The Surprising Wines of Valencia - Spain - U.S. Chamber of Commerce Gala Issue June 2008

Indian Wine Academy Articles by Gerry Dawes

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Cava - once cheap, now chic

Guest Feature : Best of Spanish Wines

Spanish White Wines of Galicia

Ribera del Duero: Wine Adventures in Castilla y León

Wines of Murcia in Spain

Navarra: A Spanish Kingdom's Wines Wear the Versatility Crown

Spain’s Food & Wine Fairs: A Perpetual Feast

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Maestro Spain: Spanish Food, Wine & Travel Stock Photography Gallery

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(Under Construction)

(Click on link to reach Maestro Spain Photography by Gerry Dawes. )

All photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes 2006
Reproduction strictly prohibited without written permission and payment.

An avid aficionado of Spanish fiestas and a photographer, Gerry Dawes traveled extensively in Spain during the eight years he lived there, putting muchos kilómetros on Rocinante, his Volkswagen sedan. He amassed thousands of color transparencies and a wealth of knowledge about the country, its wine and food, customs and culture. He has published hundreds of wine, food and travel photographs in numerous magazines and has had cover photographs for The Wine Spectator, The Wine News, Wine Enthusiast and others.

His photographs have been published (often with his articles) in The Wine News, Food Arts, Decanter, Wine Enthusiast, Santé, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Food & Wine, Fine Wine Folio, Spain Gourmetour (Madrid), Restauradores (Madrid), Sobremesa (Madrid & Latin America) and many other publications.

He currently shoots both color tranparencies and high resolution digital photographs and is available for assignments.

In addition to the photographs on Gerry Dawes's Spain, his stock photography on Spanish Food, Wine & Travel can be seen and purchased at Maestro Spain Photography.

Gerry Dawes
17 Charnwood Drive - Suite A
Suffern, NY 10901
Phone & Fax (call before faxing): 845-368-3486
Cell phone: 914-414-6982
Telefono movil (durante estancias en España): 670 67 39 34
maestrospain@aol.com

Foods From Spain News Interview with Chef & TV Personality José Andrés at Madrid's Salón Internacional de Gourmets

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(Click to enlarge the article and any image on this post.)

Article and all photographs by Gerry Dawes ©2008.

Telefónica Arena Pavilion, Salón Internacional de Gourmets, Casa del Campo, Madrid

José Andrés stops to toast with a glass of Pomea Aurea rosado sidra at Cata Gourmet in the Asturian pavilion at Madrid's annual Salón Internacional de Gourmets in Madrid.

José Andrés has rapidly become one of the top stars of Spanish cuisine. Just in the past few years, Andrés, chef-partner and creative force behind THINKfoodGROUP, which owns and operates several several restaurants–most of them Spanish (his Jaleo and Mini-Bar by José Andrés at Café Atlantico) in Washington, D.C. He has a very popular prime-time television cooking show in Spain called Vamos a Cocinar and he is the host of American PBS-TV’s new series, José Made In Spain, which focuses on a different region each episode and features Spanish products, dishes from many different Spanish chefs and demonstrations on how to make the dishes. Andrés has published several books, including Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America, two cookbooks in Spain in Spanish and the companion book to his PBS-TV Series.

At the Pérez Pascuas stand at Salón Internacional de Gourmets, Madrid

Marino González Fernández, President of COASA (Comercializadora Asturiana de Alimentos S.A.), which produces high quality Asturian cheeses and owns the Cata Gourmet stores and product line, drinking sidra (Cider) with members of the Trabanco cider group.

This Foods From Spain News article circulated as an insert in Speciality Foods Magazine at the Fancy Food Show in New York, June 29th - July 1st, 2008

Despaña Brands, a Spanish food products shop at 408 Broome St., Soho, NYC

The Ferran Adrià & Santi Santamaria Brouhaha: A Personal Chronicle of the Strange Occurrences Leading Up to the Star Chefs Fight of the Century

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All photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes 2007
Publication without permission strictly prohibited.

