Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

Gracias, Jorge, Cazoga es un vino muy original y h...

2012-04-22T09:50:54.223-04:00

Gracias, Jorge, Cazoga es un vino muy original y ha tenido exito en New York. Esta agotado ya y estamos esperando un envio de mas cajas a USA.

Hola Gerry. Comparto tu gusto por el Cazoga. Desde...

2012-04-22T02:58:57.274-04:00

Hola Gerry. Comparto tu gusto por el Cazoga. Desde ni humilde punto de vista es un "vinazo" que merece respeto. Hace muchos años que siempre tengo en casa alguna caja.
Saludos desde Galicia-España. jorgepenedo.com

Correct, sorry I did not realize you had been invo...

2012-02-14T10:13:31.771-05:00

Correct, sorry I did not realize you had been involved in wine that long. I stand corrected.

15 years in wine? Not that few...

2012-02-14T10:04:19.910-05:00

15 years in wine? Not that few...

He was quite a character, hehe. My main memories...

2012-02-08T05:47:25.502-05:00

He was quite a character, hehe.

My main memories of him involve the early saturday morning trips up to Mijas Pueblo for breakfast at "La boveda" Don would sit and chat with other artists (how would i have enjoyed those conversations now im old enough for them) wilst Sarah and I would buy sweets and run off to the swings next to the Plaza de Toros.
I also remember that Sarah had LOADS of little flat white stones her dad had painted with cartoon characters. Imagine how little we were aware of their value, that we used to play throwing them out side the house, one of them broke my parents car headlight... the trouble we got in to... hahaha.

Thanks, Cassandra, one of the regrets of my life w...

2012-02-07T10:16:31.667-05:00

Thanks, Cassandra, one of the regrets of my life was that I could not see Don more often, and with our mutual friend, artist Rowland Fade. I missed Don when he was alive and I miss him now. I did get to see him in 2003, 2006 and 2010. The last time I saw him, when I took the main picture on this blog, I had a feeling it would be my last. Kay and I spent about a hour with him. It was one of those wonderful hours in a life. I was sorry he was so sick, but I was so glad to see him and communicate. We had adventures together, memorable times like the time a guy was harassing me at one of my Dawes Gallery openings in Mijas and Don pulled himself and offered to punch him out!!

So sad... His daughter and I grew up together, we...

2012-02-07T09:38:55.970-05:00

So sad...
His daughter and I grew up together, we were neighbours for many years, so I gew up seeing his paintings,as a kid i would have never thought it, but i have ended up pursuing a career as an artist, and all along my studies ive wanted to speak to him again, but never got around to it. And now its to late.

Rest in peace Don. You will always be remembered.

Many thanks, Gary, your comment is much appreciate...

2012-02-05T07:34:36.213-05:00

Many thanks, Gary, your comment is much appreciated.

Exclellent blog Gerry, please keep these fine arti...

2012-02-05T07:10:11.521-05:00

Exclellent blog Gerry, please keep these fine articles coming.

Muchas gracias, merci beaucoup. Glad you caught th...

2012-01-12T08:47:26.404-05:00

Muchas gracias, merci beaucoup. Glad you caught the typo. I corrected it.

In academic french: oeufs sur le plat (un plat, no...

2012-01-12T04:28:49.017-05:00

In academic french: oeufs sur le plat (un plat, not une)

A toast to Donn Pohren! Here is a link to tribute...

2011-12-30T22:42:03.167-05:00

A toast to Donn Pohren! Here is a link to tribute page to Donn with some photos and more excerpts from his book "Art of Flamenco"

http://www.heliotricity.com/artofflamencopohren.html

Pohren was a really interesting man with a straigh...

2011-12-23T21:45:28.203-05:00

Pohren was a really interesting man with a straightforward and direct style of writing. His book Art of Flamenco is a must read for anyone truly interested in what real Flamenco is about, here is an excerpt:

"...Flamenco was always a living expression: Andalusia was permeated with it. The Cante was everywhere: in the bars, ventas, bodegas and tabancos: in juergas, both spontaneous and organized: in the streets: in the fields: wherever there were workers, no matter what task they were performing: from the riders of horses and beasts of burden during their slow treks; without exaggeration, everywhere. The dance was featured in all celebrations, and the guitar played an increasingly important role as time went by. During the past forty years this living expression of flamenco has largely been swept away by the rush and noise of progress, and has been replaced by theatricality. Flamenco exists today nearly exclusively on stages throughout Spain and the world, and plays mostly to audiences little versed in the real thing..."

R.I.P. Donn

To Anonymous whose attempted post started like thi...

2011-12-13T16:10:33.474-05:00

To Anonymous whose attempted post started like this: "In case Antonio Casado and his readers are interested. I have known Pancho Campo for the last 20 years and there is a long list of things that people should know about this man. First let’s start by saying he is Chilean and not Spanish and that he spent most of his life in the tennis world. Pancho is the ultimate showman." I cannot allow the rest of the post to be published because it is inflammatory and to publish without some documentation and/or your identity would be irresponsible on my part. I thank you for the information and I will follow up on it, but I will not publish it this way. As it is pretty easy to find out, my e-mail is gerrydawes@aol.com. If you want to offer documentation for your charges, I can offer to you that your identity will be kept in journalist confidence, but in the event a lawsuit did develop over incorrect information, I would have to have a statement documenting your identity before proceeding to publish your observations. Thank you, Gerry Dawes

We have had a plethora of what I think are downrig...

