or just sipped by themselves after dinner. Cream sherries, for instance, marry well with espresso coffee and some like the Pedro Ximénez can be used as sauces with foie gras (for instance) and like all sherries, including those intriguing sweet, dark moscatels from Chipiona, they can be revelations when sipped with cheeses.

As we have seen, Spain produces an exceptional array of wines, which offers a infinite multitude of possibilities for unique wine and food pairings. (For some specific classic Spanish wine and food pairings, see Gerry Dawes’s article on Iconic Spanish food and wine experiences.)

- - The End - -

About the Author:

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine. He is currently working on Homage to Iberia, an authorized sequel to James A. Michener’s Iberia. For more information, visit the author’s Spain blog at:

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Tapas Dancing: Tapas Bars USA Food Arts October 2008

2008-11-13T23:27:00.003-05:00

Food Arts October 2008 Tapas Bars in the United States
About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Gerry's View Interviews & Articles - ICEX Foods From Spain News USA

2008-11-13T23:11:00.003-05:00

Interview with Chef Alex Ureña, Pamplona, New York City Winter 2008

Starchefs.com Founder Antoinette Bruno Fall 2008

José Andrés & El Salón Internacional de Gourmets, Madrid Summer 2008

Chef Terrance Brennan, Picholine & Artisanal, New York & Spanish Products, Spring 2008

In the Metropolitan New York area, tapas bars are flourishing and seem to be sprouting like mushrooms in many youth-driven areas of the city and even beyond to once staid areas such as Connecticut. Winter 2007

Spain now has an incredible number of prestigious international gastronomy and wine fairs, so many in fact that few Spaniards, even hardened professionals, can keep up with them. Things kick off in January with Madrid Fusión, which has become one of the world’s top gourmet encounters in only five years. Summer 2007

Solera Tapas Bar & Restaurant, Minneapolis & Madrid Fusión 2007 Spring 2007

Spanish Specialty Food Shops & A Personal View of Madrid Fusión 2006

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Con-queso-dores: A Ham & Cheese Journey in Western Spain

2008-10-22T14:51:00.003-04:00

Con-queso-dores: A Ham & Cheese Journey in the Columbine and Conquistador Villages of Western Spain; the highlands of Castilla y León & The Mountains of Asturias

Text & photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes

One of the most rewarding trips in Spain for lovers of Spain's great cheeses, hams, historic sites and stunning scenery, is a trip through western Spain. A couple of years ago, I embarked on an ambitious trip to Spain designed to accomplish several missions: My journey would begin in warm, southern Andalucía on the Atlantic Ocean and end in the cool northern coastal regions of the Cantabrian Sea. Along the way, my travels would range from Huelva on the Atlantic Ocean in the south; traversing the superb jamón Ibérico, exceptional queso and conquistador country of Extremadura; a visit to the histoiric university town of Salamanca and its Guijuelo ham country; on to Zamora for Zamorano cheese and Toro wine; to León and its magficent stained-glass cathedral, Bierzo wine and Valdeón cheesese; and ending up again on the Atlantic Ocean, this time in northern Spain in the Asturias, land of cidra (cider) and Spain's Parque Naciónal de Quesos (National Park of Cheeses).

Driving southeast from Sevilla to Mazagón (Huelva), I arrived at the beautiful Parador de Turismo, which sits on a cliff above a long stretch of Atlantic beach. From Mazagón, I explored Palos de la Frontera, the village where Christopher Columbus recruited his crews and set sail on his first voyage, and the monastery of La Rábida, where Franciscan monks, Antonio de Marchena and Juan Pérez, had sheltered and encouraged Columbus, then helped him get his plan before Queen Isabela. Near Huelva, the provincial capital, a huge monument commemorating the discovery of the New World stands at the mouth of the rust red Río Tinto, from which Columbus sailed into the open sea on his way to immortality.

Grounds of the Parador Nacional at Mazagón

Monastery of Santa María de la Rábida where Columbus stayed, near Palos de la Frontera

Iglesia de San Jorge with its Moorish doorway, Palos (Huelva), where the
edict was read to requisition the ships for Columbus's first voyage.

Near Huelva, the provincial capital, at the mouth of the rust red Río Tinto, from which Columbus sailed into the open sea on his way to immortality, stands a huge monument commemorating the discovery of the New World.

Replicas of Columbus's ships near Palos.

The next morning I drove north into Huelva’s Sierra de Aracena mountains to Jabugo, famous for its jamones Ibéricos de bellota made from Iberian pata negra (black foot) pigs, which roam free in the autumn months fattening up on acorns foraged beneath the cork oaks. I spent the morning visiting the Consorcio de Jabugo, a producer of the first-rate jamones. Julio Revilla, the firm’s President, showed me around his impressive production facility, where hundreds of the world’s best hams were aging under ideal conditions. Revilla explained that because of aging requirements (2½ years for hams), the jamones will not be available in the U.S. until 2008. In the plant’s dining room, Revilla invited me to lunch (salad, the Consorcio’s own Castilian cheese from Valladolid, plenty of their first-rate ham, chorizo and lomo (cured Ibérico loin), plus cuts of grilled, fresh Ibérico pork, for which a big demand is developing in Japan.