Contact: gerrydawes@aol.com

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On the surface it all seemed innocent enough at Grupo Gourmets Salón Internacional de Gourmets at the Casa del Campo, Madrid in May, 2006 . . . .

Santi Santamaría seemed jovial.

The normally pensive and serious Ferran even seemed happy. . . . . .There was much alegría --or is often said, "musha, musha alegría"-- in the espuma, er, air. . . . 

Hell, Santi and Ferran even seemed happy even though they were sitting together.

Arzak was amusing Bocuse, or trying to amuse Bocuse.

What a crew it was at the Salón de Gourmets Annual Gourmet Restaurant Awards that fine May day in 2006. . . . .as I said there was musha, alegría. . . . .musha

Santi, Bocuse, and Toño & José of Átrio, their superb restaurant in Cáceres, all got awards, mas musha alegría. . . .

. . . . . Santi stilled seemed jovial, José Polo seemed half-jovial, but Toño Pérez, José's partner in Átrio and in life, didn't seem jovial, maybe because José had his arm around Santi- -well, part of the way around Santi.

. . . . . Ferran got an award and Arzak got an award, each the size of a doorstop. Juan Mari then amused Grupo Gourmets Presidente Paco López Canís. . . . and the musha, musha alegría continued without pause, flowing like Torta del Casar (also from Cáceres) . . . . .

. . . . well, except maybe for Toño, whom Arzak provided some much needed amusement and way too much pacharán later on at Julián de Tolosa restaurant on Cava Baja. . . .but that's a story for another day, back to this one:

And then, and then, and then the trouble started on "Killer's Row. . . .
 

. . . . Santi, Ferran, Bocuse & Juan Mari were all seated together . . . . .Then Ferran whispers to Santi, "My espumas (foams), mango caviar, encapsulated 'olives' and olive oil drops and nitrogen cocktails are the work of a genius." What have you got to match that? 

Ferran, now pensive again, lets that soak in. Santi is no longer jovial, he is also now pensive. . . .

"So, you think that unhealthy, additive-laced mierda you do is cooking, eh?

Then Santi leans to the right, smiles and says, "How about something really creative, say aromatheraphy. How do you like my hot, smoky espuma laced with the terroir of Montseny?"
 

Ferran, momentarily stunned, tries to steady himself.

Sacre bleu! Bocuse is incredulous!

Juan Mari, not into aromatherapy, is not amused and tries to protect his air supply. 
 
Ferran, stunned and reeling, can't believe what just happened.
 

Ferran, contemplating a retort in his native Cartagena-inflected Catalan-Andaluz (guaranteed to piss Santi off since it is not pure Catalan), turns pensive again. . . .thinking, "Jodé, yo zoy genio y Santi no é. ¿Como es posible que el cabrón hizo esto antes de que me ha ocurrido a mi?". . . . ."F..k, I am a genius and Santi ain't. How is it possible that this cabrón did this before it occurred to me?"
 

Santi, once again jovial, enjoys a moment of musha, musha alegría.

Now, 800 chefs are pissed off at Santi, all over a little hot air!!

Fin de una triste historia.

Spain’s Food & Wine Fairs: A Perpetual Feast

Palacio de Congresos in Valencia, Scene of Vino Elite


Tetsuya Wakuda at Madrid Fusión


Ferran Ádria at Alimentaria's BCN Vanguardia

Spain’s Food & Wine Fairs: A Perpetual Feast

by Gerry Dawes
All photographs copyright 2008 by Gerry Dawes (Not to be used without permission gerrydawes@aol.com)

Spanish food and wine fairs, wine trade fairs, promotional events and gastronomic conferences can keep dedicated Spanish wine professionals, foodies and aficionados alike busy all year round, as I found out over the course of 2007, when I made a half dozen ten trips to Spain, many of them connected two and three deep to Spanish wine events. Spain now has thousands of wineries and it takes a lot of tastings to bring all that wine to the attention of the press, importers and consumers.

