The José María Pemán Award 2009: To all those brave Spanish wine journalists who have reported (not!) WineFuture-Rioja 2009 and on the Pancho Campo-Robert Parker affair.

* * * * *


Casa Pepe, Dispeñaperros, Photo by Gerry Dawes, copyright 2008.
 
The José María Pemán Award 2009
 

To all those brave Spanish wine journalists who have remained silent on the Pancho Campo affair and WineFuture-Rioja 2009.  Like the Spanish National Anthem, if you had any lyrics at all (a majority had none), they were reminiscent of those of José María Pemán during the Spanish Civil War.  (Pemán was commissioned to write new lyrics for the Marcha Real, which Franco reestablished as Spain's national anthem in 1939. His lyrics remained in use until 1978.--Wikipedia)

 

With special mention to the Federation of Spanish Wine Journalists, over a month after Decanter.com broke the Campo Interpol story (and subsequently published a follow-up story), threw their full support behind Campo and WineFuture-Rioja 2009 and offered their members free admission to the nearly 800 Euro per person event.

And a very special mention to the speakers at WineFuture-Rioja 2009, who have steadfastly maintained their support for the event, except for Jorge Ordoñez*, one of Robert M. Parker, Jr.'s most favored importers of Spanish wines to the United States.  (*It is rumoured that Ordoñez may have to miss the event because of jury duty in the United States.)

 

Robin Kelley O'Conner, a speaker at WineFutures-Rioja 2009, at Casa Pepe, el puerto de Despeñaperros, carretera de Andalucia Km 243, en Venta de Cárdenas (Cuidad Real), Castilla-La Mancha.  
Photo by Gerry Dawes copyright 2008. 
   

(José María Pemán y Pemartín (Cadiz, 8 May 1897 - 19 July 1981) was a Spanish journalist, poet, novelist, essayist, and right-wing intellectual.  Pemán was one of the few prominent intellectuals to support Francisco Franco and the Falangist movement. This ensured his professional success during and after the Civil War, but damaged his international reputation.--Wikipedia)

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

♠

Culinary Institute of America-Greystone (Napa Valley) 2009 Worlds of Flavor Conference November 12–14, 2009

* * * * *

Sold Out!

12th Annual Worlds of Flavor

International Conference & Festival

Frontiers of Flavor:

World Street Food, World Comfort Food

Discovering the Fast Casual, Slow Savory, and "Big Value" Culinary Traditions

of Asia, the Mediterranean, and Latin America

Full Schedule of Events

This influential annual three-day forum on world cuisines is one of the American foodservice industry's premier events. Each November, the Worlds of Flavor Conference showcases the gold standards of world cuisines that are reshaping American menus.

The 12th Annual Worlds of Flavor Conference presented an in-depth exploration of two overlapping, hot culinary trends: world street food and world comfort food. Reflecting the intersection of recessionary budget and cost-cutting pressures, the continuing world cuisines juggernaut, and the ongoing embrace of a 24/7 culture of informal, casual food and dining, these concepts increasingly define how we as Americans now want to eat.

"Frontiers of Flavor: World Street Food, World Comfort Food," gathered top culinary talent from the Mediterranean, Asia, Latin America and the United States. Presenters included more than 60 culinary experts, from street food vendors, hawker chefs, tapas and meze specialists, and barbecue masters to fine dining chefs who have been inspired by world street foods and comfort foods, mothers of chefs, legends of live fire and claypot cooking, as well as cookbook authors, street food chroniclers, and more.

Highlighted regions and food cultures included Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, India, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Persia, Mexico, the Caribbean, Peru, Brazil, and culinary hot spots across the United States.

The three-day event was a sauce-slopping, noodle-slurping, chaat-sampling, kabob-nibbling, tamale-savoring, tapas-grazing epic tour of the best of world street food and world comfort food!

Spanish Tapas Wow California

Gerry Dawes moderated one general session, three panels on Spanish and Catalan Cuisine and appeared in the final general session as a commentator. 

Profiles of the participants, photos and some recipes for the Spanish sections of the Worlds of Flavor Conference will follow.

