Wine is grown all over Spain, from hot spots like the Priorat to cool areas like Galicia. We targeted the two most famous red wine regions Priorat and Rioja. However we were able to try some lovely wines from other areas when we were in Barcelona and Madrid. The we is the usual Brenda and myself but also our friends Dale and Steve.
Our trip started in Barcelona. This is a very hip and funky city. A big part of its cool factor is Mr. Antoni Gaudi, I knew of him but not much about his works. La Sagrada Familia is one of the greatest architectural marvels in the world. Casa Mila is so darn cute and funky. There is also a little Gaudi museum that is worth a visit if you want to gain a better understanding of this genius. For example you learn how he invented a new arch. How many architects or engineers can say they have invented an arch? One unnamed Roman, one unnamed Gothic builder and Gaudi.
Food and wine in Barcelona was provided by a wonderful and lively tapas restaurant scene. Such a great way to try a variety of dishes. Spanish cuisine is hard to nail down especially in Barcelona. Barcelona is not really Spanish it is Catlan. Barcelona is a very international city and its cuisine borrows heavily from the French and Italians. Something you find on almost all tapas menus is croquettes. The Spanish/Catlans took the French potato croquette and added some of their wonderful ham/serrano. We became addicted to these crunchy creamy delights. We did one day tour out of Barcelona to Monserrat, a catholic monastery set into the side of a mountain. The natural setting was beautiful. We also stopped into a small winery on the way back, nothing special but nice to support a small operation.
We began our wine touring by catching a cab out to the airport to pick-up a rental car. From here we went to the Torres winery, one of the better known Spanish labels. Dale had arranged this tasting, because she did some work with a sommelier they considered her part of the industry, and we had a fantastic tasting. There were 2 white tastings paired with cheese and 2 red tastings paired with meat. They are doing some neat things with water recycling. Although they are big they do have a strong commitment to quality as evidenced by their exceptional Salmos (Priorat) and Purgatori wines.
We arrived at our spectacular Airbnb in La Vilella Baixa. We picked this place to stay because of the accommodations not the amenities. There were no restaurants in town only a couple of small food stores. If you want the ammenties like restaurants I would suggest Gratallops as a home base. In fact we did our best tastings in Gratallops starting with Clos Figueras and then Clos de l’Obac. We had a wonderful tour, tasting and lunch at Clos Figures; found their wines to be a reasonable value. Clos de l’Obac had wonderful wines but quite pricey; the hidden door to the library is very neat. We had lunch at a restaurant they owned in town and had a superb meal with an octopus starter and beef cheek main.
For our last winery we went to Scala Dei because of a recommendation from a winery owner in British Columbia. The winery is in this very small old village but is ultra modern inside. Lovely wines once again. I don’t think I have ever been to a wine area where every single wine, even the whites, are great. There are some neat old ruins of a cathedral next to the town, so we went on a lovely stroll.
Next we headed north to Basque country and the city of San Sebastian. Another lovely city, but this one on the Atlantic. The foodie thing to do here is Pintxos. They are bites of food (OK maybe two or three bites) usually on a piece of bread. The bar has these all made up and sitting on the bar. You point at what you want (and say uno or dos por favor or just grunt and hold up some fingers) and the bar tender puts them on a plate for you. Of course, this is when you ask for a glass of wine. Because of the predominance of seafood with a few meat and veggy dishes we ordered primarily rose and most of the time we got Navarra wine. Navarra and Rioja are the two closest wine regions to Basque country. We love the versatility of rose and especially this style. Like Provence it is dry and acidic but has a bit more concentration and flavour. On the touring front we did a day trip to Bilboa to see Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum. In addition to Gehry’s whimsey there are some really fun sculptures around the museum and of course the FOG. Every so often the pool outside the museum has fog that spreads out over it, interesting fact that they don’t tell you is FOG is Frank Owen Gehry’s initials.
