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Gerry Dawes's New Spain Blog

Kudos for Spain: An Insider's Guide

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SPECTACULAR DALÍ EXHIBITION IN PHILADELPHIA

Sanlúcar Sunset in a Manzanilla Glass

Posting Date:09/23/2004 Summary: Bar Bigote Gerry Dawes copyright 2004 ... And suspended from the rafters, along with a blowfish, are amphoras, the pottery urns, which were used in the days when Spain was a part of the Roman Empire to ship w...Spain: An Insider's Guide to Food, Wine and Travel in Spain by Gerry Dawes Thursday, September 23, 2004 ...

Alicante : Monastrell , Moscatel , Fondillón , Mushrooms ....*

Posting Date:09/28/2004
Summary: Spain: An Insider's Guide to Food, Wine and Travel in Spain by Gerry Dawes Tuesday, September 28, 2004 ...

Cervecerías: Spain's Beer Bars

First appeared in Food Arts, October 2003

If you ask the average Spaniard (and most foreigners, for that matter) for a definition of a cervecería, one of Spain’s ubiquitous so-called beer bars, you will get all kinds of answers, almost none of them right.

Alta Expresión Vino -Black gold or fool's gold?

During the past decade, scores of powerful, highly concentrated, new-wave wines have cropped up all over Spain like the saffron crocuses that proliferate in La Mancha every October. These intensely extracted, international style wines encompass a bewildering array of newly minted brands that vary widely in quality and seriousness. Lumped together under the controversial term vinos de alta expresión ("high expression," or "high concept" wines--read high extract and some say "alta extorsión," for the outrageous prices some command), these potent wines depart sharply from the traditional, mellow, age-worthy style for which La Rioja, the country's premier wine region, is famous. Winning high praise in some circles and vociferous criticism in others, alta expresión wines have pushed Spain smack into the center of the brewing international debate between winemaking traditionalists and advocates of the high-octane New World approach.

First appeared in The Wine News, April/May 2001.

Spain's Vaunted 2001 Vintage

First appeared in The Wine News, April/May 2002.

For fans of Spanish wines, and particularly those crafted from tempranillo - Spain's finest indigenous red wine grape - the 2001 harvest may have produced one of the greatest vintages of all time - an ironic conclusion to a rollercoaster growing season afflicted by hard frost, inordinate heat, prolonged drought and potentially damaging rains.

On back-to-back visits in September and October, I spent more than six weeks prowling the vineyards of Spain's key red wine-producing regions - from the firmly established La Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Navarra, Penedès and Priorato to up-and-coming spots such as Toro and La Mancha. A veteran of more than a dozen Spanish harvests, I have rarely seen grapes in such healthy condition or a harvest season (vendimia) that enjoyed such propitious weather.

Rioja: The Mountain Cat Springs to Life

Because La Rioja is so large and produces so much wine, this old lion may appear to move slowly, but like the mountain cat that it is, once this time-honored region springs to life, it will be hard to hold back. In fact, La Rioja is in a dynamic state of evolution, and many of its classic bodegas are already producing some of the best, modern-style wines in Spain.

Photo Gallery: Spanish Food

A collection of food photographs from around Spain.*


Gentle Corrections Department: Gourmet Magazine*

Posting Date:09/27/2004 Summary: Spain: An Insider's Guide to Food, Wine and Travel in Spain by Gerry Dawes Monday, September 27, 2004 ...In an article by Alexander Lobrano about Spanish truffles, in which I was glad to see the French own up to getting a lot of their truffles from Spain, the author t ... # posted by Gerry Dawes @ 11:41 AM 0 comments ...

Chocolateria San Gines*

Posting Date:09/21/2004
Summary: Spain: An Insider's Guide to Food, Wine and Travel in Spain by Gerry Dawes Tuesday, September 21, 2004 ...Chocolateria San Gines Gerry Dawes copyright 2004...Churros, C. San Gines Gerry Dawes copyright 2004...Churros con chocolate at Chocolatería San Ginés Gerry Dawes copyright 2004...# posted by Gerry Dawes @ 6:58 PM 0 comments ...