Friday, November 13

10:30 AM General Session VI

What’s Next in Spain: Fast, Slow, and Casual Flavors
Introduction: Jim Poris
Moderator: Gerry Dawes
Presenters: Paco Roncero, Albert Asín, Daniel Olivella, Seamus Mullen
With a live video feed from the outdoor live fire kitchen previewing lunch with Mai Pham (Vietnamese food) and Suvir Saran (Indian food).

CIA-Greystone (Napa Valley) Worlds of Flavor Conference 2009 General Session VI:   
What's Next in Spain: Fast, Slow and Casual Flavors. 

Jim Poris (Sr. Editor, Food Arts), 
Gerry Dawes (Food Arts, General Session Moderator), 
Daniel Olivella (B-44 &amp Barlata); 
Chef Paco Roncero (Casino de Madrid, Estado Puro; consultant, Hoteles NH), 
Seamus Mullen (Chef-partner, Boqueria NYC & Boqueria Soho), 
Javier Alonso (Paco Roncero's sous chef),
and Albert Asin (Pinotxo, La Boqueria, Barcelona).  
Photo by Terrence McCarthy, TMC Photography©2009.



(For a full screen slide show, click on image in lower right corner, go to Picasa, click on slide show, then F11.)

Seminar IV A (2:45 PM—3:45 PM)

Williams Center for Flavor Discovery
The Spanish Kitchen, 2010: Casual Menus—and Compelling Flavor Dynamics— from Madrid to New York
Moderator: Gerry Dawes
Presenters: Paco Roncero, Seamus Mullen
Sponsored by Foods from Spain

Chef Paco Roncero, Chef Casino de Madrid, Chef-partner Estado Puro; consultant, Hoteles NH,
cooking at CIA-Worlds of Flavor.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2009.

 
Seamus Mullen, Chef-partner, Boqueria NYC & Boqueria Soho,  

cooking at CIA-Worlds of Flavor.>  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2009.

(Check out my friend, Chef Seamus Mullen of New York's Boqueria restaurants, in his reports on the Iron Chef competition, in which he was one of the final three chefs left (out of ten) competing for the title. I found out Sunday night that Seamus was eliminated, but he made it to the final three and he did it suffering the whole time from a severely herniated disk, for which he was sometimes in a wheelchair and for which he was operated on after the competition, and from rheumatoid arthritis. In some of the episodes, you could see the pain in his face!  Iron Chef, indeed.)

Saturday, November 14
Seminar I (8:45 AM—9:45 AM)

Ecolab Theater

Spanish Casual, from Traditional to Modern: Tapas, Bocadillos, Cocas, and More

Moderator/Presenter: Gerry Dawes

Presenters: Paco Roncero, Seamus Mullen, Albert Asin

Sponsored by Foods from Spain

Albert Asín (Pinotxo, La Boquería, Barcelona). Photos by Gerry Dawes©2009.

Albert Asín cooking lobster rice at Pinotxo, La Boquería, Barcelona
(CIA-WOF Video)

Seminar I (3:30 PM—4:30 PM)

Ecolab Theater

Fresh from Barcelona: Tapas, Cava, and the Flavors of Catalonia
Moderator: Gerry Dawes 
Presenters: Albert Asin, Jesús Bernad, Daniel Olivella

Sponsored by Catalonia, the Gateway to the Mediterranean by Prodeca

Santi Mas de Xaxas (Director, Gastronomic +34 y coordinador del equipo Catalan-Español); 
Rosalba Arrufat (Prodeca), Albert Asin Pinotxo (La Boquería, Barcelona), 
Fernando Bienert (Director General, Prodeca), Jesus Bernard (Escritor de vinos).  
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2009.

4:45 PM General Session XVIII: Town Hall

World Flavors…On a Stick, In a Bowl, On the Run…A Game Changer?

