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Gerry Dawes drinking wine from a porrón at a the great traditional Catalan cuisine Restaurante Ibèric in Ullastret, Girona, Catalunya.
"In his nearly thirty years of wandering the back roads of Spain," Gerry
Dawes has built up a much stronger bank of experiences than I had to rely on when I started writing Iberia. . . is adventures far exceeded
mine in both width and depth..." -- James A. Michener, author of Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections
My close friends, Mari Carmen Onrubia y her husband Manolo Esquivias
dancing Sevillanas in their caseta in the Feria de Sevilla.
A long-time insider, Gerry Dawes, a traveler in Spain for decades, leads travelers on unforgettable food, wine and cultural adventures in Spain. I put together customized trips for groups. You put together a group, I design, budget and lead the trip. I specialize in Spanish gastronomy (both modern and exceptional regional cuisine), wine (I am considered by many to be the American authority on Spanish wines), culture (historical sights, fiestas, art, etc.), back-country adventures (I have led 60 Minute television crews and numerous famous American chefs on Spanish adventures), Jewish Spain (one of my aficiones; beyond Sevilla, Toledo and Córdoba--Have you ever heard of Ribadavia, Hervás and Girona?) and more. And I can customize any trip to encompass several of my areas of expertise.
Lunch at Jardines Alberto in Granada, Commonwealth Club of California Taste of Spain Trip 2013.
Depending upon your financial resources, I can design and lead trips from couples and small groups of friends to larger groups such as those I led (twice) for the Commonwealth Club of California (25 people), graduates of the U. S. Air Force Academy (twice, 16 people each trip) and the Club Managers of America.
I have planned and/or led tours, outings, dinners and tapas crawls in Spain for such culinary stars as Chefs Thomas Keller, Mark Miller, Mark Kiffin, Norman Van Aken, Charlie Trotter, Michael Ginor, Rick Bayless, Michael Lomonaco, Tetsuya Wakuda, Rick Moonen, Christopher Gross, David Burke, Terrance Brennan, Michael Chiarello, Ryan McIlwraith; restaurateurs such as Danny Meyer, Drew Nieporent and Cindy Pawlcyn; culinary figures including Michael and Ariane Batterberry, Rozanne Gold, the late Peter Kump, Michael Whiteman, Tim Zagat, Jeffrey Steingarten, Colman Andrews, Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, John Sconzo, Ruth Reichl, Jim Poris and John Mariani; and such personalities as baseball great Keith Hernandez, Senator James Abourezk (D-SD) and I have given detailed travel advice to many other well-known chefs and personalities.
Gerry Dawes and baseball great Keith Hernandez at the Alhambra in Granada, 2013.
Baseball great Keith Hernandez: “Gerry (Dawes) is one of the great, premiere Spanish wine experts and he does tours to Spain. I did one on my 60th Birthday four years ago. I went for a month to Spain with Gerry and had the most wonderful time. We went to all the right restaurants in Madrid, Sevilla, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, everywhere we had to go, Gerry put it together. We just had the most wonderful time, wined and dined. And that is what Gerry does.“
With John Sconzo and his son L. J. outside Segovia on our jamón Ibérico tour of western and southern Spain.
“I have said this before and I’ll say it again, nobody knows Spain like Gerry Dawes. I sincerely doubt that there is another American, and very few, if any, Spaniards can approach, let alone surpass his knowledge of the people, food, wine and culture of Spain. He has been frequenting the depths, breadths and heights of the country as a second home for nearly fifty years, leaving no stone, and especially no wine, unturned during that time.” -- Wining and Dining Around Spain with Gerry Dawes: Part 1 (of a 6-part series) by John Sconzo, Docsconz: Musings on Food & Life (Sconzo has been on six trips to Spain with me.)
My great friend Chef Javier Muñoz at his Palacio de Cibeles Restaurante overlooking the heart of downtown Madrid.
Contact: gerrydawes@aol.com
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"My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019
Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on WPWL 103.7 FM Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York. Gerry Dawes & Friends can be heard live on Mondays from 7-8 p.m. and Saturdays from 2-3 p.m. at www.pawlingpublicradio.org.
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, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.
In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.
". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009.
Pilot for a reality television series
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain
Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@gmail.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@spanishartisanwine.com
Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@gmail.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@spanishartisanwine.com
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