After a stop at Aracena to pick up a Monte Robledo torta de cabra, a rare local small goats' milk cheese (tortas are usually made with sheeps' milk), I explored several little-known hill villages before reaching the intriguing Extremaduran town of Jerez de los Caballeros (Badajoz), hometown to both Hernando de Soto, discoverer of the Mississippi River, and Vasco Nuñez de Balbao, the first Western explorer to report seeing the Pacific Ocean. That evening, arriving in the lovely small city of Zafra, I stayed in the 15th-century fortified Dukes of Feria palace, now the Parador de Turismo. At dinner, served in the soaring, two-story Renaissance patio, I sampled the assertive and delicious Aracena goat torta, an intriguing cheese with hints of mushroom or truffle flavors.

The following day took me through stark, hilly terrain to the remote de la Serena region (Badajoz) to seek out the legendary Torta de la Serena. With much the same characteristics as Torta del Casar, this exceptional, expensive cheese is ~ in springtime and early summer versions ~ creamy, buttery, and spreadable like Brie, but with more intriguing, rustic flavors. I visited two excellent producers making cheeses from the de la Serena Denominación de Origen Protegida (D.O.P.) A D.O.P. operates under rules similar to those governing wine regions and guarantees the origins and production methods of a cheese.

Francisco Murillo, the D.O.P.’s technical director, took me to the Sánchez Ruíz (Toril del Cardo brand) cheese factory near the rocky, hillside town of Benquerencia. Murillo showed me a small artisan plant surrounded by well-trod grounds where scores of merino sheep, the approved breed, rested beneath the shade of oak trees. Murillo explained that D.O.P. Tortas de la Serena are made only with leche cruda de oveja, raw sheeps' milk, and he also pointed out the cardo silvestre (Cynara cardunculus; wild thistle flowers) that produce the vegetable rennet used to coagulate the milk. Cheeses made from this rennet ~ a practice rooted in ancient Moorish and Jewish dietary laws ~ often have a Vacherin Mont d’Or-like creaminess and a pleasant bitter almond finish. Murillo also gave me a tour of Lácteos de Castuera, a modern production plant that still requires careful daily hand-turning of the cheeses and cleaning the planks they rest on while aging. He gave me three tortas de la Serena, each with a lace band around its rind and packaged in a small brown cazuela, a reusable ceramic baking dish.

After stopping in Medellín, where an imposing statue of explorer Hernan Cortés stands in the town square, I drove to the great monumental Roman city of Mérida and checked into the Parador, this one ensconced in a renovated convent on a charming plaza. After touring Mérida’s splendid Roman theater and amphitheater, fine Roman Museum (designed by Rafael Moneo) and awesome Roman bridge over the Guadiana River, I dined at the Parador. The simpática server offered me jamón Ibérico from the D.O. Dehesa de Extremadura, followed by a local cheese selection that included a Manchego-type sheeps' cheese; a creamy, log-shaped Doña Inés goats' cheese; an exceptional Torta de Barros (from south of Mérida; winner of the 2003 Salón Internacional Club de Gourmets Torta cheese competition); and several goat cheeses from Berrocales Trujillanos, including an excellent Ibores from Trujillo.

The next day, my itinerary included the little-known hilltop town of Montánchez. Also famous for its hams, Montánchez soars above the Extremaduran plain and has superb views from the hermitage below the castle ruins that crown the hill. After enjoying a picnic lunch of some Ibérico ham and chorizo, local cured olives, wine and fresh figs, and a Serena Torta, I drove to Trujillo, one of Spain’s most striking and history-steeped towns.

Trujillo was the hometown of Francisco Pizarro, conqueror of Peru, and Francisco Orellana, a kinsman of Pizarro who discovered the Amazon River. The town is filled with photographic opportunities including Pizarro’s great equestrian statue, the towering San Martín church on the storybook town square, a number of palaces including Pizarro’s, a castle on the hill and many distinguished buildings along steep, winding streets that offer dramatic vistas.

Previous paradores were good places to sample local cheeses. Trujillo was no exception, with good reason: The D.O.P. Ibores offices are located here and Trujillo is host to the most highly esteemed cheese competition in Spain, the annual Feria del Queso, where, in the Plaza Mayor on the first weekend in May, some 350 cheeses are available for judging, sampling and sale. At the parador, I was served a smooth, delicious Ibores goat cheese and a soft, rich tortita de Barros – cut in half and surrounded by toast rounds.

After a restful night, I set out for Cáceres to visit a Torta del Casar producer who came highly recommended by Toño Pérez, chef-owner of Átrio, a Michelin one-star restaurant that serves the best modern cuisine in Extremadura. Just southeast of Cáceres is EXLAJA, a modest, artisan quesería that produces a first-rate Torta del Casar ("Tiana"), a famous non-D.O.P. torta (El Castúo), a flavorful semi-curado and a characterful curado (aged one year). Now a D.O.P. recognized by the EU, Torta del Casar is a raw milk Merino sheep cheese that is also coagulated with wild thistle rennet. Similar in style to the French Vacherin Mont d’Or o Epoisses(both cows' milk cheeses), Torta del Casar can be semi-soft or ripened to the point that it becomes molten and can be scooped out with a piece of crusty country bread. Torta del Casar, which gets its name from its torta-shape (like a Spanish potato omelette, or tortilla), is quite expensive since it takes several sheep (two milkings a day) to get the gallon of milk required just to make a two-pound cheese.