Read more. . . . .

Three-star Michelin Chefs Santi Santamaria, Ferran Ádria, Paul Bocuse and Juan Mari Arzak

at the Salón Internacional de Gourmets in Madrid

Vinoble: Tasting in the former Mezquita of the Alcazar in Jerez de la Frontera

Wine News Oct/Nov 2007 Mencía - Terroir & Balance

The unheralded existence of terroir-driven native varietals flourishing in northwestern Spain is comparable to the iceman encased in the glacier: By shining a critical spotlight on Bierzo, at the gates of Galicia in León province, and Ribeira Sacra, in Galicia's Ourense and Lugo provinces - much like sunlight melting back a glacier - the native mencía grape emerges from obscurity. Grown in precariously steep vineyards and often clinging to treacherous slate-strewn hillsides and Roman-style terraces, the indigenous variety is responsible for some of Spain's most intriguing and delicious terroir-laced reds. Read More

Gerry Dawes: Biography & Credits

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". . . Gerry Dawes, the gastronomy/travel writer known for good reasons in wine and periodical circles as ‘Mr. Spain." An inexhaustible fund of knowledge on his favorite subject, Dawes, who has joined our masthead as Contributing Authority on Spain, composed this month's apt tribute to Arzak and Adríà on page 112 and has arranged for them to be guests of honor at the James Beard Foundation's November auction dinner in New York City, of which he is chair." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Publishers of Food Arts

Gerry Dawes was born in Alto Pass, Illinois (pop. 398) and lived in Spain for eight years in the sherry country of Cádiz province, in Sevilla, and in Mijas (Málaga). He sold paintings for the late American artist-matador John Fulton in Sevilla and Marbella; apprenticed under Robert Vavra, photographer of James Michener's Iberia; worked as a movie extra in Barcelona on The Great White Hope; ran The Dawes Gallery, a contemporary art gallery in Mijas, and studied Spain's language, history, and culture at the University of Sevilla (in the former Fábrica de Tabaco--made famous as the setting of the opera Carmen). Dawes has a B.A. in Spanish and Creative Writing from State University of New York (SUNY).

Dawes has been cited for his knowledge of Spain in The New York Times and New York Times Magazine, New York Newsday, The Wine Spectator, The James Beard Foundation Newsletter, Food Arts, Men's Journal, The Rosengarten Report and Spain's Deia, El País, Cambio 16, and many other publications.

— Premio Nacional de Gastronomía 2003 (Spanish National Gastronomy Prize): 2003 Marques de Busianos Award from the Academia Española de Gastronomía (Spanish Academy of Gastronomy) & La Cofradia de la Buena Mesa for writing, photography, and lectures about Spanish gastronomy and wines.

— James Beard Foundation Restaurant Awards Judge (1998 - present)

— Amigo de Madrid (Presented by the Mayor of Madrid.)

— Chairman, 17th Annual James Beard Foundation Auction Dinner, Essex House Hotel, New York, Nov. 16, 2003 The Flavors of Spain Honoring Juan Mari Arzak & Ferran Adriá (Broke all existing records by $100,000.)

— Judge, GourmetQuesos Championship Finals, Salón de Gourmets, Madrid, Spain (April, 2004)

— Honoree, Premio Cena de los 11 Vinos, Madrid & Barcelona (Two annual wine dinners in Spain honoring someone distinguished in enhancing the image of Spanish wines.)

— Irmandinho (member), Irmandade de Vinhos Galegos (Brotherhood of Galician Wines)

Photography

An avid aficionado of Spanish fiestas and a photographer, Dawes traveled extensively in Spain during the eight years he lived there, putting muchos kilómetros on Rocinante, his Volkswagen sedan. He amassed thousands of color transparencies and a wealth of knowledge about the country, its wine and food, customs and culture. He has published hundreds of wine, food and travel photographs in numerous magazines and has had cover photographs for The Wine Spectator, The Wine News, Wine Enthusiast and others.

