Speaking Appearances

Wines of Murcia, Power Point presentation and tasting of the Wines of Murcia at Morrell & Company, followed by a wine tasting dinner speaking engagement on the Wines of Murcia at Solera restaurant, New York City. Nov. 20, 2006

All photos are copyright 2006 by Gerry Dawes and may not be reproduced without permission. 
(Click on image for a larger view.)

San Antonio New World Wine & Food Festival (Nov. 6-12, 2006; dedicated to Spain ). Seminar presenter, Spanish co-ordinator, emcee & guest speaker at gala auction dinner.
http://www.nwwff.org/main/whochef.php?uid=31



CIA-Greystone, Napa Valley (Nov. 1-4): Five seminars with Power Point presentations on Spanish regional gastronomy, cheeses, wines, etc. at the most important Spanish gastronomy conference ever held in the United States.


General Session I: The Spanish Market Basket: Iconic Elements of Tradition, Exchange, and Invention
A culinary exploration of six foods—olive oil, salt, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, and wine—that have shaped the Spanish table and its contribution to world cooking

Moderator/presenter: José Andrés >Presenters/guest chefs and experts: Miguel Palomo, Mª Carmen Velez, Karen MacNeil, Dani García, Gerry Dawes, Enric Canut, Colman Andrews, Rafael Vidal, María José San Román, Llorenç Petràs, Carles Gaig


General Session III: Rice Traditions of Spain: Preserving, Adapting, and Re-imagining Moderator: Gerry Dawes Presenters: Chefs María Muria Lloret, Carles Gaig, MªCarmen Vélez, and a live feed from our “PaellaCam” with Rafael Vidal in our outdoor rice kitchen


Seminar I B Ecolab Theater
Tasting Valencia: Of Gardens, Groves, and Vineyards
 
Moderator/presenter: Gerry Dawes Presenters: Chefs María Muria Lloret, MªCarmen Vélez, Rafael Vidal

Seminar V A Phelps Room
Spanish Cheeses, American Menus—and the Wines that Match
Moderator: Gerry Dawes Presenters: Cheese Experts & Authors Max McCalman, Enric Canut

Seminar IV Williams Center for Flavor Discovery
Tasting the Best of Traditional and Modern Spain: A Visual Feast of Markets, Tapas Bars, and Classic (and “Modern Classic”) Kitchens
Moderator/presenter: Gerry Dawes Presenter: Chef Jesús Ramiro, Mushroom Expert Llorenç Petràs

Also see Videos of Gerry Dawes speaking on Sherry at CIA-Worlds of Flavor Conference 2003.

Spain's Ten Conference (New York City, Oct. 13, 14, & 15): Emcee & presenter of chefs at a day-long event featuring ten of Spain’s greatest chefs and the most important Spanish gastronomic event ever held in New York.

Podcast Interview with Gerry Dawes about Spain's Ten

Star Chefs and Presenter Gerry Dawes at Spain's Ten

Daniel Boulud, Paco Torreblanca, Ruth Reichl at Spain's Ten

Photography by Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes copyright 2004

An avid aficionado of Spanish fiestas and a photographer, Gerry Dawes traveled extensively in Spain during the eight years he lived there, putting muchos kilómetros on Rocinante, his Volkswagen sedan. He amassed thousands of color transparencies and a wealth of knowledge about the country, its wine and food, customs and culture. He has published hundreds of wine, food and travel photographs in numerous magazines and has had cover photographs for The Wine Spectator, The Wine News, Wine Enthusiast and others.

His photographs have been published (often with his articles) in The Wine News, Food Arts, Decanter, Wine Enthusiast, Santé, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Food & Wine, Fine Wine Folio, Spain Gourmetour (Madrid), Restauradores (Madrid), Sobremesa (Madrid & Latin America) and many other publications.

He currently shoots both color tranparencies and high resolution digital photographs and is available for assignments.