I tasted several cheeses at EXLAJA, photographed some charmingly picturesque young lambs and the purple cardo silvestre flowers growing on the property, then drove into Cáceres, enjoying a superb lunch at Átrio – with Torta del Casar ice cream with membrillo strips and vanilla oil for dessert! After lunch I explored the historic old quarter of Cáceres, then drove north, stopping briefly in the town of Casar, from whence the cheese gets its name, to photograph a wonderful scene – the bell tower of the town church crowned with storks in their nests with a herd of sheep in the foreground. Further north, I stopped briefly in late evening at Guijuelo, a town south of Salamanca filled with Ibérico jamon and embutido processing plants, including those of Joselito, the most sought-after in Spain. I spent the night in Salamanca, a city famous for its historic university, its plateresque architecture and the most beautiful Plaza Mayor in Spain. Taking a temporary respite from cheese and ham sampling, I dined that evening on grilled shrimp and the region’s famous tostón, roast suckling pig.

The next day I drove to León, the last stop before continuing into the majestic, but challenging high mountains of the Picos de Europa and the National Park of Cheeses. On the way, I passed through Zamora, where the excellent D.O.P. Zamorano cheese is made from pasteurized milk from churra and castellano sheep. North of Zamora I stopped to visit the ruins of the once magnificent 12th-century Romanesque Cistercian monastery at Granja de Moreruela. Flanking the ruins, standing like soldiers at attention, were thousands of wild thistles, now dried and glowing golden in the rays of the evening sun.

Upon reaching León, I found it in the midst of fiesta, and its restaurants and bars packed. Volunteers worked steadily to create a huge carpet of flowers in front of León’s magnificent Gothic cathedral, but even the flower carpet was upstaged by the sight of the church’s superb stained glass windows lit from inside and glowing like iridescent jewels against the night sky.

The following morning, I headed north to another majestic cathedral, this time a natural one, the mighty Picos de Europa mountains. I had an appointment with Marino González, President of COASA ~ a group of some 40 artisan producers, including González, who is the prime mover behind promoting artisanal food products from the bounteous Asturian cornucopia. Marino led me to Posado de León, a small village in northeastern León province nestled in a valley beneath awesome mountains, which still had pockets of snow in early July. Here the Alonso brothers make Queso de Valdeón, one of the great blue cheeses of Europe. Made principally with cows milk (sometimes laced with a bit of sheeps and/or goats milk), the cheeses are injected with pencillum mold, aged under humid conditions, then wrapped in sycamore leaves before being sold. Valdeón is a wonderfully smooth and creamy cheese with all the character of a classic blue cheese, without the more aggressive traits of other blue cheeses.

After visiting Valdeón, I followed Marino González through the dramatic 14-kilometer canyon, the Desfiladero de Los Beyos, and up into the hills to visit his family home, where his sister produces the highly regarded artisan cheese, Beyos. A historic cheese that was nearly extinct, this dense, compact, "peasant"-style, cows milk queso has a unique flinty texture and flavor. The firmness at first bite melts into a buttery, creamy, chalky paste, which makes it a cheese par excellence with cider or wine. I sampled the Beyos with Asturian cider that Marino poured from a height into wide-mouthed glasses. Versions of Beyos are also made with goats milk and mixed cow and goats milk.

For two days I stayed in the Cangas de Onís, an important Asturian tourist and market town in the foothills, visiting a number of cheese producers who work with Marino González, sampling Cabrales, Spain’s most famous D. O. P. blue cheese, a semi-soft blue (made mostly from raw cows milk) with a strong, spicy flavor, and Gamoneu, one of the few remaining naturally bluing blue cheeses. This is made from raw cows' milk (with some goats or sheeps milk mixed in) and has a creamy, pungent flavor. I watched a Gamoneu producer’s wife work the coagulating curds and whey up to her elbows, after which she stoked the apple wood fire that provides the smoky flavor to rows of aging cheese wheels.

At Arenas de Cabrales, I visited Marino González’s own artisan cheese plant and the dark, humid caves on the hill where hundreds of Cabrales cheeses were maturing. I also tasted such cheeses as Afuega L’Pitu, Peñamellera and Ovín, but recounting my cheese adventures in this National Park of Cheeses is alone the subject for another article.

As I was driving towards Cantabria, the thought occurred to me to attempt to reach Tresviso, a town hidden at the end of a corkscrew road up in the highest peaks of these mountains, where a powerful D.O.P. blue cheese, Picón Bejes-Tresviso, is made. But the road was too difficult in my rental car, and I soon retraced my route and headed for the Parador de Turismo Gil Blas at Santillana del Mar, a Medieval village near the sea, southwest of Santander. As luck would have it, the selection of cheeses that final night at the parador included several Cantabrian cheeses including a pungent, grey-blue cheese from Tresviso. It reminded me that on my next trip to Spain’s National Park of Cheeses, Tresviso will be high on my list of places to visit.

