Remembering The Great Donn Pohren: His Passing & His Significance "Embedded in me like a memory chip is the spirit of Donn Pohren and his book Adventures in Taste: The Wines and Folk Food of Spain."

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Madrid, Spain - American writer and well-known Flamencologist Donn Pohren died in Las Rozas [a Madrid suburb] on November 5, 2007. His wife, Luisa Maravillas provided a brief statement: "I regret to inform you all that Donn passed away the 5th of November, during the night. Sometime in the near future I intend to organize a gathering of friends and aficionados in Las Rozas."  - - Contributed by: WMC_News_Dept.  11/07/2007 08:35AM

Donn Pohren was regarded as one of the leading experts in Flamenco in the English language and wrote several influential books about the subject. "Donn Pohren's book was the first thing I bought when arriving in Andalucía, before I even knew how much my life would be involved with and changed by flamenco. It helped me understand a lot that was to come," says British expatriate Kate Edbrooke, who runs a recording studio in Granada and has produced several Flamenco recordings by local artists.  Pohren wrote several books on Flamenco, including The Art of Flamenco, Lives and Legends of Flamenco and A Way of Life.  He and his wife Luisa ran the Society for Spanish Studies, first out of Morón de la Frontera and later from Rozas outside of Madrid.

Que descansa en una juerga de “pura ma're” with a copita in front of him
and Diego del Gastor playing alongside him.

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The Significance of Flamencologist Donn Pohren

and His Impact on Spanish Wine & Food
 
Copyright by Gerry Dawes 2017. 

In 1972, Donn Pohren, a Minneapolis-born American who lived in Spain for decades and was the world's greatest foreign expert on flamenco, published his idiosyncratic underground classic, Adventures in Taste: The Wines and Folk Food of Spain. I was living in southern Spain when I first encountered Pohrens's book (privately printed in Spain) soon after it was published and it had a profound effect on me. In the early years, I never traveled without it. At first, I merely wanted to have some of the wine and food experiences that he had described. Soon, I was having new experiences of my own, experiences that would eventually lead to my becoming a widely published writer on Spanish wine and food and a recognized authority in the field.

  

Donn Pohren's Adventures in Taste: The Wines and Folk Food of Spain

Adventures in Taste, self-published by Pohren in 1972.

Pohren wandered around the Iberian Peninsula in the 1960s exploring the nooks and crannies of Spain's 4,000,000 acres of vineyard lands, the largest acreage of any country in the world. He would pop into a village bar, ask for a glass of the local vino, then casually ask who made the best wine in town. On many occasions, Pohren would soon find himself being offered several samples as one vintner after another vied to show this foreigner that his wine was the best in the village. In his book, Pohren described encounter after encounter with artisan winemakers who were making excellent wines, many of which were unknown to the outside world in those days.

Pohren's Map of the Wine Regions of North Central

 (He did not cover Galicia!)

However, many of the wines Pohren described were wines whose charm soon faded if anyone tried to transport them beyond the boundaries of their home region. The winemaking techniques were often primitive. In many places the grapes were still crushed by treading, then fermented in open stone or cement vats, and aged in less than meticulously cared for barrels. The result was a flawed wine, which often tasted good with the local food, but was simply not stable enough to "travel" and was not the stuff to thrill sophisticated wine connoisseurs. Still, Don Pohren swore by the inherent quality of many of these Spanish wines and he was right.

His experiences have always been in the back of my mind and have served me well on numerous occasions, such as an encounter on my first trip to then unknown Priorat in 1988. Firmly in Pohren's shoes, I entered an old-fashioned, untidy cellar, where I was given a flawed wine to taste, but the underlying base wine was clearly very good. I judged the prospects for this region to be so promising that I came back wrote the first major article about the potential of Priorat. Alvaro Palacios and crew arrived the next year and began to make history. Recently, in Ribeira Sacra, I have run into some flawed wines (less so every year), just as a did in Priorat nearly twenty years earlier. Tasting "underneath" the sometimes inexperienced wine making techniques, I found enormous potential. I know Donn would have as well.

What Pohren tasted in those wines while researching his book forty years ago was the materia prima (raw material; grapes, soil and climate), the exceptional juice from grapes which often came from old vines, whose average yield of wine per acre of vines was less than half that allowed by the best appellations of Burgundy and Bordeaux.  Even backward winemaking techniques couldn't keep the underlying quality from showing through; Pohren's Spanish wines were diamonds in the rough.

In the years since Donn Pohren wrote his book, exciting things have happened which promise an incredible future for both Spain's traditional wines and those of emerging wine regions. Spain's nearly four decades-old democracy has been the catalyst for a modern renaissance in fashion, art, literature, cinema, and gastronomy and it has ushered in a technological revolution in wine making as well. A key element in this was Spain's acceptance in 1992 as a member of the European Economic Community, the Common Market (now the European Union), which posed a special challenge to Spanish wine producers: compete on a quality level with the other wines of Europe or enter the over-saturated European wine "lake," and be lost in the crowd.

Fortunately, Spain opted for quality. Many forward looking people in the Spanish wine trade began to see Spain's entry into the European Union as both a new challenge and a new opportunity for their wines. These challenges and opportunities would require a reassessment of their positions in both the domestic and export markets, an upgrading of their winemaking technology, and consistent quality in their wines. Emile Peynaud, Alexis Lichine, and other consultants were brought in from France to advise winemakers in the Rioja, Ribera del Duero, and Rueda. The best enologists from Rioja, Penedes, and Navarra traveled to other regions share their expertise. Young Spanish winemakers trained in Bordeaux, Burgundy, and at the University of California - Davis. Miguel Torres Riera, the maestro of Catalan winemaking, and Jose Peñin, Spain's foremost wine authority, wrote important books about Spain's future in the wine world. New wine books, periodicals, and gourmet journals proliferated. Seminars, international wine symposiums, and wine competitions began to be conducted on a regular basis. And, importantly, wine clubs and societies were formed as an increasingly affluent and growing middle class in Spain began to appreciate the wines of its own country.

