Barcelona’s casual ethos and market cuisine has birthed a new version of haute cuisine. For years, some of Catalonia’s best chefs have been serving diners at the bar, no tablecloth, and by now names like Gresca and Dos Palillos are legendary in Spain. It’s now the most exciting time to eat in the Ciudad Condal (City of the Counts) in years.
With so much variety to choose from, navigating Madrid’s restaurant scene can seem like a daunting task. Before you even set sail, it’s worth taking stock of the city’s idiosyncratic dining customs. Most notoriously, the timetable. Madrid eats late: lunch is commonly taken between 2pm and 4pm while dinner is not much earlier than 9pm and often (especially in summer) as late as 11pm.
Preliminary thoughts and updates on Barcelona these days. Short reviews on hotels, restaurants, wine bars and cocktail bars. Many of these spots will be written up more fully in upcoming blog posts.
A new generation of Rioja winemakers is bringing vineyard, varietal and terroir focus to the region. What these innovators in Rioja have in common is a focus on single vineyards, some planted with old vines. Young winemakers are searching for an expression of terroir–the essence of the vineyard, soil and climate. Vignerons, grower-producers, artisan winemakers or terroiristas are commonly used terms for these new producers.
La Escribana is the flagship vino de pasto from Willy Pérez and one of the finest white wines made in Jerez. The grapes are sourced from Pago Macharnudo, one of Jerez’s top quality vineyards. Willy harvests the vineyard in two passes, with the first bringing acidity and the second ripeness and body.
Viña Tondonia is a mythic name in the world of Spanish wine. López de Heredia, the winery and family behind Tondonia, is among the most traditional of the classic Rioja producers. What makes them so is their use of traditional Rioja blends (Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo, Viura) and especially their extremely long aging period, both in barrel and in bottle,
Spain is not a country where cocktails are common. Spanish drinkers have traditionally been devoted to wine and beer, or a brandy or anís, both made in Spain, in the old man bars. Yet with the rise of Spanish haute cuisine since the late 1990s and the turn of the millennium came the implantation of a special take on a seemingly mundane mixed drink:
Celebrating with friends and family is what I love best about the holidays. To enhance these celebrations, I think of wines, in this case Spanish wines, that are special and pair well with holiday menus from seafood to lamb, beef to wild game, as well as plates of Iberian jamón or goat´s-milk cheeses.
Deep in southern Spain, in the province of Cádiz, spring arrives slowly, timidly, sometime after the drums of Semana Santa die down and before the flamenco and horses and sherry ferias begin. Spring: languid lunches in beachside chiringuitos, walks on the region’s pristine beaches, horse and wine and spring festivals seemingly every week, and almadraba season.