Gerry Dawes
17 Charnwood Drive - Suite A
Suffern, NY 10901
Phone & Fax (call before faxing): 845-368-3486
Cell phone: 914-414-6982
Telefono movil (durante estancias en España): 670 67 39 34
gerrydawes@aol.com

Cava: Spain's Champagne Method Bubbly is Perfect for the Holidays

Cava - once cheap, now chic

(First Published in Wine News December/January 2005-06 Gerry Dawes©2006)

Riddling bottles at Juve y Camps

Over the past few years of sipping Cavas in some of Spain's top restaurants, it has become increasingly apparent that a number of the country's smaller producers are bottling some absolutely superb sparkling wines. By contrast, not too long ago, Spanish sparkling wine was little more than quaffable, mass-market bubbly widely available at bargain prices. While that still holds true for a large percentage of the staggering ten million-plus cases of Cava exported each year (another eight million-plus cases are consumed in Spain), during the past ten years — hand-in-hand with quality advances on the country's wine and gastronomy fronts — a number of Champagne-quality Cavas from a wide range of producers have emerged. Some of these exceptional wines are vintage dated, prestige brut cuvées; bone-dry, palate-cleansing brut natures (great with shellfish); and an increasingly impressive group of sparkling rosados (rosats in Catalan), some made with pinot noir, others with indigenous varieties such as trepat, monastrell and garnacha.

You can find the rest of the article at Verema.com, Spain's leading wine website:

http://www.verema.com/en/articles/article.asp?articulo=14

Cava Photos

La Rioja: Roda & Contino Mano a Mano

Agustín Santolaya, Managing Director of Roda & Jesús Madrazo, Winemaker, Contino pour each other's wines at Hector Oribe Restaurant in La Rioja.

Roda & Contino - Rioja's Two-part Harmony

Text & Photographs by Gerry Dawes, copyright 2006


For at least a decade or more, I have had a love-hate relationship with the wines of Rioja - a region responsible for some of my life's most memorable tasting experiences. I prized the best of the old guard wines (R. López de Heredia, CVNE, La Rioja Alta, Marqués de Riscal and others) - yet recognized the mediocrity of many - and grated against the brashness of a gush of new wave Riojas that left palate-scalding new oak and high alcohol in their wake. Not surprisingly, the passage of time has seen most of the stalwarts evolving toward a more modern style and many of the newcomers toning down their brash styles to a degree that moves them closer to the classic wines that made Rioja famous in the first place. Among the most captivating of these maverick makers, Viñedos del Contino has emerged as Spain's most important "château" and Bodegas Roda as one of its most significant and innovative wineries founded in the past 25 years. Both are now at or near the top of almost everyone's list of the greatest wines of the modern Spanish era, including mine. And because each has accrued substantial track records - Contino with more than 30 vintages, Roda with more than 15 - the time is ripe to reassess their evolutions.

Contino Estate, La Rioja Alavesa


Located in La Rioja Alavesa district, a few miles northwest of Logroño, La Rioja's provincial capital, Contino is a single-vineyard pago that produces a reserva and gran reserva, the unusual varietal Graciano and the stunning single-parcel wine, El Olivo. Roda, a state-of-the-art winery that also embraces some notable, time-honored influences, is located next door to R. López de Heredia's centenarian bodegas in the celebrated Barrio de la Estación in Haro. Roda makes the entry-level Roda (formerly Roda II), Roda I (the bodega's flagship 100 percent Tempranillo) and the super-luxury cuvée, Cirsion (named for the thistle blossom that is the winery's logo).

Agustín Santolaya pouring for the late night tasting at Roda.

The genesis for this article actually came about three springs ago at the Salón Internacional de Gourmets in Madrid when Agustín Santolaya, the tall, handsome, affable general manager of Roda, made me an offer I couldn't refuse: "Come up to the winery in La Rioja after the Salón closes and I will open every wine we have made since 1992 and prove to you how great Roda wines really are." Two years prior, I had questioned his approach to winemaking in print and he was eager to gently but firmly defend Roda's prominently proclaimed scientific approach to viticultural techniques and winemaking, and prove me wrong in the process.


See The Wine News for the full story: www.thewinenews.com/aprmay06/feat.asp


Historic Tasting at Contino


Contino's now famous El Olivo vineyard.