During the past several decades, investments in new wine making technology (especially in the area of fermentation control), better barrels (although accompanying by a lot of oak abuse!), experiments with new grape varietals, and the replanting of vineyards in some areas have begun to have a geometric effect on the overall quality level of Spanish wines. This progress in winemaking technique in Spain would not in itself account for such a dramatic effect–in fact, it is now often a detriment to authenticity--if it were not for the fact that Spain is a splendid natural vineyard endowed with many areas whose grape varietals have become perfectly acclimated over centuries to the micro-climate and soil in which they grow. 

All that was needed in many cases were winemakers dedicated to quality and the technology to achieve it. The grapes produced in the best wine areas of Spain–Rioja, Jerez, Cataluna, Ribera del Duero, Navarra, Rueda, and in many up and coming regions–have shown they are capable of producing wines which can stand alongside the best of France, Italy, and California. The Tempranillo of the Rioja and Ribera del Duero, for example, is coming to be recognized as a grape which can produce wines to rival those made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or Pinot Noir.

The established, classic wine regions of Spain like Rioja and Jerez, while refining the techniques and polishing the skills which made them famous, also created exciting new areas of interest with small estates like Remelluri and Contino in Rioja and the emergence of such high-quality wines as the almacenista sherries of Emilio Lustau and the late harvest Navarra moscatels from Julián Chivite, Ochoa and Viña Aliaga. Other areas whose wines were once underground legends in Spain, like those described by Donn Pohren, but whose viticulture was based on tiny artisan producers and ill-equipped cooperatives, began to realize their potential for making great wines.

Ribera del Duero, home of Vega Sicilia, Pesquera, Mauro, and Viña Pedrosa; Navarra, the producer of perhaps the world's finest rosés; Priorato (Cataluna) and Toro (Castilla-Leon), whose rich, concentrated, blockbuster red wines have drawn international attention; Rueda, a surprising white wine region; and Rías Baixas, whose Albariños now count the U.S. as its most important export market, are just the most visible of the emerging wine regions capable of making first rate wine from native grapes. There are many more to come. 

Previously unknown regions–not many of which unknown to Donn Pohren–such as Bierzo, Ribeiro, Ribeira Sacra, Valdeorras and Monterrei, along with Jumilla and many others–have either jumped onto the world wine stage or are just in the wings awaiting their call to stardom. Producers like Miguel Torres in Penedes, Julián Chivite in Navarra, Carlos Falcó at Dominio de Valdepusa and Codorniu's Raimat estate, just to name a few examples, have achieved new heights with foreign varietals, though even the best examples often fall short of the intriguing, delicious, uniquely Spanish wines made from indigenous varieties–the kinds of wines that Donn Pohren loved.

Embedded in me like a memory chip is the spirit of Donn Pohren and his Adventures in Taste.  Following his example, I still ferret out little known producers and drive many kilometers out-of-the-way just to eat a dish in a little-known regional restaurant and, like Don, look beyond rusticity (or fancy trappings in some places) to find the core of something that is undeniably wonderful and unique to Spain. Only adventurers and indefatigable travelers can do what Donn Pohren did. I can attest to how indefatigable and adventurous he was from averaging six trips a year to Spain (eight per year in the past five years).

Without Don Pohren’s book (and to a great degree, James A. Michener’s Iberia) I may have never caught the spirit of the Spanish road that has sustained me now for more than 50 years. For that I owe Donn a now un-redeemable debt of gratitude and so do people such as Steve Metzler, who built a great and exemplary Spanish wine importing company, Classical Wines, based on his Pohren-inspired wine travels. Because of Donn, Metzler was inspired to find not only Pesquera and make Alejandro Fernandez's wine world famous, he even met his wife, Almudena. Neither of us saw Don Pohren as much as we would have liked to over the years, but fortunately several years ago in Madrid, I had an opportunity to let Donn know just how much his work meant to me and to the many who carry Spain in their hearts.

Pohren visited my late former wife Diana and I for lunch at our house in Mijas (Málaga) in 1974.  

Donn autographed Adventures in Taste to us.

I will miss the fact that Donn is no longer with us in body, but he will never die in the spirits and hearts of those who followed his incredible Quixotesque passion for Spain, flamenco, Spanish wine and traditional food and all things Spanish. (Quixote may have been a dreamer, but not a madman; those windmills he was tilting at were brought from the low countries and represented the domination of the foreign House of Austria, a powerful, inquisition wielding force that crushed those who dissented like Don Quixote after his encounter with the windmill sails.)

Donn Pohren was a dreamer and he may have seemed like a madman when he lived his life like a candle in the wind during his awesome flamenco juerga years, but to me Donn Pohren was a profound inspiration and he always will be. 

Vaya con Dios, Don Donn. I will raise a copita to you often in my journeys. I can see the angels lining up now for a juerga--a Spanish wine, food and flamenco party--the likes of which even heaven hasn’t seen.

The End

Gerry Dawes©2026
gerrydawes@aol.com

 

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Comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

Text and photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes©2021.  Using photographs without crediting Gerry Dawes©2021 on Facebook.  Publication without my written permission is not authorized.

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  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

In 2026, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2026 by Feedspot, now up to #7 . (Last Updated September 2026.) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

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

 
About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

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. 

 

Pilot for 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

 

"Some men are born out of their due place." The Moon and Sixpence, W. Somerset Maugham

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Manzanilla at sunset on Bajo de Guía beach at Sanlúcar de Barrameda, my spiritual home.

"I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they know not. They are strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have known from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, remain but a place of passage. They may spend their whole lives aliens among their kindred and remain aloof among the only scenes they have ever known."

Peregrino (pilgrim); Irmandinho (Brother) de la Irmandade de Viños Galegos

(Brotherhood of Galician Wines), Santiago de Compostela. (Self portrait.)

"Perhaps it is this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the search for something permanent, to which they may attach themselves. Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history."

At Pena das Donas, Ribeira Sacra in the morning light.  
Photograph by Basilio Izquierdo, former winemaker at CVNE.

Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home he sought, and he will settle amid scenes that he has never seen among men he has never known, as though they were familiar to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest." - - The Moon and Sixpence, W. Somerset Maugham (who spent time in Spain in his youth and wrote extensively about it.)