Moderator: Greg Drescher
Presenter: Jonathan Gold
Panelists: Rick Bayless, Roy Choi, Gerry Dawes, John T. Edge, Susan Feniger, Mark Furstenberg, Jonathan Gold, Jessica Harris, Anissa Helou, Diane Kochilas, Maricel Presilla, Jim Poris, Ruth Reichl, K.F. Seetoh, Suvir Saran

 

See Related Worlds of Flavor Articles About Spain:
  
Spanish Wine & Food Pairing: Possibilities Are Limitless

Iconic Dishes on the Wine Roads of Spain

Spain’s Innovative Vangaurdia Cuisine vs. Traditional Down-Home Cooking

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 
serieson 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

Dubai: Third-World Justice or The New York of the Middle East? And What Does Dubai Have to Do with WineFuture-Rioja 2009?

* * * * * 

What does Dubai have to do with Spain and especially Spanish wine or food, including the upcoming WineFuture-Rioja 2009 conference whose (recently "resigned") Director  is Pancho Campo, President (also recently "resigned') of the Wine Academy,  the official organizer of the event?

And what does all this have to do with Pancho Campo, Robert M. Parker, Jr., Jancis Robinson, Kevin Zraly, Steven Spurrier, Gary Vaynerchuk and Jorge Ordoñez, all of whose pictures adorn this poster announcement for WineFuture-Rioja 2009?

Well, a lot lately.  Read on.

Spanish promoter’s arrest sought 

by Charlie Hamilton, The National (newspaper), Dubai

"A warrant has been posted on the Interpol website for the arrest of a Spanish concert promoter who was convicted in Dubai in 2003 of breach of trust after a falling-out with his business partner.

Francisco Campo, 48, was convicted in his absence following a wrangle with the former partner, Jackie Wartanian.

According to court documents, Campo was charged with breach of trust on June 5, 2002, found guilty on June 1, 2003, and sentenced to one year in jail followed by deportation. The case revolved around a €600,000 (Dh3.2m) claim that Ms Wartanian had brought against Campo over fraudulent business dealings. Ms Wartanian’s lawyer, Amna Jallaf, said a civil case had also been filed against Campo."

* * * * * 

According to Campo and his lawyers, the charges--including his being convicted and sentenced to a year in jail and deportation--are false and Dubai is a place where third-world Arab justice is meted out to unsuspecting Westerners:
 
From an article on Decanter.com: "Alfonso Martinez, Campo's lawyer, cast doubt on the veracity of the arrest warrant. 'This can be done by petitioning a judge in Dubai using a lawyer."

And Campo, who was recently named a Master of Wine, wrote this in a letter to his fellow MWs: 

"I was not aware also that there are hundreds of cases such as this in Dubai that are constantly being exposed by British and American media about people who carried out business in this part of the world and have been issued Interpol notices."

* * * * *

GD: I am very confused by all this and I don't know whom to believe, especially when I read reports such as these:

Vicente Cacho, the Spanish Consul in the United Arab Emirates, says that ‘Pancho Campo left his Chilean passport at a Dubai court as proof he wasn't going to flee the country and then did so with a Spanish passport’.  -- Jim Budd, Jim's Loire.

From: Jackie Wartanian

Date: September 9, 2009 1:47:49 AM GMT+04:00
To: xxxxxxxx
Cc: xxxxxx
Subject: RE: The National

Yes I am out of town and just saw your email. The statement you are saying is wrong. It is not alleged, it is all facts, but you are welcome to contact my lawyer who is cc’d in this email. I am not the only one who has gone to court with him. If you want the true facts please contact (my lawyer [whose name and phone number followed]).

Kind regards,  Jackie Wartanian

* * * * *

And this, again from Jim Budd, who originally broke the story on Decanter.com, on his Jim's Loire website, which has extensive information on the Pancho Campo case:  

"Certainly he (Pancho Campo) has continued to have support from people like Jancis Robinson MW, Steven Spurrier and Robert Joseph, as well as Siobhan Turner, executive director of the Institute of Masters of Wine."

Two weeks after Campo was forced to resign (on October 1) as Director of WineFutures-Rioja 2009, Kevin Zraly of the Windows on the World Wine Course school was named to succeed Campo.  

After all this evidence had come out, six weeks later, new "Technical Director" Kevin Zraly had this to say in an  interview published on the Wine Academy website that many suspect was done by Campo himself:

"That there will be more WineFutures! Pancho Campo has done a tremendous job in bringing all segments of the market together to discuss how we can all move forward in the distribution of wines throughout the world. The logistics of putting a first time event like this together were enormous and I congratulate Pancho and his team for having the foresight and energy to organize this event."

