Move Over Champagne - Here Comes Cava!

Well, I figured it was time to do a video post. So, I thought I would start with cava. With the holidays right around the corner, what better subject to post on than cava - Spain's champagne.

The three Cavas displayed on the table are Segura Viudas Brut Reserva, Freixenet Extra Brut, and Poema Brut. Cava is quite easy to find; so, the next time you're looking for some champagne try a cava instead.

Life is short. Drink great wine!

Food & Wine In Cataluña

Here is a video slide show of my recent trip to Spanish Wine Country - the Priorat and Montsant regions in Cataluña, Spain. It includes time at Catacurian (the cooking vacation), visits to various wineries, and a grape harvest in the Priorat. Enjoy!

Life is short. Drink great wine!

U.S. Set To Become #1 Wine Consumer

According to UK-based company Wine Intelligence, the United States is set to become the world's number one wine consumer within a three-year period of time. The U.S. is a market with 73 million consumers, making it a prime target for expansion of the Spanish wine market. Currently, imports account for 28 percent of the U.S. wine market - not too bad when you consider that the U.S. is the fourth largest wine producer in the world (behind Italy, France, and Spain). Spanish imports, however, only account for 20 percent of all imported wines (Source: Wines From Spain). Boy, do we have some work to do. I'll do my best to keep you informed and introduce new wines, but you have to keep drinking them!

Life is short. Drink great wine!

Spanish Food & Wine Heaven: A Week At Catacurian

I returned from my trip to Cataluña about a week ago and what do I miss most? Honestly, I have to say that it was my time at Catacurian - the gourmet food and wine "hotel" in the Priorat wine region. Six glorious days of doing two of the things I like most - cooking and drinking wine! The quiet of El Masroig (the village which I called home for that week) could not have been more quaint. Well, it was only quiet until the tractors fired up in the morning heading out to the fields to collect the grapes of the 2009 harvest season. I figured I could live with that...

The People: Let me begin by saying that our host(ess), Alicia, could not have been nicer. Working in a fourth-generation family home (she visited her grandfather in this house) that has been restored and remodeled to accommodate six guests was a joy. The kitchen setup was perfect as well daily took our respective places in front of our cutting boards carefully placed on the table around the stovetop. Everything was always perfectly arranged and clean. I suspect that was the handiwork of Alicia's tremendous assistant, Maite. If you get a chance to meet her you'll understand why she is "the most famous person in her village". Unfortunately, we did not have the pleasure of meeting Jonathan, the second half of Catacurian, but we were daily graced with the presence of Doo Bop, Alicia and Jonathan's HUGE German Shepard. All in all, I can't imagine a better crew with which to spend six days.

The Food: What do most people think of when they are asked about Spanish food? Paella and tapas. Well, that's only a small part of the equation. Catalan cooking is so much more than that. We learned some of the basics - the importance of a well-made sofrito ("sofregit" in Catalan) and picada (yes, Bob, yours was the best). Since Cataluña is situated on the coast the seafood here is some of the best in the world. We were treated to mussels (musclos amb romaní), Catalan fish stew (suquet de peix), oven roasted cod (bacalla al forn), monkfish rice with artichokes (arros de rap amb carxofes), and of course, paella. Additionally, Spain has wonderful meat and poultry as well. The veal with mushrooms (one of my favorites) and chicken with prunes and pine nuts (the traditional Catalan Christmas Day meal) were fantastic. Alicia's busted out her very own recipe (as many of these are) for Tortilla Española. Don't ever make the mistake of calling anything Tortilla Española unless it has only potatoes, onion, and eggs in it (right, Alicia?) - anything else is just a tortilla. I have to be honest with this one, Alicia's Tortilla Española is the best I have ever eaten. Finally, we did get to try our hands at tapas on our final day - 11 of them to be exact! They included rabo de toro (oxtail), mixed mushrooms, piquillo peppers stuffed with cod, kebab of Iberico pork (one of my top three dishes of the week), and ham croquetas (hand-crafted by our very own Vivian). One final note here: Alicia never once skimped on her ingredients. She always used the best of the best and it was quite evident in presentation and taste.

The Wine: OK, so what do you think? Spanish Wine Guy gets to visit Priorat and Montsant wineries (two favorite regions) and partake of Alicia's amazing wine cellar. Did he have fun? Can somebody slap me?! Not to be outdone by her command of Catalan (and Spanish) cooking Alicia really outdid herself with the wine portion of the trip. We visited top wineries Clos de l'Obac and La Conreria de Scala Dei in the Priorat region and Joan d'Anguera in the Montsant. What I really appreciate about these wineries is that they don't have some tour guide walking you through their facilities. In each tour (I hesitate to use the word "tour" as each of them really made us feel like part of their family) we were led through by the winemaker himself. When you are able to hear the winemaker (all men on these visits) describe the process he goes through to get the perfect blend (Josep at Joan d'Anguera) or how he won't change his wine to cater to "ratings" (Carles at Clos de l'Obac) is truly refreshing. Participating in the harvest at La Conreria de Scala Dei was also tremendous. Check out the post on harvest day in the Priorat. Knowing Spanish wine as I do I have to say that Alicia has a phenomenal wine cellar at Catacurian. I could have stripped naked and rolled around in her vintage Priorat and Montsant wines for days! (Don't worry Alicia, I kept my clothes on the whole time I was in the cellar.) The wines of Priorat and Montsant are truly amazing and deserve a first (or another) look for those who have passed them by.

The Verdict: Well, if you can't tell from what has been written so far then let me spell it out - YOU MUST DO THIS! I am sure that I speak for all of our group (Bob, Jen, Vivian, and Ruth) that this was truly a bit of a dream vacation. Food and wine in a great setting with great people for days on end. Give Catacurian a try and explore all that Alicia and her crew have to show you about the wonderful foods and wines in the Priorat region of Spain.

I Am Officially A Spanish Wine Educator!

San Sebastian: Spain's Northern Gem

I just returned from a short trip to Spain's gem on the Northern Coast, San Sebastian. The city boasts a tremendous cultural scene (it is actually in the running for the 2016 European City of Culture). Sitting on the Cantabrian Sea, San Sebastian (part of the Basque Country) boasts some of the best seafood anywhere and is recognized as THE place to go to experience the best food that Spain has to offer. It is really the gastronomic capital of Spain, Europe, and the world.

San Sebastian is also the home of Txakoli, a slightly sparkling, very dry white wine with high acidity and low alcohol content. Check out an earlier post (Txakoli: Doesn't He Know How To Use Spell Check?) to find out more about this wine that you MUST search out. It was a joy to walk into a restaurant and not have someone tell me, "Sorry, I have never heard of that wine." It is also fun to walk into a store and actually have a wide selection of them as well. Txakoli is starting to get a bit of a following in the U.S. and is easier to find than it used to be. Check out Wine Searcher to find a retailer that sells and ships it. It is truly a different wine and one worth experiencing. I find it extremely refreshing on a weekend afternoon or as an apertif.

San Sebastian also finds fame in it's own version of tapas - pintxos (pronounced "pinchos"). Anything you can dream up and place gently on a piece of bread with a toothpick sticking out the top basically qualifies as a pintxo. The idea is to go into the pintxos bar and pick the ones that look good to you and then keep your toothpicks so they can count how many you had and, thus, know how much you owe. The problem is that everything looks good and you (well, I) have a tendency to "eat with my eyes." You walk a bit, hit the next bar, and it all starts over again. It's a good thing that I had plenty of glasses of txakoli to wash them all down!