With the Bodegueros Artesanos, Val do Salnés, Rías Baixas, Galicia, producers of natural, native yeast, own-clone, terruño-laced, spoofulation-free Albariños of character, style, grace, balance, charm and breed. The taste of their unique wines is driven by individuality, not what "the market is asking for." They make some of the most intriguing and best white wines of Spain.

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Constructive comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

If you enjoy these blog posts, please consider a contribution to help me continue the work of gathering all this great information and these photographs for Gerry Dawes's Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel. Contributions of $5 and up will be greatly appreciated. Contributions of $100 or more will be acknowledged on the blog. Please click on this secure link to Paypal to make your contribution.

 

Text and photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes©2021.  Using photographs without crediting Gerry Dawes©2021 on Facebook.  Publication without my written permission is not authorized.

* * * * *

  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

 ______________________________________________________________________

 

In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

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

 
About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes was the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

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. 

 

Pilot for 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

Food Arts Silver Spoon Award December (Written by José Andrés)

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Some days, the Gods smile on you.  Tuesday, December 1, 2009, was one of those days for me. When I came home from Thanksgiving weekend there was a FedEx envelope on my front porch. In it was the December issue of Food Arts, which contained my Silver Spoon Award. The profile was written by my friend, the great chef-restaurateur-television personality-and expert on Spanish cuisine, José Andrés, whose new restaurant Bazaar has taken Los Angeles by storm.

I am very grateful to José for his kinds words in this supremely gratifying piece and to Michael and Ariane Batterberry, founders and publishers of Food Arts, and to my editor Jim Poris, who selected me for this prestigious award and got José to write it.

And many, many thanks--miles de gracias--to Ferran Adrià, the great Catalan chef whom many consider to be the greatest--and certainly the most innovative--chef in the world, who contributed this: 

 

"Spain wouldn't be as known to Americans without the stories Gerry tells and writes."


But, few lines could be better than the ones José Andrés wrote, especially these:


"As a young chef arriving in America from Spain in the early 1990s, I came to see Gerry as an ally. At the time, I found myself struggling to explain Spanish cooking because people either had no idea or they had the wrong idea.  It was a battle.  But Gerry's writing meant I was not alone in telling Americans about piquillos and escudella and jamón.  At a time when most food journalists were writing about France and Italy, Gerry went off in his own direction to become to first to really tell the story of Spain."


Like I said, some days the Gods smile on you and when the culinary Gods smile on you that is some great day indeed. For many years I have lived believing that the greatest day of my life is still ahead of me, not behind me. Receiving the Silver Spoon Award made this one of my greatest days and it also re-affirmed that the best day of all is still ahead.


Mil gracias a todos, Gerry

From Food Arts Silver Spoon Award December 2009 Gerry Dawes

____________________________________________________________________________

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

Spain’s Surprising Terroir-Driven Reds: Slate-laced Glories

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The Slate-laced Glories from the Atlantic Northwest & Mediterranean Tarragona

Text, Photos & Tasting Notes

by Gerry Dawes

Slide Show: Spain's Surprising Terroir-Driven Reds: Slate-laced Glories
(Double click on slide slow to enlarge: click left on slideshow in Picasa Web Album for full size.)

Alice Feiring (pronounced “Firing”), in her new book, The Battle for Wine and Love or How I Saved the World From Parkerization, talks about “being firmly in the camp” that Robert Parker “vilifies as a ‘terroir jihadists.’” Despite being a Spain specialist, a country where few wine aficionados would go searching for terroir (or terruño in Spanish), I also have long been firmly in the “terroir jihadist” camp. Before I left the wine trade in America, I cut my wine teeth selling some of France’s best terroir-driven wines from the portfolios of such French-trained palates as Frederick Wildman, Anthony Sarjeant, Henry Cavalier, Gerald Asher and Robert Haas.

For more than 30 years I have roamed Spain, but I found my red wine terroir heaven consistently in only two areas: In northwestern Atlantic-influenced Spain–Ribeira Sacra (Galicia) and Bierzo (Castilla-León, abutting Galicia)–and in Mediterranean Catalunya, in Priorat–and to some degree, Montsant–(Tarragona). Those regions rely primarily on indigenous red varieties grown in mountain vineyards in what appears to be impenetrable slate–called pizarra (Spanish) or licorella (Catalan)–that can be alternately blue-gray and rust-brown (when oxidized by exposure).

Both Ribeira Sacra and Bierzo make surprising red wines from the mencía grape, which tastes very similar to Loire Valley cabernet franc. Bierzo has already begun to receive accolades, in Spain and abroad, primarily because of the wines from Desciendentes de José Palacios, from the family of Álvaro Palacios of Priorat and Rioja Baja fame. Several areas of Bierzo and Ribeira Sacra reminded me of when I first visited Mediterranean Priorat in 1988. I found wines with such distinct terroir, character and undeniably enormous potential that, despite unrefined, rustic winemaking that made terroirista martyrs of them–I wrote that if anyone who really knew how to make wine ever showed up in Priorat, the wine world would be stunned. The “Gang of Five” showed up in 1999 and began the process that led the famous Priorat Clos–Mogador, Dofí, de L’Obac, Martinet and Erasmus–which did indeed stun wine reviewers with their big, but terroir-laced wines.

Spanning nearly ten trips in the past five years and tasting in scores of small bodegas, I became enamored of the mineral-laced terroir-driven red wines from Ribeira Sacra and Bierzo, which show astounding potential and can be as well-balanced and delicious as any in Spain. Even though many of them are still rustic and works-in-progress, they have a distinct character that sets them apart from most other red wines in Spain. Though I was impressed by numerous Ribeira Sacra and Bierzo wines which showed exceptional terroir, my mantra was the same as when I first visited Priorat, “if anyone who really knows how to make wines ever shows up here. . .” But this time the culprit was not crude winemaking and unkempt barrels. Especially in Bierzo, it was trying to make copycat wines with uncharacteristically jammy fruit, low acids, and moonwalking alcohol levels, then commiting new oak infanticide, stifling what should be bright fruit and minerality.