2011-12-09T18:30:10.870-05:00

We have had a plethora of what I think are downright bad wines being sold because of the reviews favoring overwrought, over alcoholic, overoaked and overripe wines in recent years and a lot of nuevos aficionados of wine have swallowed such reviews hook, line and sinker. There is evidence that they are turning against these type of wines now, but it had taken for too long, IMHO.

Uh, I don't know if the statement about restau...

2011-12-09T18:25:37.257-05:00

Uh, I don't know if the statement about restaurant journalists in Spain taking €€€ for reviews is true. I am sure that there are some who may do that, but I doubt that the best ones do.

As far as a Wine Reviewer (wine critic), Jay Mille...

2011-12-09T17:46:08.495-05:00

As far as a Wine Reviewer (wine critic), Jay Miller, or any other, is concerned, its is their authentic and correct output about wines that make their reputation or professionalism stand. Therefore, it is a long shot that Miller would differ on his opinion about wines due to Pancho Campo`s so called "adventures". Miller and any other critic only have their palate and words where consumers evaluate the truth or not or the quality of their opinions. To go against that is to kill their own business. On the issue of Pancho Campo, if he took advantage of Jay Millers visits to charge wine producers, it is wrong, but also for wine producers to pay. Would you pay to have your product evaluated but without knowing the outcome?. Doubt it. Finally, all markets where spanish wines are available will determine weather they like it or not by trying them. Isn´t that what happens anyway when a critic says a wine is good. Then each one becomes a wine critic AND a critic of the critic. So get busy and try more wines. Enjoy.

It is surprising that it took so long for (at leas...

2011-12-09T14:56:42.354-05:00

It is surprising that it took so long for (at least some of) the methods of chilean MW Pancho Campo to surface, considering that they were vox populi in the Spanish wine industry for so long. This man is bringing down Bob Parker and will seriously damage the reputation of the title Master of Wine. He may even bring down Jancis, who has supported him with (surprising?) enthusiasm, although lately she seems to have understood and is moving away from him as fast as she can.

David Schildknecht continues to post on the subjec...

2011-12-07T10:16:48.413-05:00

David Schildknecht continues to post on the subject of Jay Miller's resignation as The Wine Advocate's Spanish wine critic, this time on Mike Steinberger's The Wine Diarist (http://winediarist.com/schildknecht-miller-not-leaving-wine-advocate-on-account-of-spain-controversy/): You “would not expect [me] to be privy to everything that passes between Parker and Miller, especially with regard to the controversy at hand” and surely you don’t think that I would expect this either. So how is “[t]hat [the reason] why [my] prof[f]ered explanations strike [you] as odd”? I only wrote about what I know. I neither engaged in speculation nor intimated that I was privy to inside information that I was unable or unwilling to divulge. Perhaps “In [my] shoes, [you] would have been happy to sidestep this whole mess.”

2011-12-07T09:55:13.377-05:00

This comment has been removed by the author.

While it is sad to note that few Spanish wine jour...

2011-12-07T06:07:52.391-05:00

While it is sad to note that few Spanish wine journalists have investigated this, I believe it is common practice by restaurant journalists here to take €€€ for reviews. Perhaps Pancho sees himself as aligned with this lack of ethics and integrity when the power of the press is brought to food and wine?

This is what I wrote after Jay Miller's visit ...

2011-12-05T05:39:32.379-05:00

This is what I wrote after Jay Miller's visit to Pamplona. Unaware of what would happen later. As you can also see Pancho Campo there is a very interesting commentary of Mr. Campo after what I wrote. I felt ashamed for my friends in Navarra.

http://blogs.diariovasco.com/eljukebox

Que opinas de la noticia Gerry¿? http://elmundov...

2011-12-05T05:23:22.935-05:00

Que opinas de la noticia Gerry¿?

http://elmundovino.elmundo.es/elmundovino/noticia.html?vi_seccion=2&vs_fecha=201112&vs_noticia=1323073889

SALUT¡¡¡

Un honor que hayas leído mi blog, una vez más PAnc...

2011-12-03T10:28:46.337-05:00

Un honor que hayas leído mi blog, una vez más PAncho dio muestras de su prepotencia y mala educación , basada en mi opinión en intereses personales económicos. Lo que no puede ser que Pancho, gerentes de cooperativas y cuatro más se carguen de un plumazo los campos de experimentación de bodegas y cooperativas,nuestra historia y la confianza del viticultor cooperativo en sus lideres "profesionales", iniciativas europeas del tipo leader e iniciativas locales de desarrollo rural sostenible.... a pagarlo como siempre el agricultor, que es el que al fin y al cabo comienza a crear la magia del vino con sus uvas y que confia en sus representantes, los cuales se dejarón llevar una vez más por la avaricia personal de los wine masters.

UN FUERTE ABRAZO ¡¡¡

Stayed tuned, BlondeBomber, there is much more to ...

2011-10-24T11:49:45.379-04:00

Stayed tuned, BlondeBomber, there is much more to come. Thanks for posting.