Having a Drink with Gerry Dawes by Jordi Melendo, Verema.com

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Tomando una copa con… Gerry Dawes
(Click here to read the interview in Spanish)

Drinking Godello at Estado Puro in Madrid.
Photo by Harold Heckle, Associated Press, Madrid.

Gerry Dawes vive en Nueva York y es escritor, fotógrafo y conferenciante especialista en la gastronomía, los vinos y la cultura de España. Vivió en Andalucía durante ocho años, lleva casi 40 viajando por el país y tiene un promedio de siete viajes gastronómicos anuales a España. Fue galardonado con el Premio Nacional de Gastronomía “Marqués de Busianos” 2003 por la Academia Española de Gastronomía y La Cofradía de la Buena Mesa y es el único extranjero honrado con el Premio Cena de los Once Vinos. Es Contributing Editor de Food Arts, Wine News, Santé y varias revistas del ICEX y ha publicado centenares de artículos sobre los vinos, la gastronomía y viajes de España. 

Ha presentado ponencias y presentaciones en Culinary Institute of America - Napa Valley, Christie's New York, Encuentro Verema (Valencia), Philadelphia Museum of Art (seis cenas durante la exposición de Dalí), International Association of Culinary Professionals (Congreso Anual), IberWine, Madrid Fusión, Fenavin, Vino a Toda Vela y presentador de los Spain's Ten (10 mejores chefs españoles en New York). Fue Chairman de la Cena-Subasta James Beard Fundation en 2004 que fue dedicado a España, honró a Ferran Adrià y Juan Mari Arzak y batió todos los records de la fundación. Fue seleccionado para dar una charla, sobre la gastronomía, vinos y cultura de Valencia en una cena de en honor de Francisco Camps, presidente de la Generalitat Valenciana en New York (Abril, 2005).

Having a drink with … Gerry Dawes

One of your virtues:

I am loyal to my friends, especially my real friends, most of whom are in Spain.

One of your faults:

I am addicted to Spain and I am always trying to do more than is humanly possible, which causes me problems.

A virtue you value in others:

Loyalty, honesty and patience, qualities which many of my Spanish friends have.

A fault you detest in others:

Dishonesty. And the love of new oak taste of over the taste of wine. I truly detest Parkerista-style wines.

Recommend a white wine:

Palacio de Fefiñanes Albariño (unoaked, with a few years in bottle.)

A Coroa Godello

Casal Novo Godello (my house white wine)

Pena Das Donas Godello

D. Ventura Mencia red wines from Ribeira Sacra

A rosé wine:

Señorío de Sarría Garnacha Rosado Viñedo #5 (one of the greatest rosé wines in the world.)

A red wine:

A great older vintage of CUNE Viña Real Oro such a 1954, 1962, 1981; Viña Bosconia 1947; Marqués de Riscal 1945 and Riscal wines from the 1920s; young, fresh, terroir-driven Mencia from Ribeira Sacra.

A Cava:

Raventos i Blanc , also Gramona or Agusti Torelló; also love good dry Pinot Noir Rosado cavas

And a Champagne:

Pol Roger, which I have had every Christmas and New Year’s Eve since 1976; I also love Bollinger, André Clouet and Champagnes that use Pinot Noir; and especially the great Rosé Champagnes.

If you had to choose just one wine which would it be:

A great dry Garnacha Rosado with good acidity, which goes with all kinds of food. They are fresh, festive, fun, satisfying and normally have no oak. And sometimes, a fine manzanilla fina de Sanlúcar

And who would you drink it with:

The most important thing about any bottle of wine is the people surrounding the bottle:

My girlfriend, Kay. And over lunch with any (or all) of these great friends, Mariano García, Basilio Izquierdo, Javier Hidalgo, Emiliano García, Juan Gil (Galicia), Emilo Cores, Manolo & Mari Carmen Esquivias, Ambrosia Molinos & family in Roa, Isaacín Muga, Juan Suarez, Esmeralda Capel, Gabriela Llamas, Lucio, Mari & Javier Blásquez, Quím Marqués, Fuensanta Bartolomeu, José Manuel Rodríguez (Ribeira Sacra), María José San Román (y Pitu, Jorge y Geni), Adolfo Muñoz & family in Toledo, Juli Soler, George Semler, el banda de gente in Sanfermínes, Raúl Aleixandre, Juan Peña, Paco Dovalo, Javier Luca de Tena, José Andrés, Carlos Falcó, Ricardo Pérez, Raúl Pérez, Pepe Limeño, the Pérez Pascuas family, Alejandro Fernández, Los Tios de Verema (José, Juan, Paco) y Las Gamberras de Chipiona. . . I have mentioned just a few and I have left out many—with profound apologies--but I am sure you only have so much space.

Your favourite meal:

I have several:  Rodaballo at either Kaia or Elkano in Getaria; Mariscos in Galicia, especially with Gerardo Mendez of Do Ferreiro; any meal at Bigote in Sanlúcar de Barrameda; chuletillas al sarmiento at Bodegas Pérez Pascuas; breakfast at Quím de la Boquería or Pinotxo in La Boquería; pochas con codornices in Navarra; alcachofas con jamón in La Balconada in Chinchón; arrós negre in Can Majo in Barcelona; any meal in Ca Sento in Valencia; Sunday nights at Casa Lucio in Madrid; salmorejo con berenjenas fritas at Juan Peña in Córdoba; arrós con caracoles y conejo at Casa Elias in Xinorlet; any lunch at Bodegas Muga, el menu de Gerry Dawes in La Taberna del Gourmet in Alicante; and a box of chocolates from Paco Torreblanca. There are many, many more.

Your favourite restaurant:

As you can see, I have many favourites. And I have been known to make pilgrimages to many restaurants scattered all over Spain. I love Bigote looking out on Bajo Guía in Sanlúcar, Kaia looking out on the fishing port and Basque Coast in Getaria; I love to take the ferry to Casa Cámara in Pasai Donibane (Pasajes de San Juan); and I love to eat La Balconada or Café Iberia in Chinchón overlooking La Plaza Mayor. Tengo muchos.

Your favourite city:

Madrid, many days; Barcelona, many days; Sanlúcar always and forever; mi Sevilla; San Sebastián; Valencia; Haro; Cambados; Chinchón; Getaria; too many to pick, but you get the idea.

Your favourite country:

Spain is the greatest country in the world. Nothing else comes close. The reason: See “And who would you drink it with.”

Which do you prefer, the seaside or the mountains:

So many choices, so little time. I love to be in Sanlúcar anytime and I love the Rías of Galicia, but I also love the mountains of Galicia, Andalucía, Navarra, La Rioja and the Picos de Europa.

Which mode of transport do you prefer:

Automobile outside of cities. It’s a freedom thing. Walking, metro or water ferry in some places.

Recommend a book:

Don Quixote; Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert; The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway; Iberia by James Michener; and my Homage to Iberia (if I ever find a publisher with cojones).

A song:

“As Time Goes By” from Casablanca;  and “Yo Soy del Sur”

A film: Casablanca

What is your favourite sport:

Baseball (I am addicted to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who haven’t been winners for 17 years--sort of like being “Zoy del Beti”--and American football (New York Giants). I also follow Spanish football when I am in Spain. I was in the riot on the Ramblas when Barça confirmed a few years ago and the last game I saw was on the tele. I saw Atletico de Madrid beat Barça in La Bodegueta in San Celoni with Santi Santamaría and George Semler, which left both of them de luto (in mourning).

What is your favourite colour:

Wine red (unoaked tint) and the brilliant wedding ring gold color of great Godello.

Which is your favourite man’s name:

Cayetano

Which is your favourite woman’s name:

Victoria

Which historical personality would you have liked to have met in person:

Ernest Hemingway (maybe),

Miguel de Cervantes (when he wasn’t in jail),

Salvador Dalí (I know, I know),

King Juan Carlos I (I only briefly shook his hand);

Elroy Face (A Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher from the 1950s & 1960s)

and Antonio Ordoñez, whom I did meet and became friends with before he died).