Admittedly, I am enamored of the bright fruit and haunting mineral flavors. And, yes, I still deny that mineral terroir is impossible and will, until someone can tell me why wines made in Atlantic Bierzo and Ribeira Sacra and in Mediterranean Priorat–all grown on pizarra (Spanish) or licorella (Catalan) slate–have that same haunting graphite finish. When that minerality is matched with the raspberry, red currant (mencía) fruit of Bierzo/Ribeira Sacra and the cherry-wild red berry (garnacha) and/or blueberry (cariñena) of Priorat, the result can be unforgettable. In Priorat, where alcohol levels are hard to tame (some are better shared by more than two people), but naturally acidic soils help with balance, the wines can be among the greatest in the world–when judiciously oaked.

The Atlantic Northwest: Ribeira Sacra & Bierzo

Ribeira Sacra (Galicia)

Roger Kugler, Wine Director at New York’s tony Suba tapas restaurant, thinks, “Ribeira Sacra is one of the most exciting regions in recent memory. Already the wines have a clear identity; the terrific slate terroir sings out. This could be the next great wine region of the world.”
Ribeira Sacra is not only destined for greatness, it is one of the most awsomely beautiful wine regions in the world, with terraced slate-and-schist strewn, impossibly perpendicular vineyards plunging hundreds of feet to the dammed-up canyons of the Sil and Minho rivers. Beyond spectacular, the vistas of the vineyards arrayed along precipitously steep slopes rival the Douro, the Moselle, and Côte Rôtie.

Dry-farmed Mencía grapes grown on Ribeira Sacra’s ancient, awesomely steep, single row-terraced, slate vineyards of are part of a unique wine miracle, where every thing–grapes, Atlantic climate, altitude, soil, vineyard orientation–come together. The wines are often quite delicious with seldom overripe red-and-black raspberry fruit, a fine acidic balance and moderate alcohol levels (12%-13%), which gives them an exceptional affinity for a wide range of food.

Though many of the wines are still rustic, the best show grace and charm, yet have a depth of flavor and a haunting minerality that makes one wish that the bottle would never end. The problem has been the missing element–the right winemakers–but the solution is not Catalan winemakers emulating Priorat, nor American importers’ representatives advising Ribeira Sacra’s regulatory council that to succeed, they should lay on the new oak. Andre Tamers, President of De Maison Selections, the U.S. importer of D. Ventura Viña Caniero, believes fervently in Ribeira Sacra’s future and also laments attempts to “Prioratize” these Atlantic wines. Tamers thinks some wines in Bierzo suffer from the same malady, especially the overzealous use of new oak. Roger Kugler also sees the danger in ill-advised winemaking in this exceptionally promising region, “experimentation has led to some strange, oddly shaped wines. It takes a deft hand to use oak with most of these grapes and few have the ability to pull it off.”

On earlier trips to Ribeira Sacra, I had seen glimpses of future greatness in the meager production of José Manuel Rodríguez’s Décima and promise in such wines as Viña Cazoga, Peza do Rei, Cividade and Os Cipreses. Most were delicious with food, but in general they lacked finesse. But last summer, after remarkable tastings at Décima, Pradio, Alguiera and Pena Das Donas, I saw the future of Ribeira Sacra jell in just two days. Some of the wines had the potential of great Burgundy, others were reminiscent of Loire Valley reds like Chinon. Other very promising wines are now entering the market, such as the aforementioned D. Ventura Viña Caniero, in which Gerardo Méndez of Rías Baixas’s Do Ferreiro Albariño has a hand; the exotic Enológica Thémera (chestnut and cherry wood, not oak!); and Lacima, Lapena and Lalama, a trio from Priorat husband-wife team, Sara Pérez (Clos Martinet) and René Barbier, Jr. Their ‘L’ alliteration is less fearsome than the specter of a plethora of Mediterranean style wines Ribeira Sacra wines with high alcohol levels.
Bierzo (Castilla y León)
Bierzo, until less than a decade ago was barely a blip even on the Spanish wine radar, but recently the region has risen meteorically from obscurity to critical acclaim. Wines such as Descendientes de J. Palacios (Priorat’s Álvaro Palacios and his nephew, Ricardo Pérez) richly flavored wines from old vines vineyards near the village of Corullón; Domino de Tares, until recently made by an ex-Ribera del Duero enologist; and Paixar, from Spain’s most revered winemaker, Mariano García, helped propel the region to prominence. Many others have followed their lead, including Tilenus, Castro Ventoso, Pittacum, Pucho, Peique, Cuatro Pasos, Casar de Burbia and Vega Montán. Tilenus, Castro Ventoso and the new Cabildo de Salas are all made by Raúl Pérez, Bierzo rising star.

Mariano García, whose sons, Alberto and Eduardo, are in charge of making the highly rated Paixar from high altitude vineyards near the Galician border is enthusiastic about Bierzo’s prospects for making great wines, “From these high altitude, hillside, broken-pizarra vineyards, we can make wines with great style and personality. There is an explosion of quality wines from emerging Bierzo single vineyard pagos comparable to those of Hermitage and Côte Rôtie.”

Mediterranean Catalunya: Priorat and Montsant

Priorat (Tarragona)
What has happened in just 20 years in Priorat is nothing short of mind-boggling. The Spanish wine world has been turned upside down in an upheaval every bit as cataclysmic in scale as the ancient geological events that created Priorat’s dramatically beautiful landscape. In its massive, ripe, high-alcohol, and terroir-driven wines a talented collection of winemakers found nirvana in an age when power, extraction and new oak were beginning to prized above all.

In Priorat, some stunning wines are made from native garnacha (and small-berry garnacha peluda) and cariñena, often blended with varying percentages of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah. Priorat wines have the power (a problem sometimes) and the glory (the incredible garnacha and cariñena old vineyards fruit and superb licorella terroir). Some Priorat wines need more finesse and elegance and, when winemakers tone down the new oak, these wines are among the greatest in Europe. Such wines as the originals–Clos Mogador, Clos Dofì, Clos de L’Obac and Clos Martinet (sorry I can’t get on board with Clos Erasmus, a sweet, voluptuous, 16% alcohol, Cherry Cola on steroids)–have been consistently rated among the top Spanish wines for years. Now they are joined by such superb wines as Vall Llach, Cims de Porrera, Mas Doix, Torres Perpetual, Lo Givot, Martinet Degustación and the new Ferrer Bobet.