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television

series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Decanter: Nuevo Articulo por Gerry Dawes

2008-10-15T14:03:00.009-04:00

Decanter Magazine Spain's New Wines: October 2008

Ribiera Sacra, Bierzo, Priorat, Montsant plus a piece on Ribera del Duero
with tasting notes by Decanter's tasting panel

Spain’s Surprising Terroir-Driven Reds: Slate-laced Glories
(The entire undedited text of the original article with a slide show and tasting notes.)

Vicky Christina Barcelona Wine Bars

2008-10-06T23:11:00.007-04:00

(Double click on each page to enlarge for reading.)

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television

series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

José Andrés: Interview with the Star Spanish Chef, Television Personality & Author

2008-10-06T22:01:00.005-04:00

José Andrés has rapidly become one of the top stars Spanish cuisine. Just in the past few years, Andrés, chef-partner and creative force behind THINKfoodGROUP, which owns and operates several several restaurants–most of them Spanish (his Jaleo and Mini-Bar by José Andrés at Café Atlantico) in Washington, D.C. In 2007, José and this group partnered with SBE Hotels and designer Phillippe Starck to create SLS, a luxury hotel brand built around the group’s food and beverage concepts. The first SLS hotel is due to open in Beverly Hills this fall.

José Andrés at Salon de Gourmets drinking Poma Aurea rosado cidra

He has a very popular prime-time television cooking show in Spain called Vamos a Cocinar and he is the host of American PBS-TV’s new series, José Made In Spain, which focuses on a different region each episode and features Spanish products, dishes from many different Spanish chefs and demonstrations on how to make the dishes. Andrés has published several books, including Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America, two cookbooks in Spain in Spanish and the companion book to his PBS-TV Series.

Andrés has won many awards, but perhaps the most prestigious yet awaits him. This year, he has been nominated (along with just five other great chefs working in America) for the Outstanding Chef Award by the James Beard Foundation.

Over the past several years, I have been with José Andrés several times–in Washington, D.C., in New York, at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, in Galicia, in Barcelona and, of course, Madrid. For this interview, after several attempts, I finally caught with the peripatetic Spanish food personality, José Andrés, back in Madrid again in April at the XXII annual Salón Internacional de Gourmets, a stellar four-day show of Spanish food, wines and spirits products, cheeses, cooking demonstrations and chefs awards run by the dynamic Grupo Gourmets crew (www.gourmets.net).

I tracked José down in the large pavilion of his native Asturias, then accompanied him on a walking tour through part of the massive Arenas pavilion, where he was stopped every few feet by a producer, well-wisher or a fan wanting a photograph with him. "Walking through a Spanish gourmet products show with José is like following a Semana Santa procession, stop and start, stop and start.....," quipped one of the group with José.

After stopping for a glass of Asturian sparkling cider, Pomea Aurea (from Trabanco), which could almost pass for a cava, I steered José to the Pabellon de Cristal, where I knew my friends at the La Catedral de Navarra (www.lacatedraldenavarra.com)– producers of some exceptional jarred vegetables (white asparagus, artichokes, pimientos de piquillo, habas, etc.) from la Ribera de Navarra–would give me a table upstairs, where we could have some privacy for a short interview (José was racing off to be on a Spanish television show).

What impresses you most about Spanish food?

For me the great culinary heroes are the artisans, fisherman, shepherds and all the people that are behind the production of any Spanish product. The real future of Spanish cuisine is in its unique products.

How do you see traditional Spanish cuisine these days?

Traditional cuisine that does not evolve will disappear. Traditional Spanish cooking is in constant evolution and it is in its best moment. Without traditional cuisine, we would not have the distinctive modern cuisine that we see in Spain today.

How is your American PBS-TV series, José: Made in Spain doing?

It has been great. We are in 80% of American markets, most cooking programs only reach about 30% of the market.

We are interrupted by the people from La Catedral de Navarra, who offer us some succulent baby white asparagus. "Americans need to learn more about great Spanish products such as these," José told me.

"There is a whole world of products to discover from areas all around Spain such as excellent tinned fish and shellfish from places in Galicia such as Cambados; raf tomatoes from Almeria and Murcia, which also has Jumilla wines, Calasparra rice, Murcia al Vino goat cheese and more; olive oils from Catalu a, Jaen and all around the warmer areas of Spain; saffron, serrano and Ibérico hams. . . I could go on forever, but I am expected shortly at a television studio. I have become a trobador (troubador) for Spanish cuisine and Spanish products."

With that, we head for the exit, exchange abrazos and José Andrés heads for his waiting car, off to continue spreading the word about the greatness of Spanish food.

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television

series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Best of Spanish Wines: Author's Choice

2008-10-05T10:09:00.005-04:00

When our Guest writer Gerry Dawes was asked by a magazine editor to write about the Top Thirty Spanish Wines, you can rest assured that our 'Wine Taliban ' would not be talking of the powerful and bold Spanish wines with a lot of oak. Here are his picks of the Alternate Top Wines instead .

Top Thirty: When my editor at Santé asked me to do a piece on some thirty top Spanish wines, I immediately realized that among the top thirty wines according to conventional wisdom were few wines that would make my personal top thirty list, which includes wines ranging from Catalan Cavas, whites from Galicia and Rueda, Navarra rosados, unoaked young reds from Bierzo, a few of the more restrained new-wave red wines and a blossoming genre of dessert wines from the Mediterranean coast, Navarra, Andalucia and the Canary Islands. Furthermore, my recent experiences with Spanish wines suggest that most wine drinkers are much happier drinking the wines on my list, than doing mortal combat with so-called blockbuster monsters that reap all the kudos in both the American and Spanish press.