Which three things would you take with you to a desert island:

My girlfriend, Kay; enough Patrón tequila, Torres Licor de Naranja, grapefruit juice (the island had better have limes & lemons) to make margaritas; Hendrick’s gin & Fever Tree tonica for variety; and vinos de Godello, Garnacha Rosado and Viña Real Oro to keep me going until I get off the island (I am not enamored of islands, too constricting ultimately); and my laptop with a power supply.

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.

Trailer filmed in Valencia & Alicante for a reality television

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

Food Arts Silver Spoon Award December 2009

Gallery of Chefs & Food Personalities: Portraits by Gerry Dawes

Web Pages:

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

Adventures in Spanish Taste: Insider's Food, Wine, Cultural and Photographic Travel in Spain

The Traveling Gastronomer: A Celebration of Food, Wine, Life, Photography & Quixotic Musings

The Spanish Artisan Wine Group

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com

Club Chefs of Connecticut & New York Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes, Day 3, Jan. 15, Cava Rimarts, Paella at La Matandeta (La Albufera, Valencia), plus Seminars on Jamón Ibérico de Bellota and Anchovies at Casa Montaña & a Visit to the Mercat Central in Valencia (with videos)

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 Map at a pit stop on the road from Barcelona to Valencia. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

Club Chefs of Connecticut & New York Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes.  Chefs Gerard Resnick (center), Austin Simard (back left), Wayne Kregling (background( and Carey Favreau, watch Chef-partner Rafael Gálvez, La Matandeta, making authentic paella Valenciana. La Matandeta is located on the Albufera Lagoon, a scant ten kilometers from the center of Valencia, gives our group of chefs lessons in making great paella. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

By Chef Brian Limitone, Meadow Ridge Senior Living, Redding, CT
(with input from Gerry Dawes) 

During the week of January 12-19, the Club Chefs of Connecticut, along with several Club Chefs from New York, took a gastronomic journey through Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Madrid. This prestigious group of ten executive chefs from Connecticut experienced a crash course in the tastes of Spain under the guidance of Gerry Dawes our organizer, guide and Spanish food and wine expert.

Wednesday morning, January 15, we boarded our bus, made a stop an hour south west of Barcelona at the artisan family sparkling wine producer, Cava Rimarts, in San Sadurni d’Anoia, where 90% of Spain’s method champenoise sparkling wine is produced.  After tasting superb sparkling wines of Ricard and Ernest Martínez, the owners of Rimarts, we headed south along the Mediterranean coast for a three-hour trip to Valencia.  

 

 Club Chefs of Connecticut (and New York) Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes: Ernest Martínez explaining how Cava Rimarts is made, Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, Catalunya, Spain, Jan. 15, 2014. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

Co-owner Ricard Martínez with a bottle of his excellent Cava Rimarts Burt Nature Gran Reserva, which is aged for 40 months on the lees, Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, Catalunya, Spain, Jan. 15, 2014. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

 

Jordi Ausro, manager and hamcutter at Mas Gourmets de L'Embotit, L'Illa Diagonal shop, Barcelona, with Rimarts Rosae Cava, which is partially made in toasted barrels to give it a lightly smoky taste to accompany smoked salmon. Club Chefs of Connecticut (and New York) Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 24mm f/2.8 (from http://lensrentals.com.

Just a few kilometers to the south of on city on the Albufera lagoon, we were treated to an outdoor cooking demonstration at La Matandeta, a restaurant specializing in paella and, appropriately, surrounded by rice fields, which are flooded at this time of the year.  As the talented chef-owner Rafael Gálvez built his fire and warmed up two huge paella pans, we were treated to a seemingly never ending appetizer of tapas plates sent from the kitchen of his son-in-law, the executive chef Rubén Ruiz Vilanova.  