In Priorato, vines are grown on often precipitously steep hillside terraces–some dating to Romans era–and covered with shards or smaller pieces of licorella slate, which impart haunting, persistent mineral flavors to the wines. Some of the native garnacha negra, garnacha peluda and cariñena growing in these non-irrigated, organically poor vineyards dates back a century and 50-60 year old vines are common. Just over a decade ago, planting the foreign varieties was the prevailing wisdom, but now, it is widely recognized that the native garnacha and carinéna may have found their apogee in Priorat, so garnacha and cariñena comprise from 60-100% of most blends.

Montsant (Tarragona)
The Montsant denominación de origen encircles Priorat like a yoke. Once a part of the large Tarragona D.O., Monsant’s main town is Falset, and until 2001, the wines were sold under Tarragona, Falset subzone classification. Enterprising winemakers from Priorat, including René Barbier of Clos Mogador, his son René, Jr. and daughter-in-law Sara Pérez of Clos Martinet; René, Sr.’s partner, Bordeaux-based importer Christopher Canaan of Europvin; and Daphne Glorian/Eric Solomon, wife/husband team of Clos Erasmus have branched out into Montsant to join the family firms such as Joan D’Anguera in Darmós and Capafons-Osso; a few quality oriented cooperatives—at Marça, Capçanes and Masroig—and such operations as Grupo Galiciano (Clos de Codols) in raising the quality bar for Montsant wines.

The region takes it name from the majestic Montsant escarpment, which juts so abruptly skyward that its existence is surely the result of a single cataclysmic geological event. Some 45 Montsant bodegas make wines from grapes grown by 750 vineyard owners, who farm the main native red grape varietals, garnacha tinta, garnacha peluda and cariñena with picapol and tempranillo also authorized along with the foreign varietals cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah. Montsant’s 2000 hectares of vines surpass Priorat’s 1700 and the climate is similar, but there are significant differences between the two regions. Montsant’s vineyards are at lower elevations on much less mountainous terrain and while some areas boast licorella slate, others are strewn with codols (pebbles and larger rounded stones), compacted calcareous soil and, around Falset, granitic sand. This greater diversity of soils can contribute another distinct element of terroir complexity to the wines, but without the breed shown by the best Priorat. Like Priorat, the minimum permitted alcohol level for Montsant is 13.5%, but allowable yields for red wines are 10,000 Kg. per Hct., much higher than their neighbor.

Montsant is still to quite new and, despite over-inflated claims from the fruit-mad, over-extracted, oak soup school of wine appreciation, many wines, though they have improved steadily, still have a way to go. Ironically, one the best (and best tasting) wines in the entire region is a kosher wine, Celler de Capçanes Flor de Primavera Peraj Ha’Abib, a wine that only a rabbi, who comes infrequently, can touch. The winery says, “The wine is more virgin.” One presumes because no one has been allowed to violate it! This kosher wine is not a lone aberration. One of the best dessert wines in Priorat, the kosher ‘770' Etim Dolç, is made at Clos Martinet. The inference is that the less winemakers touch the wine the better, a custom one wishes would spread in Spain.

Tasting Notes

(Author’s note: Alcohol levels are one of the most important things to know about a wine, so I included it.)

Ribeira Sacra

Décima 2006 José Manuel Rodríguez (12%) Excellent red fruits and minerals nose; juicy acids balancing delicious sweet raspberry fruit with an an enticing, complex mineral, restrained alcohol and no oak! **** Drink to 2010.

Prádio Mencia 2007 Xavier Seoane Novelle (12.5%) Pleasant, candied red fruit nose.
Delicious, bright, quaffable, red raspberry-and-currant fruit balanced an unoaked, haunting mineral-laced finish. *** Drink near-term.

D. Ventura Viña Caneiro 2006 Losada Fernández (14%) Rustic, ripe fruit, minerals. Big, rich, fruit-loaded, but very juicy and delicious with a long, intriguing earthy minerality, no oak. **** Drink now to 2010.

Thémera 2004 Enológica Témera (sic) (12.5%; aged in cherry and chestnut wood) Nice subdued red fruits nose with mystifiying cherry and chestnut wood aromas. Rich, but not overblown, juicy fruit, odd, but not off-putting wood, competes with mineral finish. Good with food. *** Drink now to 2010

Algueira Mencía Barrica 2005 (13%) Bright red fruit, graphite, oak not obtrusive. Quite good red raspberry, good balance of fruit, tannin and oak. Algueira 2001 is the greatest Ribeira Sacra red I have tasted.)

Bierzo
Descendientes de J. Palacios Pétalos Mencía 2006 (14%) Ripe black raspberry nose.deep black raspberry and currant fruit laced with graphite-like mineral flavors in a tannic, oaky finish. Reasonable value. **** Drink now to 2011.

Peique Mencía 2006 Bodegas Peique (13.5%) Rich fruit, cloves, licorice and mineral nose. Delicious, luscious, rich, red and black wild berries with cloves, licorice, bitter dark chocolate. Like a good Chinon. Superb bargain. ****½ Drink now to 2010.

Peique Selección Familiar 2004 (13.5%) Harmonious fruit, minerals and oak nose. Rich, silky balance of raspberry and blueberry fruit, dark chocolate, graphite and oak. ****½ Drink now to 2013.

Paixar Mencía 2004 (14%) More new french oak than fruit. Excellent black raspberry
fruit and mineral flavors that despite the liberal oak, experience shows that time and food ameliorate it in this wine. **** Drink now to 2012.

Bodegas Adrià Vega Montán Mencía Roble 2006 (14%) Spicy sweet fruit, slatey minerals and new oak. Well-balanced, sweet ripe fruit, earthy and a bit overoaked, but air and food improve it considerably. Good value. *** Drink now to 2010.

Tilenus (Envejecido en Roble) 2004 Bodegas Estefanía (14%) Earthy slate nose, ripe red fruits, oak. Great balance of rich wild berries, minerals and well integrated oak, this elegant wine will surpass many villages Burgundies. A fine value. **** Drink now to 2012.

Ultreía St. Jacques 2005 (14.2%) Black raspberry, garrigues, mineral nose; great entry, delicious red and black currants, wild herbs, minerals and oak in harmony. **** Drink now to 2014.