But, before I get to the wines I will be recommending, most of which will be well worth the wait, a long simmering rant is in order. Over the past several years, I have developed a love-hate relationship with Spanish wines. I love drinking Spanish wines that show elegance, nice ripe (but not overripe) fruit, balance, style, charm, and even terroir and go very well with food; I hate tasting and, especially, drinking many of the new wave of opaque black, jammy, low acid, alcoholic wines that are often lashed with enough new oak to start a lumber yard.

Albariño grapes at Do Ferreiro in Rías Baixas.

The Wine Taliban: The latter, if anecdotal evidence from many sommeliers, restaurateurs, veteran wine writers and even winemakers is reliable, many of these wines, despite their hefty price tags, are often left with a third to half a bottle on the table when the meal is finished. After tasting such wines for articles, I continue sipping them with dinner. I usually find that myself, my tasting companion, my assistant and many of my friends can barely finish a glass, if that, before switching to a wine that is more harmonious not only with the food, but with promoting good humor. I have been accused of being a wine Taliban, defending every last Spanish classic to the bitter end. Not so. I merely like good, well-balanced wines that are not overwhelmed with overripe blackberry jam, alcoholic heat (and its accompanying effects) and palate-scouring new oak. The wines I like complement food, be they modern styles or fifty-year old jewels from La Rioja.

Read the rest of the article and others by Gerry Dawes on the Indian Wine Academy website.

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television

series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

La Rioja: R. López de Heredia - The Wines of Yesterday

2008-09-26T23:14:00.010-04:00

R. López de Heredia Slideshow

Double click on the slide show, then when the Google album comes up, click
on slideshow link to the right and go to a full screen view.

During the 1970s when I lived in southern Spain, the northern wine district of Rioja came to represent an oasis to me during the hot, rainless summers of Andalucia, my spiritual home. By early July, the heat settles in over a large portion of Spain. The sun bears down relentlessly, especially in the Mediterranean portions of the country, driving millions of Spaniards to the beaches and cool mountain resorts. Coinciding with this time of year was our annual, much anticipated trek to Pamplona, where Hemingway's inveterate lost souls come from all over the world to see the sun rise on yet another Fiesta de San Fermín, which he immortalized in The Sun Also Rises. Since my former wife Diana and I counted ourselves among the admirers of the venerable Don Ernesto's fiesta, we too joined the migration each year.

We always set out at least a week before the commencement of festivities at Pamplona, so we could explore the Spanish countryside along the way. On one of these trips, we discovered the Rioja and it became our favorite place to pass some quiet time before surrendering to the wild, week-long festivities at Pamplona, where peace, tranquillity, and sleep are rare commodities and not even particularly desirable ones at that. We looked forward to the Rioja country, where we could taste fine wines in cool bodegas, sample superb country cuisine, and enjoy the scenery, history, and milder climate of this high mountain valley.

We had arranged for two old friends, Alice Hall, the dowager empress of American bullfight aficionados of Milledgeville, Georgia and Carolyn Moyer of Davis, California to join us in a tour of the Rioja on our way to Pamplona. On this occasion, in 1973, we had written the firm of R. López de Heredia at Haro, the wine capital of La Rioja Alta, letting them know that we again wished to visit their bodega. The reply had come in the charming, graceful Spanish of a more genteel age. It went something like, "...We cannot tell you what joy the news of your imminent visit has produced in our bodega. It would be our great pleasure to receive you."
By 10:00 on the morning of our visit, after a breakfast of rolls and café con leche, the four of us were down in the bodegas of R. López de Heredia for our "second breakfast" - - a wine tasting. Here, in surroundings as incredible as any I have known in the world of wine, Sr. Anastasio Gútierrez Angulo, the firm's export manager, let us taste some of his twenty-year old reservas–wines made in the style of a different era–wines of yesterday.

Click to read the rest of La Rioja: R. López de Heredia - The Wines of Yesterday

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television

series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Wine Book Reviews: Alice Feiring How I Saved the World from Parkerization & Neal Rosenthal's Reflections of a Wine Merchant

2008-09-26T11:40:00.006-04:00

The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization by Alice Feiring

Reflections of a Wine Merchant: On a Lifetime in the Vineyards and Cellars of France and Italy by Neal I. Rosenthal

These are two of the most important books written about wine in the past decade. Neither may sell as many copies as the books of Robert Parker or Jancis Robinson, but both Feiring's and Rosenthal's books will have a deep impact on the direction wine takes in the coming post-Parkerista period. Both books champion natural, honest, honorable wines with distinctive terroir, made with native grapes and native yeasts, and without the horrid use of over-oaking as a flavoring agent--an aberration which is now changing, after having been elevated to a near religion by consultants and marketeers (not for aesthetic or good taste reason, rather because new oak is too expensive, especially now during this world economic crisis). Real wines relective of their sense of place--wines made more in the vineyards than in the cellar--will become the standard, not gross, overwrought wines that panders to certain reviewers, so-called market forces and homogenization.

