Bryan J. Miller, Former New York Times Restaurant Critic on Sunset in a Glass, “Most of what I know about Spain came from Gerry Dawes."

 

* * * * * 

 

 

“Most of what I know about Spain came from Gerry Dawes. Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food & Wine Road Warrior in Spain is the authoritative source for everything Spanish—people, food, wine, culture. And his diverting escapades on the road sometimes read like James Michener with Hunter Thompson in the passenger’s seat.” --Bryan J. Miller, Former New York Times Restaurant Critic; author, Dining in the Dark: A Famed Restaurant Critic's Struggle with and Triumph over Depression

 

Sunset in a Glass Volumes I & II will be published this Fall. Stay tuned.

 

Bryan Miller's Dining in the Dark will be shipping from Amazon.com on Sept. 28.

 

 

* * * * *

Constructive comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

 Help Support Gerry Dawes's Spain & Its Content

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 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

The Passing of Michael Batterberry, The Culinary Grandee Who Co-Founder & Editor of Food Arts Magazine

* * * * *

Michael Batterberry receiving a Madrid Fusion award 

from Alberto Ruiz-Galladón, Mayor of Madrid, as Ariane Batterberry looks on.

I am very sad to report on the passing of one of the giants of the world of gastronomy and one of the greatest, most elegant men I have ever known, Michael Batterberry, who with his wife, Ariane (who survives him), Food & Wine magazine and then went on to found Food Arts, perhaps, because it is read avidly by chefs and restaurateurs, the most influential food magazine in America. 

Michael Batterberry receiving a Madrid Fusion award in 2006 from 

Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, Mayor of Madrid, as Ariane Batterberry looks on.

I am privileged to have known Michael Batterberry, to have shared experiences with him in New York, in Spain and in Napa Valley; to have written for Food Arts for nearly fifteen years under his direction; and to have been able to call him a friend. I, like many others, will miss him very, very much, now and into the future.

Michael Batterberry seriously contemplating his next culinary move 

at the Food Arts holiday party at Merle Evans's apartment, January 2010.

In any visual encyclopedia, under the definition of "gentleman," my first candidate would be a photograph of Michael in one of his impeccably tailored suits or blazers.  !Adios, Don Miguel, Vaya Usted con Dios!

Video: James Beard  Foundations Awards Lifetime Achievement Award 2010

to Michael and Ariane Batterberry. 

(Courtesy of The Wine Spectator and the James Beard Foundation.) 

Obituary, The New York Times

 Michael Batterberry, Influential Food Editor, Dies at 78

Obituary, Food Arts 

Michael Batterberry, Food Arts Co-Founder/Editor-in-Chief, Dies at 78♠

About Gerry Dawes

Spain’s Innovative Vangaurdia Cuisine vs. Traditional Down-Home Cooking, my article on the CIA-Worlds of Flavor website.

* * * * *

Text & Photographs by Gerry Dawes ©2008

In 2003, The Sunday New York Times Magazine cover asked, “Is Spain the New France?” and carried Arthur Lubow’s “A Laboratory of Taste” article about elBulli’s Ferran Adrià, Spain’s ultra-modern cocina de vanguardia maestro. Adrià’s espuma de zanahorias (the Times cover shot of, a glowing red-orange carrot foam served in a crystal vessel); mango raviolis made to look like egg yolks: melon, pear and peach “caviars,” spherified “olives”; and nitrogen-frozen cocktails suddenly grabbed culinary headlines around the globe. Adrià and Spanish modern cuisine were propelled in the gastronomic stratosphere. 

Carrot "air" at El Bulli, October 2003. 

Photo by Gerry Dawes©2003. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com for publication rights.

Accompanying Adrià’s rocket ride into another culinary dimension were plenty of skeptics and detractors who did not understand what was going on in Spain, claiming that the Spaniards were selling “flavored air” and that Adrià himself was destroying Spain’s “national cuisine.” But, since Spain’s culinary ascendancy, because of the fame of Ferran Adrià and a sizeable clan of like-minded fellow Spanish chefs, a whole new genre of modern food emerged–including modernized traditional cuisine – attracting a steady stream of international chefs, food writers and food aficionados to Spain, and in its wake an awareness that Spanish traditional cuisine was some of the best food on the planet. 

 Ferran Adrià at El Bulli 2008.  

Photo by Gerry Dawes©2008. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com for publication rights.

Since few gastronomic travelers coming to find out what all the fuss was about could actually get into elBulli–which has 2,000,000 annual requests for 8,000 potential reservations–the rest fanned out around the country, experiencing modern Spanish cuisine at Arzak, Akelarre and Martín Berasategui in the Basque Country, at Sergi Arola’s La Broche in Madrid, at Joan Roca’s Can Roca in Girona and at Carme Ruscalleda’s San Pau north of Barcelona. Many ventured on to experience what Raul Aleixandre at Ca Sento (Valencia), Quique Dacosta at El Poblet (Denia, Alicante) and María José San Roman at Monastrell (Alicante) were doing. Professionals also came to conferences such as Madrid Fusión (maybe the world’s top annual culinary summit), the chef-driven Lo Mejor de la Gastrónomía in San Sebastián and Roser Torras’s superb bi-annual BCN Vanguardia in Barcelona. And many young chefs began to choose Spain over France as their first choice to do their stages. In their travels these culinary pilgrims also began eating in Spanish traditional cuisine restaurants. They soon discovered that, while Spanish modern cuisine can be creative beyond belief and is often delicious as well as innovative, it is often the great traditional eating experiences that leave the most indelible imprint in the minds of most travelers. 

Guisantes (peas)--real or spherification, or both?--elBulli, 2008. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2010. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com for publication rights.

Read the rest of the article here.

____________________________________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes

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


Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

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

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

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

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

 * * * * *

“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)

* * * * *

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.

* * * * *

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

* * * * *

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.

* * * * *

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

Liquid Memory: Why Wine Matters, Jonathan Nossiter

* * * * *

“I found him (Robert M. Parker, Jr., the world’s most powerful wine critic) genial, even as his opinions horrified me, especially his dismissal of terroir as an elaborate European marketing hoax. . . "

"Robert Parker (says Gerry Dawes)  . . . has turned a wine world of independent winemakers making terroir-based wines that were identifiable by their origins, into a consultants’, importers’ and reps’ game, where wines are tailored to just one palate.”

– From Liquid Memory: Why Wine Matters, Jonathan Nossiter.  

The New York Times review by Jim Holt was lukewarm; the Slate review by Mike Steinberger was very unfavorable.  


For a really insightful, in-depth review of Liquid Memory, go to Reign of Terroir for 

Why We Are Not Dogs. Jonathan Nossiter’s Liquid Memory

 

There is also a very in-depth interview with Nossiter, also the Reign of Terroir website, which takes some time but is well worth reading for those who want to hear more about the film maker-author's views on wine, philosophy and life.  

 

Jonathan Nossiter pt 2, On Wine’s New Global Dialogue

 

Jonathan Nossiter pt. 3, Wine, Power, Portugal

 

 I would love to hear your opinions on Liquid Memory.

(Disclaimer:  I am quoted in the two chapters on Spain.)

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 prize in 2009 and received the Association of Food Journalists 2009 Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

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