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On Friday morning, Jan. 17, 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.
By noon, we were on our way to the interior of the province of Alicante, south of Valencia, where Rafael Poveda, Director of Bodegas Salvador Poveda, was waiting for us at his Alicante D.O. (denominación de origen) winery outside the town of Monóver. We were offered tastes of his Fondillón from the 1947 solera, a rare, sherry-like, aged red wine of a type mentioned by Alexandre Dumas pere in The Count of Monte Cristo.
We got to write our names in chalk on the huge 1986 vintage barrel as did many other visitors over the course of the last 100 years of vintages on the many casks available in this cellar. In America a bodega refers to a Hispanic convenience store but in Spain a bodega is a winery.
Rafael Poveda and one of his friends-partners in the winery, Pedro Cáceres (who, because of that chance meeting has become one of my partners in The Spanish Artisan Wine Group),
came with us to lunch at Casa Elias, a wonderful family-owned restaurant in the nearby village of Xinorlet (Chinorlet) and brought some of his wines for us to drink.
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
By noon, we were on our way to the interior of the province of Alicante, south of Valencia, where Rafael Poveda, Director of Bodegas Salvador Poveda, was waiting for us at his Alicante D.O. (denominación de origen) winery outside the town of Monóver. We were offered tastes of his Fondillón from the 1947 solera, a rare, sherry-like, aged red wine of a type mentioned by Alexandre Dumas pere in The Count of Monte Cristo.
The Connecticut & New York Club Chefs Taste of Spain with Gerry Dawes Tour 2014. Rafael Poveda pouring Fondillón at Bodegas Salvador Poveda, Monóvar (Alicante), Jan. 15, 2014. Photo courtesy Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.
We got to write our names in chalk on the huge 1986 vintage barrel as did many other visitors over the course of the last 100 years of vintages on the many casks available in this cellar. In America a bodega refers to a Hispanic convenience store but in Spain a bodega is a winery.
The Connecticut & New York Club Chefs Taste of Spain with Gerry Dawes Tour 2014. Chef Victor Honrath, Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle, NY signs a Fondillón barrel at Bodegas Salvador Poveda, Monóvar (Alicante), Jan. 15, 2014. Photo courtesy Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4.
Rafael Poveda and one of his friends-partners in the winery, Pedro Cáceres (who, because of that chance meeting has become one of my partners in The Spanish Artisan Wine Group),
The Connecticu
At Casa Elias, a long table was set for us with little bowls of almonds, sweet, slow-cooked tomato compote, and aioli, which laid the groundwork for the dishes to come: superb local charcutería (sliced cured sausages), snails grilled with rosemary and the star of the afternoon, paella con conejo y caracoles, rice with wild rabbit and snails cooked in a paella pan over grapevine cuttings.
The Connecticu
The Connecticu
The Connecticu
Arros con conejo y caracoles (paella with rabbit and snails) that was cooked over grape vine cuttings at Casa Elías, Xinorlet (Alicante).
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 50D / Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8.
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 50D / Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8.
In the next installment, I will chronicle our adventures in Alicante city and the following day in Alicante province again, on the way to Madrid, where we had our last adventure of the trip with a typical Castilian dinner, excellent flamenco and other highlights.
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.
______________________________________________________________________
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.
* * * * *
“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
* * * * *
"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
* * * * *
"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
* * * * *
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.
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
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