Forget about the title of Alice Feiring's book and get over Bow-Tie Man, the Owl Man, etc. Alice Feiring (pronounced Fire-ing) has a right to air her personal stuff. After all this is her book. And as to complaints that the second part of the title is silly and designed to help sell books. So what? Somebody had to have the cojones to take on Robert Parker, whose, IMHO, 'silly' reviews have helped wipe out the demand for many truly authentic wines and have promoted the facile, manipulated wines of the new rich and enriched any number of his favored status importers and formulaic consultants--who are not wine tailors, they are knock-off artists.

Alice is the real deal and so is Neal Rosenthal, whose Confessions of a Wine Merchant comes on the heels of Alice's book, echoing themes about the authenicity and sense of place in truly great wines and railing against the tragic (for real wine lovers) imposition of industry homogeneousness and wine manipulation over the real thing.

Both these books are deep--not frivolous, as some people would like to paint Alice Feiring's book--complex and filled with nuances that everyone who really cares about great wine should know and appreciate. Neither book is jammed with appreciation for overripe fruit, residual sugar, palate numbing alcohol levels and, Thank God, neither comes in a horrid new oak binding (barrels where supposed to be aging vessels, not gross flavoring agents that override grape varieties, terroir, etc.).

My prediction is that these two books are going to have an enormous impact on young (and not so young) sommeliers, wine directors and wine buyers (especially non-retail types, who don't use Parker scores to flog wines), because they both espouse the greatness and distinctiveness of terroir-driven, authentic, artisan wines that have a sense of place. Since these are not mass market Parkerista wines, I think this philosophy will not have an immediate effect on the Parker consumer, but it will have on restaurant wine lists run by younger sommeliers, who believe it or not have been fed up with tasting Parkerista wines for quite some time. They will seek terroir-driven wines to lend distinction to their lists and push these wines as those which help set their wine lists and restaurants apart.

Restaurant goers will discover these wines and begin to look for retail stores that carry them. It will not be long before the already choppy anti-Parkerista waters build into a very big wave, which, pardon me, copycat American wine journalists will soon see as a bandwagon to jump on, at least those who still have a palate left after tasting all the overripe, sweet, over-oaked, alcoholic junk that they have been barraged with over the past decade or so. And with greening and organic movements growing stronger in response to environmental changes, more and more conscientous wine drinkers will begin to question the manipulation of wines.

Alice Feiring: ". . . At stake is the soul of wine. This is giant corporation vs. independent winemaker. This is international and homogenous vs. local and varied. This manipulated and technical wine vs. natural and artisanal. . .wine is being reduced to the common denominator. . .I visit producers who make wines that inspire love and devotion. . . I unmask the modern way--the reverse osmosis, the tannin addition, the yeasts, the enzymes, the cold soaks, the sawdust, oak chips, the barriques, the micro- and macro-oxygenation, the rotor fermenters, and the cherry drops. There will be scientists and consultants, who help create cookie-cutter wines for the mass palate. I will deal with those who say terroir (the magic that brings soil, climate, vintage, and winemaker together in a bottle of wine) and natural winemaking are simply excuses for making bad wine."

Neil Rosenthal: ". . . proof that there is some seriously fine terroir to be found in California and elsewhere, terroir that merits being left to express itself rather than being dominated and destroyed by human manipulation in the form of superextraction or immersion in new oak barrels or any of dozens of other laboratory tricks that "correct" what nature gives us." Alice Feiring and Neal Rosenthal are heroine and hero!!! Buy both these books and take a trip through the world of real wine, you will never turn back.

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television

series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Ribera del Duero Article & Slide Show

2008-09-25T09:26:00.015-04:00

* * * * *
Special to verema.com

Ribera del Duero: Wine Adventures in Castilla y León

(with a slide show)

by Gerry Dawes

(Other Versions First Appeared in Spain Gourmetour and Wine News )

Nearly twenty-five years ago, when I first began visiting La Ribera del Duero–the Duero river valley, which in Portugal becomes the Douro, the fabled Port river–I thought it was the dedicated wine aficionado’s back-country dream. It was a region dotted with a few castle towns, stark clean limestone-streaked hills, unirrigated gnarly old vine vineyards mostly planted with tempranillo (then called by the local names tinto fino or tinto de país), tawny wheat fields in the higher elevations, and often nondescript villages, some of which had amazing restaurants specializing in lamb and wine. Located just an hour and a half north / northwest of Madrid (like Napa Valley is to San Francisco), and an hour south / southwest of the overlooked, but wonderful provincial capital of Burgos, the Ribera del Duero is the most prestigious wine region within easy reach of the Spain’s capital city.

Slide show with captions on the Ribera del Duero.

More images will be added soon.

Double click on the slide show, then when the Google album comes up, click

on slideshow link to the right and go to a full screen view.

All images are copyright by Gerry Dawes 2008. None can be downloaded or published without prior arrangement by e-mailing gerrydawes@aol.com.

Winters can be cold and windy in La Ribera, springs wet and always with the danger of a very late frost and the autumn delightful during the harvest season. But, though I enjoyed visiting the Ribera any time, I especially liked summer, when warm days turn into delightfully cool nights at these altitudes of 2,300 to 2,600 feet above sea level, which is one of the most important reasons that the tempranillo grape grows so successfully here. During the day, the heat of the summer sun ripens the grapes and the cool nights allow the vines a respite. (Also fogs that develop in the Duero Valley provide heat relief and moisture to the vines.) In the hands of the best winemakers, these grapes produce wines that are perfectly ripe, but not overripe, and have good acidity for balance.