Now onto the Grand Dame of Spanish wine, La Rioja. We stayed in Haro due to its central location and ability to walk over to the winery area of town for tasting. We did go to other towns in the area to find some highly rated wine or wineries. The wineries in Haro don’t require reservations. Tasting is crucial to finding wines that work for you. Like most wine regions you get great and not so great wineries. We liked Muga but Cune not so much. One of the best tasting we did was at Luis Canas. Their tasting room has a very impressive view of the vineyard. A first for all of us was the barrel tasting of French oak aged wine and American. Most of the world uses French oak for the more subtle taste it imparts. American oak is larger grain and adds more wood to the wine in the form of vanilla and tannins. So I was expecting the American oak barrel to be harsh and off putting but it was not, it was simply a different taste than the French oak. Another very interesting winery was Remirez de Ganuza. They use the shoulder or top of the grape cluster for their best wines since the tops of the bunches get more sun, the tip or bottom is used in their lower end wine. I don’t remember if we tasted a tip wine but the shoulder wines were excellent.
Our last day of wine touring in Rioja was more about food and architecture. We had lunch at Eguren Ugarte winery. The food was very good with a hearty peasant soup, sausage and lamb grilled over grape vines. The wines were uninspiring as was the tour. We did have some fun with a group of men from Norway. It seems to be a thing with European men to have boys get-aways; I saw a lot of boats filled with men in Croatia (I won’t post a picture of the Germans in their speedos). Here is a tip, if you want to make friends when wine touring take over a bottle of wine to the table of your new friends. For the architectural portion of the tour we went to see more Frank Gehry at Marques de Riscal and Calatrava’s work at Ysios winery. Both marvelous modern buildings but no tastings. Marques de Riscal could accommodate us but it would have interfered with lunch. Ysios cancelled our reservation shortly before we arrived in Spain, they got a bigger group, money talks everywhere in this world.
Now its time to wind up the wine touring but not the site seeing. We headed for Madrid but made a stop in the town of Segovia. They have two fairly impressive sites: a well preserved Roman aqueduct and the alcazar (castle). It was well worth the stop since it was on the way. We loved Madrid because it felt like we were experiencing the soul of Spain. Catalonia and Basque country were lovely but did not feel like Spain. What does Spain feel like to us? It feels like the place that inspired colonial Mexico and of course many other Latin countries around the world. Madrid has the Royal Palace, grand squares, the gran via (a street lined with Spanish style buildings with similarities to colonial Spain), some significant museums and churches. Similar to Barcelona you can find wonderful tapas restaurants but also more traditional food. We did not see any Pallela restaurants in Barcelona but you can find them in Madrid, although you need to go south to Valencia to find the most authentic. We got our fill of Pallela at our cooking class. Pallela is one of those dishes that has been mauled by North America, I looked at a couple of cookbooks when I got home and they have none of the technique and only some of the correct ingredients. After taking the class we stocked up on saffron and real smoked paprika from one of the many shops that sell these and other delicacies. Although we consider ourselves foodies we have not done any Michelin star restaurants usually opting for more traditional food or the good value Michelin bib restaurants. Well we righted that omission in Madrid with a visit to the one star Lua. It was definitely an experience to remember. This is your classic tasting menu, and since this was a wine trip we opted for the wine pairing as well. Some dishes were spectacular, others interesting, and the bread was equally varied and fantastic especially the corn bread. The wine pairing was probably the most expertly curated I have ever had. The other fun and touristy thing we did was a Flamenco dinner show. That is an art form you have to experience. The dancers are working their tails off, the guitar player is working his fingers to the bone and the singers are wailing the most haunting songs for what is a very moving experience.
Normally one would just catch a flight home from Madrid but we flew on points and had to fly back from Barcelona. The only reason for mentioning this was the birthday meal I had with my lovely wife. It was at the Torres restaurant. We were able to have some more purgatory and the food was exceptional. Spain doesn’t seem to get the same love as Italy or France but we fell in love with the country, so much so we came back the next year and did southern spain. I don’t think I am going to write a blog on that trip because the wine touring was minimal, however the sights were as good as or better than this wine trip. Adios amigos and amigas.