Priorat
Costers de Siurana Clos de L’Obac 2004 (14.5%; in 1999, this wine was 13%). Very pretty, black currant nose and a powerful, warm, ripe wild berries and minerals, all well inegrated and made for ageing. ****1/2 2008-2020

Clos Mogador 2004 (14.5%). Rises above L’Ermita, Dominio de Pingus, etc. May be Spain’s best red wine from one of greatest winemakers, René Barbier (padre). Ripe black currants, licorice, graphite nose. One of Spain’s most, complex and exotic wines with lots of rich, sweet black currants, mineral terroir, and licorice. ***** 2008-2025

Álvaro Palacios Les Terrasses 2006 (14.9%). Ripe black fruits, mineral nose; well-balanced, fresh delicious, cherry black currant, blueberry, dark chocolate and minerals. Good value. **** Drink 2008-2015

Mas Martinet Martinet Degustació 2005 (14.5%) Pure black fruits and licorice nose; delicious, elegant wine with black fruits, dark chocolate and licorice. ****1/2 Drink 2008-2015

Mas Martinet Clos Martinet 2005 (14.5%) Big ripe fruit, licorice, cloves, toast and graphite; heavy, ripe, sweet wild fruits with cola-like flavors, cloves, chocolate fruits and minerals. Should improve with bottle age. **** 2008-2015.

Vall Llach 2005 (14.5%) Very ripe black fruits, garrigues herbs, minerals; very pure, fresh, sweet blueberry strains, minerals and wild herbs. A very big, but balanced, complex wine.
***** 2008 - 2015

Clos Abella 2006 (Made by Ester Nin, enologist at Clos Erasmus) (15%). Nice complex nose. Powerful with very ripe, but fresh sweet cherry and blueberry fruit, garrigues herbs and minerals with Syrah backbone and judicious oak. ***1/2 2008-2012

Torres Salmos Perpetual 2005 (14.5%) Fine integrated nose of ripe fruit, licorice, minerals, restrained oak. Silky, delicious, ripe, but not jammy, cherry and blueberry fruit with an elegant with mineral-laced finish. This style is where Priorat should be headed. ***** Drink 2008-2020.

Ferrer Bobet 2005 & 2006; Ferrer Bobet Selecció Especial 2005 (All 14.5%) All three of these wines, from Sergi Ferrer, who also owns the new Barcelona ultra-chic Mon Vinic wine bar, and Raúl Bobet, who is one of the top enologists at Torres, are sensational and not in the blockbuster sense. All four are beautifully balanced, have none of the new oak nasties, are complex and seriously delicious. Because of space, I can’t review them all, but the 2005 and 2006 are ***** (Drink now to 2015+), the Selecció Especial 2005 ****½ (Drink now to 2015+)

Ferrer Bobet Selecció Especial 2006 (14.5%) A staggeringly brilliant wine with a beautiful nose of blueberries, violets, garrigues and graphite, which is repeated on the palate in a gorgeous, complex, perfectly knit ensemble with good acid and a long haunting terroir-laced finish. ***** Drink now to 2020.

Montsant
Capafons Osso Masia Esplanes 2004 14.5% Spicy, ripe, but not jammy, nose; very well-balanced, delicious wild berry fruit and minerals in a complex, well-knit wine unobtrusive oak. **** Drink now to 2005

Celler de Capçanes Flor de Primavera Peraj Ha’Abib Kosher 2005 (14.7%) Fruity nose; delicious, silky, pure cherry and berry fruit with a reasonable oak tannin and mineral finish. ***½ Drink now to 2012.

Bodegas Acùstic Braò 2006 (14.3%) Nice clean cherry, currant nose, minerals; well structured, balanced and delicious with bright red currant, cherry and blueberry fruit with a mineral finish. ***½ Drink now to 2012+.

Cingles Blaus Octubre 2006 (13.5%) Lovely nose, good fruit, mineral nose; good balance of fruit, oak, acids, tannins and minerals. ***½ Drink now to 2011.

Laurona 2004 (14+%) I honestly don’t understand what two great wine palates, René Barbier (padre) and Christopher Cannan of Europvin, are trying to do here. Laurona wines are powerful garnacha-cariñena-syrah-merlot-cabernet sauvignon blends with quite extracted, sweet cherry-berry fruit compote and lots of new oak. May improve in bottle. *** Drink now to 2012.

Joan d’Anguera El Bugader 2005 (14.5%) This 80% syrah, one of Montsant’s best wines, has a balance of fruit, minerals and oak in the nose and has intense lush black fruits, chocolate, licorice, toast and minerals on the palate. ****½ Drink now to 2015.
About the author
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.

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

Wall Street Journal Europe: A Conservative Front-Runner for Premier Has Emerged Amid Economic Turmoil

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A Conservative Front-Runner for Premier Has Emerged Amid Economic Turmoil

EL VENDRELL, Spain—Mariano Rajoy looks set to become Spain's next premier after moving his conservative Popular Party closer to the center, but the longtime politician will face a big challenge of overhauling one of the euro zone's largest ailing economies.

Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy, major Spanish political figure, is predicted to become Spain's next Prime Minister after the Spanish elections on November 20. Rajoy's party holds a 15% lead in the polls at this stage. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2006 / gerrydawes@aol.com.  (This photo is not a part of The Wall Street Europe article.)

Formerly a peppy growth engine, Spain is now at the core of the euro zone's sovereign-debt crisis after the collapse of a decadelong housing boom sent unemployment spiraling and punched a large hole in its public-sector accounts. International investors worry Spain will struggle to close a budget gap that stood at more than 9% of gross domestic product in 2010, revitalize its sluggish economy and create jobs—further complicating efforts to stem the region's debt turmoil.

Although the incumbent government of the Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero last year pushed through budget cuts and politically painful overhauls such as an overhaul of the country's rigid labor laws, many economists view these measures as too little, too late.

Mr. Rajoy has promised to tackle Spain's economic problems with renewed vigor and his party's economic pedigree lends him credibility, analysts said. The PP-led governments of José María Aznar from 1996-2004 are remembered for far-reaching overhauls that helped set the stage for a lengthy economic boom. Mr. Rajoy headed various ministries during that time.