 * * * * *  

Then there are those who see Dubai in a different light:

"I have to admit that I viewed my first trip to Dubai with some reservations but now feel that I have actually been professionally negligent in taking so long to visit this rapidly developing Emirate.

As someone who tries to keep his finger on the pulse of the world of restaurants I had made a mental note each time I read that one five-star Dubai hotel had poached a top European chef to be their executive chef or another had lured chefs from further afield to open outposts in a similar manner to that practised by Las Vegas hotels. But I had so far failed to appreciate just what a brave new world Dubai has become." - - From an  article by Nick Lander, Jancis Robinson's husband on Jancis Robinson.com

Report in Departures Magazine on Dubai in 2006 (Departures is the American Express magazine for Platinum card [and higher] holders):

Dubai's Big Boom
 
Built on sand, oil, and gold-plated everything, a new Xanadu is rising in the Middle East. SOPHY ROBERTS reports from the land of caviar facials and indoor ski slopes.
I am standing on the "H" of the helipad at the top of the Burj al Arab, the Dubai hotel that billows like a sail plump with wind on a manmade island in the Persian Gulf. For many observers of this desert boomtown—and it does seem as if all eyes are on Dubai—the Burj is the emblem of the city's freewheeling spirit, a kind of go-go giddiness that is not altogether shared by the United Arab Emirates' less liberal states. Dubai, unlike Abu Dhabi and the five other emirates, "has always been a wide-open place, ever since it was a smuggling center for gold," says Christopher Dickey, a Newsweek correspondent who lived here in 1987 and returns frequently.

In the November-December 2009 issue of Departures Culture Watch Section, there is a multi-page article on the United Arab Emirates featuring Dubai:  A Connoisseur's Guide to the New Middle East. 
 

Of coincidental interest concerning Kevin Zraly and Dubai is this really quite glowing article about  Zraly in The New York Times. The banner My Dubai Diary advertisement running next to the article on Zraly has nothing to do with him, but it has really quite a prescient, you-can't make-this-stuff-up, irony to it.

 * * * * *

Personally, I don't know what the real story is about Dubai justice, nor do I know for sure that Pancho Campo is guilty of defrauding Jackie Wartanian of nearly $1,000,000, but what I do know is--guilty or not of what he has been accused of and sentenced to a year in jail for--Pancho Campo through his lawyer, Alfonso Martínez, threatened me, a journalist who has been writing in glowing terms about Spain and its food and wines, as well as La Rioja, for more than 30 years and was awarded Spain's Premio Nacional de Gastronómia in 2003.

I was told that "we don't want to have to go to the American Embassy nor the Spanish Embassy*, nor get into litigation with you . . ." and was told by Martínez, "I am coming to New York next week and I want to sit down with you and see if we can come to an 'amicable compromise.'  (All of this came in a phone call on September 2, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. (New York time), 00:30 (after midnight Spanish time).  (*What the Hell were they going to do by going to the "embassies," tell them that I had passed information that Campo was being sought by Interpol for fraud involved nearly $1,000,000!!?)

The phone call was followed by an e-mail to a third-party address, the same e-mail addresss to which I had sent to Kevin Zraly the information I had received from Spain about Pancho Campo's troubles in Dubai, his subsequent detention in Paris and at the Hotel Miguel Angel in Madrid (where, at both the latter places, he was detained and questioned about the Dubai affair-Interpol notice).

In addition to threatening me, there is evidence (yes, we have it!) on attempts to coerce, threaten or make offers that could be construed as attempted inducements to other journalists, including Decanter's Jim Budd, after he had written the first article on Campo's arrest warrant in Decanter on September 4 and before a second article on the affair was published.  

Budd was offered a speaking engagement at Vinoble 2010, which, in theory, will also be run by Campo and his Wine Academy--a speaking engagement for Budd would entail at the very least a flight from London, accommodations in a top hotel in Jerez and, it goes without saying, a nice honorarium.  