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Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com Alternate e-mails (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Desmontando el Mito de la Cocina Molecular de Ferran Adrià

2008-09-23T14:58:00.008-04:00

Entrevista con Ferran Adrià, 27 de Junio, 2008

por Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes: En los ultimos 10 años que considerás que son tus contribuciones al mundo de la gastronómía mas importantes: en filosofía, téchnica, ideas etc. Y este mismo periodo como han cambiado o evolucionado tus ideas y filosofía y cuales han sido las influencias mas claves.

Ferran Adrià: Creo que en 1998, lo esencial de la filosofía de elBulli ya estaba establecido. Una cocina que se basa principalmente en tres pilares: la búsqueda técnico-conceptual, el papel de los sentidos a la hora de crear y de comer, y el sexto sentido, es decir, el papel de la razón y de la reflexión en el acto de comer.

A partir de aquí, lo que hemos hecho desde entonces es profundizar en cada uno de estos pilares, investigando también a fondo cada uno de nuestros métodos creativos, que son más de quince.

En el terreno de la búsqueda técnico-conceptual, por ejemplo, hemos dado nacimiento a nuevas técnicas, conceptos y elaboraciones, algunas de gran importancia en nuestra cocina. Yo destacaría, en orden cronológico, las gelatinas calientes, las espumas calientes, el polvo helado, las nubes, los aires, los nitros, los merengues secos, la sferificación, los croquants o la liofilización.

Aun así, a nivel más general, y aunque pueda decir que la evolución no nos ha movido de este eje al que he aludido con sus tres pilares fundamentales, existen ciertos cambios o influencias que han marcado estos últimos años. Por ejemplo, la conexión con otros campos creativos, como por ejemplo el diseño industrial, la ciencia, el arte, la industria alimentaria. O la influencia no tanto estética sino de filosofía de cocina de toda la gastronomía asiática, sobre todo de Japón. Creo que esto resume la evolución que hemos podido experimentar en estos últimos años.

Gerry Dawes: Cuando comí en El Bulli en Mayo, veía una tendencia a platos creativos un poco menos hyper-modernos, mas sustancial en cuanto al placer de comerlos. Esta representa un cambio de filosofía, una tendencia, una evolución, cambio de dirección. A lo mejor estoy equivocado, pero a mi me parece que era la mejor de las cuatro veces que he comido en El Bulli.

Ferran Adrià: Lo que sucede es que, a diferencia de 1997-98, ahora tenemos un importante patrimonio de técnicas y conceptos que podemos utilizar. En aquella época podían darse menús algo monotemáticos, muy conceptuales porque estábamos, si se quiere, dando a conocer una determinada técnica. Ahora, el background que tenemos es muy grande, y podemos elaborar menús en los que, por ejemplo, sólo aparezca un plato con sferificación. Ahora no hay ninguna técnica o ningún concepto que monopolicen el menú.

Gerry Dawes: Cualquier cosa que quieres añadir. Estoy escribiendo un artículo, que seria para el numero de Food Arts (publicación de Marvin Shanken, de imperio editorial al que pertenece The Wine Spectator) y celebrará su 20 aniversario en Septiembre. Y el numero recordará el artículo que hice en 1997, que fué el primero en una revista americana importante sobre El Bulli.

Desmontando el Mito de la Cocina Molecular de Ferran Adrià

Ferran Adrià: Me gustaría aprovechar esta ocasión para “desmontar” el mito de la cocina molecular. Sé que en muchos países se dice que en elBulli practicamos cocina molecular. Y la verdad es que se me ocurren pocos calificativos que definan con una tal inexactitud la cocina que practicamos.

Porque la cocina molecular no es un estilo de cocina. De entrada, el nombre proviene de la gastronomía molecular, que a su vez designa únicamente el diálogo entre cocineros y científicos para intentar entender los procesos químicos y físicos que se producen en la cocina. Pero como ya he repetido otras veces, saber qué le sucede a un entrecôte cuando se está cociendo, o por qué se puede montar una mayonesa, no aporta nada a la evolución de la historia de la cocina en su sentido estilístico. Todo conocimiento es bueno para el cocinero, pero no por ello contribuye a crear un nuevo estilo. Por poner un paralelismo, no es necesario que un gran arquitecto sepa cómo se hace una aleación de metales para que cree una obra importante para la historia de la arquitectura. O en cualquier caso, este conocimiento, que ya digo que siempre es positivo, no tiene nada que ver con su aportación estilística. Y a todos nos parecería absurdo que a la arquitectura de este creador que conoce las aleaciones metálicas se la llamara “arquitectura molecular”.

Tal como se está planteando este tema, parece que una cocina sea un lugar en el que básicamente se realizan experimentos científicos. Y este no es el caso. Quiero aclarar que la ciencia para el cocinero tiene un gran valor, aunque, repito, siempre para intentar entender los procesos, para saber más, para enriquecer nuestro conocimiento. Del mismo modo que puede ayudar a entender los procesos de otras disciplinas.