Chef-partner Rafael Gálvez, La Matandeta, adds the rice to a paella. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

Gálvez, glowing with pride and confident in his maestry of paella making, dazzled us with his technique for making classic paella Valenciana (with chicken, duck, rabbit and two kinds of beans) and a vegetable paella (the Mario Batali-Gweneth Paltrow “On the Road in Spain” paella episode was filmed at La Matandeta).  Spaniards seldom eat white rice; they almost always use a little saffron and some yellow powdered colorante.   

  Video of making paella with a maestro at La Matandeta, La Albufera, Alfafar (Valencia).

After lunch, we visited the Albufera lagoon-side village of El Palmar, which has canals for shallow draft lake-fishing boats and some thirty restaurants specializing in paella and other rice dishes. 

El Palmar, a village on the Albufera lagoon with some 30 paella restaurants, Valencia, Spain.  The shallow bottom boats on these canals are used to catch fish and eels and to take tourists on boat rides around the lake.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

That evening, we went to the exceptional Casa Montaña in the Cabanyal, once the fishermen’s district of Valencia. Casa Montaña, originally founded in 1836, is owned by the great Emiliano García and managed by his son, Alejandro.  

Club Chefs of Connecticut (and New York) Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes at Valencia's Casa Montaña, which dates to 1836, is owned by the great Emiliano García.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4.

Alejandro had set up a jamón Ibérico de bellota (ham from Ibérico breed pigs that forage in vast oak forests and are fattened from eating bellotas, acorns) cutting and tasting session, conducted by master professional ham cutter, Juanma Aguilar, who expertly guided our group through an in-depth session in the selection and slicing of these expensive hams, Spain equivalent of caviar.  Everywhere we went we were treated with thinly sliced from Ibérico salt and air-cured ham. The Spanish hog producers allow the animals to feed on acorns, usually for a two-month period in winter, which helps enrich their meat with a flavor redolent of nuts.  A gran reserva jamón Ibérico de bellota, air-cured for some 42 months and weighing eight kilos (about 17.5 lbs.) can cost 375 Euros or more, or some $525 per ham,  or about $30 per lb.

Master hamcutter Juan Manuel Aguilar,  who gave a ham seminar for the Club Chefs of Connecticut (and New York) Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes at Valencia's Casa Montaña, which dates to 1836, is owned by the great Emiliano García.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.

Video: Cortador de Jamón Juanma Aguilar of La Xarcutería de Juanma, Mercado de la Rufaza 103 y 104, Valencia (Tel: +34 691 412 860 / xarcuteriadejuanma@gmail.com) Demonstrates His Expertise in Ham-cutting at Emilio and Alejandro García’s Casa Montaña, Calle de José Benlliure, 69, 46011 Valencia (Tel: +34 963 67 23 14; administracion@emilianobodega.com).  — at Casa Montaña.

(Click on the long link above for a video on ham cutting.)

After the jamón Ibérico seminar, Alejandro led us into a private dining room and gave us a short seminar on anchoas (anchovies), following by a parade of Casa Montaña's top quality product-focused tapas.

After the jamón Ibérico seminar, Alejandro García led us into a private dining room and gave us a short seminar on anchoas anchovies) de Santoña, a fishing village in Cantabria, considered by many to produce the best anchovies, followed by a parade of Casa Montaña's top quality product-focused tapas.  Club Chefs of Connecticut (and New York) Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes at Valencia's Casa Montaña, which dates to 1836, is owned by the great Emiliano García.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4.

 

Mojama, salt-and-air cured tuna "loin," dressed with Spanish extra virgen olive oil and peppercorns, at Casa Montaña in Valencia.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4.

The next morning we visited Valencia’s colorful Mercat Central, located near our hotel, perusing the fish, meat, fruit-and-vegetable, cheese and spice stands, then stopping just outside the Mercat’s entrance to see the often photographed stand selling paella pans and cooking paraphernalia. And at the adjacent market bar, we sampled typical rich, thick, Spanish hot chocolate with churros and horchata de chufa (Spanish; a classic Valencian drink made from chufas, or tigernuts). 