Jim Budd declined.  In fact, Budd says that he refuses to have anything to do with Vinoble 2010 (he is an expert on Loire Valley sweet wines, among others) until he gets some answers to some pointed questions to Campo, which he has posted as The questions Pancho Campo MW won’t answer on his Jim's Loire website. 

In his post, "Pancho, You can run but you can't hide," Jim Budd wrote, "I'm sure that the presentation and tasting would have been worthwhile and interesting but I, for one, am going to have nothing to do with Vinoble until Pancho provides detailed answers to the questions I have been asking."

Related link: Background to the Pancho Campo-Kevin Zraly-Robert Parker Wine Futures Rioja Affair 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 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

A NEW CENTURY IN THE PRADO MUSEUM

* * * * *

        Roger Van der Wyden's Descent From The Cross, Prado Museum

 A NEW CENTURY IN THE PRADO MUSEUM

From Goya to Sorolla, the Display of the Collection Expands with 12 New Galleries & 176 Works

Madrid, SPAIN, November 3, 2009 – One of Madrid’s leading art institutions has opened 12 new galleries and is exhibiting 176 works – several recently acquired and some never exhibited before – all from the 19^th century.  A New Century in the Museo del Prado, represents a key step forward in the Prado’s collections plans known as The Collection: The Second Extension.  On October 6, more than 170 new works were added to the permanent collection and now, for the first time, visitors to the Prado will see an uninterrupted overview of the development of Spanish art from the 12^th century Romanesque painting of San Baudelio de Berlanga up through the early 20^th century work of Sorolla which runs parallel to the century’s earliest avant-garde movements.

       Among the 176 paintings, watercolors and sculptures finally on view are several acquired in the last several years: José de Madrazo’s The French Cuirassier acquired this summer; Penitents in the Lower Church at Assisi by José Jiménez Aranda (acquired in 2001), and Large Landscape (Aragón) by Francisco Domingo Marqués (acquired in 2000).  Maria Figueroa as a young girl dressed as a Menina by Joaquín Sorolla, also purchased in 2000, joins the artist’s And they still say fish is expensive!, a masterpiece of social realism and Boys on the Beach, one of the Prado’s most celebrated modern paintings.

       Today the Museum has the world’s foremost collection of Spanish paintings – some 4,600 – dating from the Middle Ages to the 19^th century including outstanding masterpieces by Berruguete, El Greco, Goya, Murillo, Ribera, Sorolla, Velázquez and Zurbarán.  In 2007, an extensive expansion designed by Rafael Moneo increased the museum’s space by 50 percent. 

       Organized chronologically, the new galleries begin with Goya (the Prado has 140 of his works), Neoclassicism and the Origins of the Museum, followed by Romanticism, Federico de Madrazo, Rosales, Fortuny and Rico and Raimundo de Madrazo There are two rooms with historical paintings and one gallery with landscapes. The final galleries highlight Naturalism, Sorolla and landscapes by Aureliano Beruete, donated by the artist’s family.

The Prado Museum is located on Paseo del Prado and is open daily, except 

Mondays, from 9 AM to 8 PM.  Admission is about $11.80 or 8 euros.  Visitors under 

18 are admitted free of charge.  Students under 25 from non-EU countries pay about 

$6 or 4 euros. Admission to the Permanent Collection is free Tuesdays to Saturdays from 6 PM to 8 PM and on Sundays from 5 PM to 8 PM.  Go to www.museodelprado.es/en/

For information about Spain, contact the Tourist Office of Spain in New York (212-265-8822); Miami (305-358-1992); Chicago (312-642-1992) or Los Angeles (323-658-7195) or go to www.spain.info.

Contact:

Pilar Vico                                                                                           Meredith Pillon

Tourist Office of Spain                                               MPMC

212-265-8822                                                              212-289-1627

pilar.vico@tourspain.es                                              meredithpillon@mpmcus.com

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

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

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

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

by Gerry Dawes

(First published in The Wine News, Fall 2009)

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

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


Read the whole article by clicking here

 

Related Articles: 

Ribeira Sacra Tasting Notes with Photographs

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

Slide Show on Ribera Sacra 

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

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

Chicago Tribune's Ten Worst Dining Trends of the Decade

The Chicago Tribune just published an article on the Ten Worst Dining Trends of the Decade.  Three of them, "molecular cuisine," foams and decontruction dishes, take aim at the Spanish cocina de vanguardia modernista tendencies of the past decade or so.  The relates to my current article in Food Arts, Spain's Chemical Reaction.