On the campaign trail in Catalonia, Spain's second-most-populous region and industrial heartland, Mr. Rajoy spoke at a lunch with local business leaders last week about the measures he advocates for small businesses, including tax breaks for job creation and reinvested profits and a reduction of bureaucratic red tape.

"Catalonia is a land of entrepreneurs," Mr. Rajoy told a few hundred guests in a makeshift auditorium in the town of El Vendrell. "Entrepreneurs must be in the sights of any government."

The speech got a favorable reception. Josep González, head of the PIMEC small-business association, said Mr. Rajoy inspires confidence. "Right now, everyone wants a change and a package of new anticrisis measures," he said.

In an interview, the 56-year-old politician pledged decisive action to meet Spain's European Union commitments, which include reducing its deficit to 3% of GDP by 2013, if he is elected. Other priorities include cleaning up and recapitalizing Spanish banks and a new, deeper labor overhaul, after Mr. Zapatero's efforts failed to solve many of the job market's toughest problems. "We will have to take many measures right away. Others will be taken throughout the next four years, but many will be taken in the first 100 days," he said.

Ahead of the Nov. 20 general elections, the PP holds a commanding lead of around 15 percentage points in recent polls. Although Spanish elections have at times produced unexpected results, many analysts expect the PP to win and possibly obtain a parliamentary majority, which would make it easier to govern.

Mr. Rajoy's party is being helped by the electoral collapse of the incumbent Socialist party as it suffers from Mr. Zapatero's handling of the economy. For much of 2008, when Spain's budget deficit hit 11% of gross domestic product and unemployment nearly doubled to 14%, the prime minister refused to acknowledge the severity of the crisis, referring to it as an economic slowdown. Mr. Zapatero said he wouldn't seek re-election earlier this year, and his party chose veteran politician Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba as its candidate.

But the PP is also reaping the rewards of Mr. Rajoy's strategic shift after he lost the 2008 national election to Mr. Zapatero, primarily because of strong showings by the Socialists in Catalonia and Andalucia. It was Mr. Rajoy's second loss to Mr. Zapatero, after the Socialist leader came from behind to win in 2004.

The 2004 result was widely seen as influenced by the bungled response by Mr. Aznar's PP-led government to the Madrid train bombings days before the elections. But the 2008 defeat triggered an internal push to oust Mr. Rajoy, perceived by many party members as too timid in his opposition to Socialist policies like gay marriage, greater autonomy for Catalonia and negotiating with Basque terrorist group ETA.

Mr. Rajoy fended off the challenge to his leadership by rallying his own supporters and then opted for a still-more-conciliatory stance on traditional hot-button issues for Spain's right-wing sectors. He reasoned that the high-voltage rhetoric urged by some in his party alienated many voters, especially in places like Catalonia, an independent-minded region with its own language. In an effort to modernize his party, he also brought women to the front lines, naming María Dolores de Cospedal its No. 2 official and Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría its parliamentary spokeswoman. Today, with his standing in the polls, Mr. Rajoy enjoys the full support of his party.

Mariano Rajoy and Manuel Fraga Iribarne, former Minister in Dictator Francisco Franco's regime, President of the Xunta of Galicia from 1990 to 2005 and now a Spanish Senator, at the Festa do Albarinho in Cambados, August 6, 2006.  Fraga will be 89 years old on November 23, 2011.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2006 / gerrydawes@aol.com.  (This photo is not a part of The Wall Street Europe article.)

"I think Spanish society is moderate, it just wants problems solved," Mr. Rajoy said. "It wants a moderate tone, which also fits my personality better."

Mr. Rajoy's new style was on display last week when ETA announced an end to its violent campaign for Basque independence. The PP leader welcomed the news without reservation, while some other politicians and conservative media commentators demanded the group move quickly to decommission its arms and ask its victims for forgiveness.

Nonetheless, some people inside and outside of the party still question whether the veteran politician with the dour expression and grizzled beard has the strength and charisma to marshal support for politically difficult budget cuts and economic overhauls.

"I don't know if he is capable of exciting and galvanizing Spanish society," said Emilio Lamo de Espinosa, a sociology professor at Madrid's Complutense University.

Others say his conciliatory approach will serve him well. "He is somebody who is careful to not create problems where they didn't exist before… he needs to be tough but moderate," said Víctor Pérez-Díaz, head of consultancy Socio-Political Analysts. -- Wall Street Journal Europe

The Chiarello Chronicles: My Travels in Spain in October with Napa Valley Bottega Chef-owner Michael Chiarello & Botegga Executive Chef Ryan McIlwaith

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"Las investigaciones gastronómicas son unas putadas, pero alguien tiene que hacerlas.”
(Gastronomic research is Hell, but somebody has to do it.)

Paco Dovalo and Gerry Dawes eating percebes and drinking Cabaliero do Val, Paco's great Albariño 
at Paco's Asociación de Bodegas Artesanas Feria de Vinos de Autor in  Val de Salnés, Rías Baixas, Galicia.

As I normally do when I am taking someone around Spain, I arrive in the country a day or more earlier in order to get over jet lag and tie up any loose ends before the trip begins.
 

On Sunday, October 2, I arrived in Madrid's Barajas Terminal One, then took an Air Europa flight two hours later from Terminal Two from Madrid to Vigo in Galicia and Ole!, the Air Europa flight was a pleasant surprise. Air Europa, an economy airline, had comfortable seats and plenty of leg room on this one-hour, in-country flight (unlike the monumentally uncomfortable, no  legroom,  seven hour-plus Atlantic crossing on an American carrier).

After landing at the Vigo airport, I called Hertz Rental Car, who (in Spanish) gave me directions to the bowels of the airport garage where an employee was waiting to drive me to an off-airport site a quarter mile away. Hertz is rapidly becoming a rental car company to avoid for the average traveler. Too many off-airport or off-train station sites, like the one at Barcelona Sants train station, which is a nightmare during which you have to be a magician--or have already been there to figure out where to pick up and drop off the car. Other companies like Avis and National are usually on-site.

Alright, rants aside, most of them about the first day.  I arrived in Galicia, got the car and was about to embark on a two-week adventure with Michael Chiarello, Chef-owner of Bottega Restaurant and Napa Style (a specialty item and imports food store, who products are available on-line) in Yountville, California.