 

Mercat Central, Valencia.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Canon EOS 6D / Canon 24 105mm f/4L IS USM.

 

Aceitunas (olives) vendor, Mercat Central, Valencia, Jan. 15, 2014.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Canon EOS 6D / Canon 24 105mm f/4L IS USM.

 

 Spanish pimentón (paprika) at Especias Antonio Catalán Gómez, puestos 453-457, Mercat Central, Valencia, Jan. 15, 2014.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Canon EOS 6D / Canon 24 105mm f/4L IS USM.

 

 Churros con chocolate and orxata (Valenciano), or horchata de chufa (Spanish; a classic Valencian drink made from tigernuts), at L'Orxatería, Mercat Central, Valencia, Jan. 15, 2014.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Canon EOS 6D / Canon 24 105mm f/4L IS USM.

 

 Paella pan and kitchen utensil stand just outside the main entrance to the Mercat Central, Valencia, Jan. 15, 2014.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Canon EOS 6D / Canon 24 105mm f/4L IS USM.

Double click on screen to see a special video on Valencia & Alicante 

with guest chef Terrance Brennan, Picholine, New York

Next up:  More adventures in Alicante and Alicante province

Chefs participating on this tour were Chefs Brian Limitone, Meadow Ridge Senior Living, Redding, CT;  Gerard Resnick, Century Country Club, Purchase, NY; Robert Rainone, Larchmont Yacht Club, Larchmont, NY; Carey Favreau, Glen Arbor Club, Bedford Hills NY; Wayne Kregling, Brownson Country Club, Huntington, CT; Wayne Klingman, Garden City Country Club, Garden City, NY; Victor Honrath, Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle, NY;  Dan Neuroth, Bronxville Field Club, Bronxville, NY;  Austin Simard , Brownson Country Club, Huntington, CT; and James Rosenbauer, Country Club of Farmington, Farmington, CT.

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About Gerry Dawes

Writing, Photography, & Specialized Tours of Spain & Tour Advice

 For custom-designed tours of Spain, organized and lead by Gerry Dawes, and custom-planned Spanish wine, food, cultural and photographic itineraries, send inquiries to gerrydawes@aol.com.  

I have planned and led tours for such culinary stars as Chefs Thomas Keller, Mark Miller, Mark Kiffin, Michael Lomonaco and Michael Chiarello and such personalities as baseball great Keith Hernandez and led on shorter excursions and have given detailed travel advice to many other well-known chefs and personalities such as Drew Nieporent, Norman Van Aken, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg, Christopher Gross, Rick Moonen, James Campbell Caruso and many others.

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“The American writer and town crier for all good Spanish things Gerry Dawes . . . the American connoisseur of all things Spanish . . .” Michael Paterniti, The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge and The World’s Greatest Piece of Cheese

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"Gerry Dawes, I can't thank you enough for opening up Spain to me." -- Michael Chiarello on Twitter. 

"Chiarello embarked on a crash course by traveling to Spain for 10 days in 2011 with Food Arts

contributing authority Gerry Dawes, a noted expert on Spanish food and wine.  Coqueta's (Chiarello's new restaurant at Pier Five, San Francisco) chef de cuisine, Ryan McIlwraith, later joined Dawes for his own two week excursion, as well. Sampling both old and new, they visited wineries and marketplaces, as well as some of Spain's most revered dining establishments, including the Michelin three-star Arzak, Etxebarri, the temple to live fire-grilling; Tickets, the playful Barcelona tapas bar run by Ferran Adrià and his brother, Albert; and ABaC, where Catalan cooking goes avant-garde." - - Carolyn Jung, Food Arts, May 2013.

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"In his nearly thirty years of wandering the back roads of Spain," Gerry Dawes has built up a much stronger bank of experiences than I had to rely on when I started writing Iberia...His adventures far exceeded mine in both width and depth..." -- James A. Michener, author of Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections

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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. 
 