But, one of the real jewels in these worst trends is about wine and it is in the body of the article, not on the list of the Big Ten:

"Worst trend?" said Tim Zagat, co-founder of the Zagat restaurant survey. "Buying wine to show off. It's not new but it got out of hand with Wall Street types this decade. If you spend $100 on a bottle now, you're exhibiting some degree of stupidity."

Well, yeh!

Gerry Dawes

Spain's Chemical Reaction Food Arts October 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): gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Guide to Gerry Dawes's Spain

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Guide to Gerry Dawes's Spain

 

Customized Culinary Tours

Epicurean Ways Scheduled Tours

Photography, Articles and Archived Posts

Gerry Dawes & Lucio Blázquez, owner of Casa Lucio in Madrid, during Madrid Fusión week, January 2009.
Photograph by John Sconzo ©2009.

Alicante: Monastrell & La Taberna del Gourmet

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Monastrell, calle San Fernando 10, 03002 Alicante. 96 520 03 63. Chef María José San Román, who worked under Catalan three-star chef Joan Roca has made Monastrell (named for the local red grape, the French mouvedre) the top modern cuisine choice in the capital.

And María José is an azafrán (saffron) expert (see this recent article in The New York Times; she is working on a book on saffron.

She uses Spanish azafrán, often almost imperceptibly, in many of her dishes, including desserts. Opt for her tasting menu and be surprised by her ideas, combinations and the quality of the ingredients she uses.

La Taberna del Gourmet (Taberna, Delicatessen & Wine Bar), San Fernando 10, Alicante. 965-204-233. María José San Román's superb, quality product-driven, taberna and wine bar, next door to Monastrell and one of the best traditional cuisine restaurants in La Comunitat Valenciana. Somehow you must work María José's restaurants (she also owns Los Mejillones [The Mussels], a block away on the Esplanada de España) into your stay in Alicante, even if it is just some tapas at the bar at La Taberna del Gourmet, which is run by Geni Perramón, daughter of María José and El Portero "Pitu" Perramón.

My recommendation at La Taberna, which is also "Pitu"'s (legendary former goalkeeper for the Spanish national handball team) pride and joy, is to put yourself in the hands of Geni and ask her (drop my name) to do a tasting luncheon of stellar modernized traditional offerings.

Depending on the season, a "little" sampling luncheon may include such dishes as little Navarrese txistorra chorizos; a shared portion of arrós con magro y verduras (paella-like rice with pork and vegetables), maybe the best patatas bravas (saffron-infused) in Spain; splendid, supernal gambas rojas (legendary prawns from the Alicante coast); and unbeatable grilled sepionets (small cuttle fish).

Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, go on with white esparragos de Navarra with a vinagreta de solera de requena (aged vinegar); an ensalada méditerraneo (arugula , goat cheese cubes, tomatoes and siurana olive oil),;spectacularly good croquetas de chorizo Ibérico; equally spectacular alcachofa a vinagreta (artichokes); pan con tomate y anchoas (bread rubbed with tomate and topped with house-cured anchovies; a little escalivada montadito con foie (grilled vegetables on a toast round with foie gras); riñoncitos de lechazo (milk-fed lamb kidneys) and finish up with a bit of arrós caldoso con cigala y sepia en dados (a delicious soupy marinera rice with chunks of Dublin Bay prawns and sepia cuttle fish).

The wine: A Godello from Valdeorras.

Of course, a little dessert won't hurt, so try María José's bizcocho de tocino de cielo, borracho de lima, freson and helado de gengibre, a take off on the classic, normally sinfully rich, lighter in this version tocino de cielo (read eggs and sugar), with lime, strawberries and a ginger ice cream.

Or course, you don't have to do this whole-nine-yards-menu, which I am very honored to say is now called "El Menu de Gerry Dawes," you can tell Geni when to stop anytime.