Chef Michael Chiarello and Chef Ryan Mcilwaithe in the port of Cambados on their first day, Galicia. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

I left the airport, crossed the awesome bridge over the Río de Vigo, where thousands of bateas (anchored rafts for farming Galicia’s famous shellfish) fill the broad estuary.

View of the Rías de Vigo with bateas from Bueu. Thousands of bateas (anchored rafts for farming Galicia’s famous shellfish) fill the broad estuaries of the Rías (fjords) de Vigo, Pontevedra and the other Rías of Galicia. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

Just across the bridge, I exited the tollway and drove south towards Marín to find a town on the coast called Bueu and a place called Playa de Beluso, where my new-found friend, Javier Rioyo, Executive Director on the Instituto Cervantes in New York, told me I would find A Centoleira, a century-old fishermen's tavern turned restaurant. I found the place, but it was too early and the owner had not yet arrived, so I had my first tapas--deviled eggs and tuna empanada with Estrella Galicia draft beer--of the trip at the bar, then decided to push on to Cambados, check into my lodgings Hotel Rosita, then find lunch in Cambados. 

After I checked in to Casa Rosita, I was tempted to stay there and try the well-regarded salpicón de mariscos (a melange of shellfish in a vinaigrette), but, since it was still early in the dining room of Casa Rosita's restaurant was still empty, instead I decided to set out to find a fishermen's quarter bar-restaurant I had heard about on an earlier trip.

Casa Rosita Hotel in Cambados (Pontevedra).
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

I had been told that this bar served bi-valves that were harvested directly by the women licensed to collect shellfish at low tide off Cambados and that the bi-valves served there went straight to the restaurant without passing through the depurificacion plants, where they undergo several days of water changes before being released for sale. They were purported to have very natural, fresh-from-the-sea flavors.  Here I have to say that I have no verification that the restaurant in question serves such untreated bi-valves. I did not ask because I was tired and forgot to, but they would not have told me anyway, since serving such straight-from-the-wild oysters, clams, etc. is not exactly kosher. 

Beach as low tide, Santo Tomé, the ancient fishing port barrio of Cambados (Pontevedra), Galicia. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

I made a couple of passes by the fishing port and saw two restaurants, but neither looked to be the storied place that I sought, so I drove up into the narrow streets of the old Santo Tomé fishermen's quarter and parked my car alongside a plaza that had a house whose façade was completely covered in scallop shells.

 

Scallop shells as decorative siding on a house in Santo Tomé, the old fishing port of Cambados. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

Then up a side street, I saw a sign that said "Ostras (oysters) - Bar Pintos" and pointed in the direction of the restaurant.  Down the street a hundred feet was a nondescript building of recent vintage, but the cooking smells emitting from the spot and the sounds of diners inside sounded promising.   

Bar Pintos in Santo Tomé, the ancient fishing port barrio of Cambados (Pontevedra), Galicia. 

Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

I climbed the half-flight of stairs and entered a simple, clean dining room with a few tables filled.  I was seated by Mari Carmen one of the two sisters--MariaTeresa is the other--and given a plastic covered menu that consisted mostly of quite inexpensive seafood items.  

Oysters, Galicia. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

Of course, I had to try a half-dozen raw oysters with the house's (and only) own Albariño, then a square of tuna empanada and a vieira (a baked scallop with onion and bread crumbs).  Mari Carmen and Maria Tere took me into their kitchen and showed me plates of beberechos (cockles), navajas (razor clams), nécoras (small crabs),  camarones (small shrimp) and zamburiñas (small scallops, still with their coral).  

Maria Tere y Mari Carmen Pintos DaPorta at Bar Pintos, Barrio de Santo Tomé, Cambados, 
with a lineup of the day's specialties: cigalas, beberechos, zamburiñas, navajas, nécoras, and camarones. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

Tomorrow, I thought this would be the perfect casual place to introduce Chefs Chiarello and McIlwaith, both just off long plane trips from California.  They will be tired, but hungry.  An inexpensive, but delicious lunch at Bar Pintos, then a siesta at Casa Rosita would be the best way to get them started.  I paid the bill and drove back to Casa Rosita, where I decided to have their salpicón de mariscos and a beer before heading up for my own siesta.  They wouldn't sell me a half ración, even though I was booked into the hotel for three nights, so I opted for a whole portion, ate about half of it and went up for a nap.  I have had many other better versions of this dish (one of my favorites), most notably at Casa Rafa in Madrid and at Restaurante Mirador de Doñana and Casa Bigote, both in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

Salpicón de mariscos seafood melange in a vinaigrette), Casa Rosita Hotel Restaurante. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

A couple of hours later, I awoke to go to the bathroom and either a bad oyster and something in the salpicón--the lukewarm oysters, number three of six I suspect as the culprit--hit me full force and I spent the better part of the next three hours worshipping off-and-on, off-and-on at the ivory throne, sometimes clinging to cold porcelain projective vomiting and telling myself how glad I was to be back in Spain again.  

But a bad piece of shellfish was not going to stop me.  I still planned to take Chiarello and McIlwiath to Casa Pintos the next day.  I just didn't intend to eat oysters or let them eat them.  Why would I go back to Casa Pintos?  Because a bad oyster is a bad oyster.  I got one in a oyster dish once at Sign of the Dove in New York (That was an adventure involving the George Washington Bridge and the woods off the Palisades Parkway in New Jersey!).  My ex-wife got one at the Oyster Bar at Grand Central and I got a bad piece of shellfish at one of my favorite restaurants in Sanlúcar de Barrameda and something worse in Burgundy.  This happens during the course of in-depth gastronomic research and it can be Hell, but as they say "somebody has to do it."  Mercifully, over more than forty years of traveling, eating and drinking in Spain, it has not happened that often. 

Stay tuned, this was just Day Zero!

* * * * *

  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

 ________________________________________________________________________

 

About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

   

Gerry Dawes's Spain selected as 

#38/50 Top Gastronomy Blogs

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

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. 

Photo by Hernan Ronnie Rodriguez, JBF Awards 2014.

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. 

 

Pilot for 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