Spanish Grape Varieties: A Photographic Encyclopedia (A Work-in-Progress, More to Come)

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(Double click on image to go to larger image, once in Picasa web album push F11 for full screen view.)

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About Gerry Dawes

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


Gerry 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. 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on 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@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Taberna de Haro, Brookline, MA: Deborah Hansen's Regular Spanish Wine Tastings

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 Taberna de Haro Spanish Wine Tastings

Deborah Hansen explains a wine to her guests at Taberna de Haro.

Below is information from Deborah Hansen, Chef-owner of Taberna de Haro, on these tastings for December, in which guests will get an opportunity to taste wines from all five Galician denominaciones de origen (DOs):

(If you are going to be in the Boston area, Deborah still has some places left for her December 9 tasting of some intriguing Galician wines.)

"Hello Tasters,

Tasting the wines of Pais Vasco in November with you has been wonderful!  

In December we will taste wines from Galicia.

Revivals and Traditions in Galicia

Galicia is that big, green chunk of Spain just north of Portugal.  Shellfish, pork, rain, Gallic lore, and beaches abound.  And so do some of Spain's most startling wines! 

We could spend hours alone just tasting albarino, that beautiful varietal that is subtly tropical and boldly mineral from Rias Baixas, Galicia.  I love her miracle - a grape grown in a cool and rainy place on the Atlantic that expresses sunshine through aromas of passion fruit, pineapple, and lychee. 

However, there is a wide and welcoming array of wines to be tasted from Galicia right now.  It's the Sleeping Beauty fairytale for those grown-ups with a predilection for drinking wines grounded in tradition and empowered by technology. It's fair to say that the D.O.'s (Denominaciones de Origen, regulated wine-producing zones) of Ribeiro, Monterrei and Ribeira Sacra, and even Valdeorras to a lesser degree,  were a-slumber  for decades when it came to producing remarkable wines. 

Lately an invincible combination of investment, technology, and passion has visited upon the region, and winemakers are now creating wines that reflect traditional styles thanks to modern applictions. They are able to  capture the fresh and lively nature of cool-climate wines,  and export them to quality-thirsty us!  We will taste a wine from each of these D.O.'s, three white and two red, with traditional Gailician dishes as a backdrop to their excellence!

The tastings will be held on Wednesday evenings at Taberna de Haro from 6:30 to 8:00 pm, December 2nd, 9th, and 16th.  (The tasting is the same all three nights).  Respond to this e mail  if you would like to attend. The tastings are limited to 8 people each. 

Here are the wines we will taste:

Vina Mein 2007, D.O. Ribeiro (white)
Terras Gauda 2008 Albarino, D.O. Rias Baixas (white)
Louro do Bolo 2006 Godello, D.O. Valdeorras (white)
Alma de Mencia 2007 D.O. Monterrei (red)
Vina do Burato 2008, D.O. Ribeira Sacra (red)

I look forward to hearing from you!"

Deborah Hansen
Taberna de Haro
999 Beacon Street
Brookline, MA 02446
617 277 8272
tabernaboston.com 

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About Gerry Dawes

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

Gerry 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.

". . .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.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television
series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Vinogallego.com: Article on my Ribeira Sacra - Donde Godello y Mencía encuentran la gloria piece

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Ribeira Sacra - Donde Godello y Mencía encuentran la gloria 

(article in Spanish on Vinogallego.com) 

Ribeira Sacra: Where Godello and Mencía are bound for glory by Gerry Dawes (Wine News, Fall 2009)

Ribeira Sacra Tasting Notes with Photographs 

Ribeira Sacra: The Perfect Lunch with Almalarga Godello at O Grelo Restaurant  

 

About Gerry Dawes

Gerry 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.

". . .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.

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television

series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Ribeira Sacra: Where Godello and Mencía are bound for glory by Gerry Dawes (Wine News, Fall 2009)

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God and Men (Godello and Mencía) in Ribeira Sacra:
Winemaking in Spain's Most Exciting Wine Region for Terroir-Driven Wines 

by Gerry Dawes

(First published in The Wine News, Fall 2009)

Over the past few years, La Ribeira Sacra, a barely accessible, exquisitely rural wine region in northwestern Spain's mountainous Galicia (some 350 miles northwest of Madrid), has begun to show the most exciting potential I have encountered in more than 40 years of traveling the wine roads of Spain. Here God and men, using primarily godello for white wines and mencía for reds, are creating such irresistibly delicious, enticing, often profound wines that the Ribeira Sacra is rapidly becoming one of the most compelling wine regions on earth. In the bargain, Ribeira Sacra just may be the most strikingly beautiful wine region in the world with its terraced vineyards of dry farmed, old vines indigenous grapes that plunge precipitously hundreds of feet down the slopes of the majestic damned-up canyons of the Minho river, meandering from the north and defining the western zone, and the Sil, flowing from the east and marking the southern tier. Ribeira Sacra is one of only two areas in Spain--the other is Priorat--that practice "heroic viticulture," the laborious care and harvesting of vineyards from such steeply inclined terraces.

Although lost in time until recently, Ribeira Sacra has been making wine since the Roman occupation (and possibly longer). In just the past five years, the region has awakened from its centuries-long backwater slumber and appears poised to make a major and possibly long term impact on the Spanish wine world--including becoming a major moderating force for a wine culture that has allowed itself to become obsessed with a predilection for overblown, overripe, overly alcoholic, inky monster style wines. At last a Spanish region has emerged whose terruño (terroir) can rival the ethereal, sublime qualities of the great French Atlantic-climate influenced, terroir-driven wines such as red and white Burgundies and the cabernet franc-laced reds of the Loire Valley. 


Read the whole article by clicking here

 

Related Articles: 

Ribeira Sacra Tasting Notes with Photographs

Ribeira Sacra: The Perfect Lunch with Almalarga Godello at O Grelo Restaurant

Slide Show on Ribera Sacra 

  (Click on image to enlarge, go to Google web albums page and click for full screen slide show.)

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com.