". . .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 with Gerry Dawes  
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

World Wine Crisis Series (Nine): The Champagne Price Crash Will Benefit Consumers This Holiday Season & Beyond, Prices Down in UK and US; Cava Sales Up by 10% in USA

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“It was a cliché that Champagne did well when times were bad,” said Robert Joseph, editor at large of Meininger’s Wine Business International magazine. “But this recession has an added element to it in which conspicuous spending — bling — is out of fashion.”--Eric Asimov, The Pour (New York Times), November 13, 2009


Champagne Prices Have Crashed!  

That may be good news for consumers, since some Champagne houses have cut their prices in half to unload some of the surplus, which may not be great news for Cava producers from Spain, who already sell some great sparkling wines at already very reasonable prices.  

There is also a huge surplus in Catalunya's Cava country, where 95% of Spanish sparking wines are made, so Cava prices most likely will also be dropping, but Cava sales are up in the American market, according to Eric Asimov of The New York Times.

"American consumers are clearly trading down. Sales of cheaper sparkling wines — typically produced in Spain or Italy — are up 10 percent this year, while sales of imported wines priced at more than $25 are down 21 percent, according to Danny Brager, the group client director for alcohol for Nielsen, which tracks sales in the United States."  -- Eric Asimov, The Pour (New York Times)

Cava for "breakfast" at Bar Pinotxo in La Bouquería, Barcelona. 

Photo by Gerry Dawes©2009.

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

Cava - once cheap, now chic (Wine News December/January 2005-06 Gerry Dawes©2006)

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Bubbles at a Discount for Consumers Trading Down
by Eric Asimov, The Pour (New York Times) 

ÉPERNAY, France — "For generations of French Champagne makers, the threat of calamity has been a constant companion, whether it is winter freezes or spring frosts, phylloxera parasites or Nazi occupiers.

Now add to the list a drop in Champagne sales in all the top export markets, particularly the United States, Britain and Japan. All had seemed to have insatiable appetites for the extravagant, delicate bubbles in recent years — until popping housing bubbles sent the global economy into a downturn. The weak currencies in those export markets have also hurt."  Read the rest of the article.

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Gerry Dawes drinking rosé Champagne with Emiliano García at Casa Montaña.
Photo by Kathleen Balun©2009.

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Prices plummet in UK Champagne price war

"As the Champagne price war hots up, Tesco has asked suppliers to find it 300,000 bottles it can sell for £10 each, and Bollinger can be had for a song.

All the major brands are involved in the supermarkets' battle for customers. Next Monday Morrisons will offer Bollinger, Moët & Chandon, Lanson Black Label and Nicolas Feuillatte all at less than half price." -- Giles Fallowfield, Decanter magazine, November 19, 2009.

Champagne and wine botas in El Celler de la Boquería, Barcelona.
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2009.

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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), send e-mail to gerrydawes@gmail.com

The Emerging Wines of Valencia:

by Gerry Dawes copyright2006

(First appeared in Spain Gourmetour magazine [consumer edition, 400,000 copies of which were circulated as an insert in The New York Times in Fall, 2006)

The exotic, once Moorish-dominated Comunitat Valenciana–which encompasses the provinces of Valencia, Alicante and Castellón de la Plana–and its capital, the ancient, but suddenly ultra-modern and rapidly growing Mediterranean port city, Valencia, has long been known for its wild end-of-winter Fiesta called Las Fallas and sunny beaches that have become nirvana for northern Europeans who flock to Valencia like Americans do to Florida. Gastro-nomically, Valencia is known world-wide for paella–in reality a wide variety of rice dishes made with local bomba or senia arroces–and nationally for its, Mediterranean seafood, Valencia oranges and clementines from Castellón, almonds and almond turrón candy from Jijona and dates from the largest date palm forest in Europe in Elche (both in Alicante province). Until recently, except for the large quantities of bulk wines shipped most to northern Europe, the only vinos la Comunitat Valenciana was known for were a strange, but exotic and wonderful vino rancio from Alicante called Fondillón and sweet dessert mistelas made from luscious moscatel grapes from the vineyards of Valencia and Alicante. (see more)