The Estate Wines of Jean León*

Posting Date:08/09/2004 Summary: Miguel Torres Maczassek, Managing Director of Jean León and son of Miguel Torres Riera, Bodegas Miguel Torres, long one of Spain's most important wineries. ... Gerry Dawes copyright 2004...Spain: An Insider's Guide to Food, Wine and Travel in Spain by Gerry Dawes Monday, August 09, 2004 ...

... and in the 1980s spilled over into several emerging wine regions of Spain such as Navarra, Ribera del Duero, Somontano, and Priorato. ... Gerry Dawes copyright 2004... ... by Gerry Dawes ... Within the past few years, there has been a significant trend in Spain towards establishing chât...In Spain, these properties are known as pagos, which are basically agricultural estates based on single-owner vineyard plots in close, often contiguous proximity t o one another. ... Map of Jean León Estate Gerry Dawes copyright 2004...

Spanish Rosados*

Posting Date:08/07/2004 Summary: Spain: An Insider's Guide to Food, Wine and Travel in Spain by Gerry Dawes Saturday, August 07, 2004 ...Saveur can talk about Hemingway downing them in one gulp, but he actually carried Las Campanas rosados around Spain with him in a cooling bag during the Dangerous S ... Garnacha Rosado Gerry Dawes copyright 2004...

The New Wines of The Ancient Kingdom of Navarra

Navarra, the landlocked northern Spanish province that shares a wild stretch of the western Pyrenees with neighboring France, is one of the most rewarding places in Spain for wine aficionados in search of good up-and-coming wines, exceptional regional cuisine and off-the-beaten-track travel experiences. Given the advances of the past few years, Navarra promises to be Spain's next great wine discovery and is set to become a major producer of top-quality wines from across a spectrum that includes world-class whites, exceptional rosés, native and foreign varietal reds and surprising dessert wines.

Food in Navarra: Navarra's Country Cuisine

Navarra's country cuisine, talented chefs and lively restaurants are among the best in Spain. They have at their disposal a vast cornucopia of ingredients to draw from: garden-fresh produce such as artichokes, asparagus, beans and red piquillo peppers from the Ribera of southern Navarra; quail, partridge and rabbit from the mountains; trout from the cold, clear mountain streams; fish and shellfish from the nearby Atlantic; excellent artisan cheeses from Roncal in the Pyrenees; and lamb from all across the province.

Tasting & Touring in Navarra

Bodegas Julián Chivite

The 1994 vintage – combined with the coming of age of the Chivite family's (Fernando, Julián and Mercedes) spectacular 150-hectare Arínzano Estate Vineyard (planted to tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and chardonnay near the historic town of Estella) and the maturation of Fernando Chivite's winemaking skills – will firmly place Chivite among the ranks of Spain's greatest wineries.

Rias Baixas Wines*

Posting Date:08/07/2004 Summary: --Gerry Dawes©2003 ... # posted by Gerry Dawes @ 4:13 PM 0 comments ...Spain: An Insider's Guide to Food, Wine and Travel in Spain by Gerry Dawes Saturday, August 07, 2004 ...

Catavino: Sherry Glass

Posting Date:08/07/2004
Summary: Spain: An Insider's Guide to Food, Wine and Travel in Spain by Gerry Dawes Saturday, August 07, 2004 ...Catavino at Vinicola Hidalgo Gerry Dawes Copyright 2004...Catavino: Rider at Feria de Sevilla*
Gerry Dawes Copyright 2004...# posted by Gerry Dawes @ 10:05 AM 0 comments ...

Spain: Looking Back To The Future By GERRY DAWES
First Appeared in The Wine Enthusiast, Sept. 2002

Three-star restaurants, cultish boutique wines and appreciative, affluent consumers: europe’s gastronomic epicenter just may be shifting to España.
When I first began traveling the wine roads of Spain in the early 1970s, the state of Spanish wine and food was dramatically different than it is today...