A partir de ahí, apareció, pues, el nombre de “cocina molecular”, como nombre para definir la cocina de vanguardia que hacemos en elBulli y, en general, en muchos restaurantes de todo el mundo. Y con ello se quería definir una cocina “basada en la ciencia”, cuando en realidad lo único que ha hecho la cocina de vanguardia es intentar abrir campos, saber más de todas las cosas, pero no sólo desde un punto de vista científico. Se han establecido contactos no sólo con científicos, sino también con artistas, diseñadores industriales, expertos en nutrición, en industria alimentaria... Y de todo ello se ha procurado extraer un mayor conocimiento, pero no dejan de ser herramientas al servicio de la filosofía, del estilo, de la manera que cada cocinero tiene de ver la cocina.

Abalone

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com Alternate e-mails (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@optonline.net or gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Galicia's Terroir-Driven White Wines

2008-09-21T14:41:00.004-04:00

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Galicia's Terroir-Driven Wines
(Full-size copy of the article. Tasting notes below.)

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television
series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com
Alternate e-mails (use only if AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Ferran Adriá in Food Arts

2008-09-20T11:13:00.002-04:00

Food Arts Over the Foaming Wave Article on Ferran Adriá

(Double click on each page to enlarge.)

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain..

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com Alternate e-mails (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@optonline.net or gerrydawes@hotmail.com

My Apologies as an Americano to Spain for the Ignorance of John McCain

2008-09-19T14:36:00.003-04:00

To all my friends and readers at Verema.com:

Please accept my apology as an American and, I am sure, the apology of at least two-thirds of my fellow Americanos, for the ignorant, uninformed, malicious and mind-boggling comments by John McCain about Zapatero and Spain, which he seems to think is in el quinto coño de Alaska, which in turn he obviously thinks is in South America. If he gets elected, I will be viewing the next catastrophic years from the same vantage point as my brothers and sisters in Spain--from Spain!

Please excuse the disgrace I feel that one of the American political parties is run by sinverguenzas de primera clase, que es decir, por la clase mas baja que hay.

No somos todos asi. Lea el Huffington Post.

Si hay Díos en el cielo este tío y la tonta de Vicio-Presidenta van a perder y por mucho.

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com Alternate e-mails (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@optonline.net or gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Navarra: A Spanish Kingdom's Wines Wear the Versatility Crown

2008-09-12T21:37:00.003-04:00

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Immortalized in the Middle Ages in the French poem Chanson de Roland (whose legendary setting is in the hills above the Pyreneen village of Roncesvalles); its capital Pamplona made famous the world over in the 1920s by Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises; and again in the 1960s by James A. Michener in Iberia, beautiful, rugged and evocative Navarra is arguably Spain's most versatile wine region.

Located in mountainous north central Spain, Navarra is hemmed to the north by the Pyrenees (and France) to the north/northwest by Basque Country, to the west/southwest by La Rioja and to the east/southeast by Aragón, a climatic range that includes high mountains, green northern zones, the arid Ebro River basin in the south and a desert called Bardenas Reales. These varied climatic influences, which include very important temperate zones provide a breadth of truly great winemaking potential.

Chardonnay at Chivite's Arinzano Estate

Several of its wineries have proven just that: Its first-rate Chardonnays are among the finest in Spain; garnacha-based rosados rank with the best in the world; the cream of Navarra's Bordeaux- and Rioja-style wines (especially from bodegas such as Julián Chivite) stand alongside many of Spain’s most distinguished reds; and late harvest moscatels — Aliaga, Chivite and Ochoa to name three — are counted among the most delicious dessert wines in the country. Navarra even boasts a stunningly good, little-known, old-fashioned vino rancio known as Capricho de Goya that rates in the high 90s on nearly everyone's point scale.

Bodegas Camilo Castilla

Wines have been made here since the Roman occupation, as evidenced in southern Navarra along the Ebro River by the remains of several wineries, such as the one at Funes, that date back more than 2,000 years. In the Middle Ages, Navarra was a sprawling kingdom that included Bordeaux, French Navarre, parts of La Rioja, portions of the Basque Country (mountainous northern Navarra and Pamplona, called Iruña in Basque) and Aragón.

Roman Winery at Funes in Southern Navarra

Navarra's importance was vital in establishing the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route that buttressed the Christian frontier, especially in the 12th and 13th centuries, when Cistercian monks arrived to establish monasteries and plant vineyards all around northern Spain.

Chardonnay at Chivite's Arinzano Estate

Several of its wineries have proven just that: Its first-rate Chardonnays are among the finest in Spain; garnacha-based rosados rank with the best in the world; the cream of Navarra's Bordeaux- and Rioja-style wines (especially from bodegas such as Julián Chivite) stand alongside many of Spain’s most distinguished reds; and late harvest moscatels — Aliaga, Chivite and Ochoa to name three — are counted among the most delicious dessert wines in the country. Navarra even boasts a stunningly good, little-known, old-fashioned vino rancio known as Capricho de Goya that rates in the high 90s on nearly everyone's point scale.

Bodegas Camilo Castilla

Read the rest to this 5,000-word article.

About the author

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain..

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com Alternate e-mails (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@optonline.net or gerrydawes@hotmail.com