Gastronomic & Wine Tours of Spain

Gerry Dawes has led numerous culinary and wine tours to Spain. His clients have included The World Trade Center Club, Club Managers of America Wine Society, Chef Mark Miller and his management team, the mythical 61st Tactical Fighter Squadron and the Commonwealth Club of California.

"I have taken eight trips to Spain, but the best trip was the one Gerry Dawes orchestrated. His love and knowledge of the foods and wines of Spain are intoxicating. His ever present enthusiasm made my Spanish experiences with him memorable." – Mark Miller, author and chef/owner, Coyote Cafe (Santa Fe, New Mexico), winner of the James Beard Foundation's Southwestern Chef of the Year Award.

Contributor

The Wine News, Food Arts, Decanter, Wine Enthusiast, Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, Restauradores (Madrid), Santé, Cocina Futuro (Madrid), Berlitz Travellers Guide to Spain, Kevin Zraly's Windows on the World Complete Wine Course

Articles & Photographs Published In

The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, The Chicago Tribune, Food & Wine, James Beard Foundation Magazine, Fine Wine Folio, Playboy (America's Best Restaurants; America's Best Bars), Spain Gourmetour (Madrid), La Prensa del Rioja, El Diario de La Rioja, Sobremesa (Madrid & Latin America), Restauradores (Madrid).

Public Speaking Engagements

Gerry Dawes has been a featured speaker on Spain, Spanish wines, gastronomy, culture and travel at:

— The Smithsonian Institution
— Macy's De Gustibus
— Executive Wine Seminars
— Tasters Guild International
— International Wine Center
— Boston Wine Expo
— Centro Riojano (Madrid)
— Culinary Institute of America-Greystone (Napa Valley)
— Madrid Fusi

Speaking Engagements and Conference Presentations

Far too numerous to list here, list available on request for events in both the U.S. & Spain.

Television & Radio

EO Agency's 7 Days, 7 Nights: A Video Culinary, Wine & Travel Adventure in Valencia-Alicante with Gerry Dawes & Guest Chef Terrance Brennan

— Food Network, as an expert on Spanish food and wine. Dawes's color photographs also used as background for Food Network segments on the Basque Country and on Sherry. (Video clips available.)

— "A Matter of Taste," 2003 JBF Award winning program of David Michael & Rachel Kane, San Francisco. (July, 2004)

— CNN, interviewed by Carolyn O'Neill on Spanish Cuisine.

— Has appeared in numerous interviews on television and radio in Spain.

— CBS-TV 'Sixty Minutes' - Associate Producer for a segment on Spain.

Quotes

"Gerry Dawes--has emerged as the leading American speaker, consultant, and writer on the subject of Spanish wine. . . suffice to say that everyone from The New York Times to the James Beard Foundation, from 60 Minutes to CNN, has sought Gerry's wisdom on the subject of Spanish wine, food and culture." - -David Rosengarten, The Rosengarten Report (August, 2004)

"I am sure you are happy about the article (Arthur Lubow's A Laboratory of Taste, The New York Times Magazine, August 10, 2003), since you have been talking about it (Spain's culinary ascendancy) for the past ten years." - - From an 8/13/03 e-mail from Ferran Adriá, Chef-partner, El Bulli.

"Gerry Dawes's knowledge of Spanish wines is encyclopedic. . .", John Mariani, author, food and travel columnist for Esquire, restaurant columnist for Wine Spectator, and food columnist for Diversion. (Prodigy.com, 2003)
"Gerry Dawes . . . is probably America's premier expert on Spanish wines." – Frank J. Prial, The NewYork Times

"When it comes to the wines of Spain, Gerry Dawes is as passionate, enthusiastic and knowledgeable as they come. Every time we hear him speak about Spain, we long to travel there ourselves, to get to know the wines better." - - Mary Mulligan, Master of Wine and Author of Wine for Dummies, New York.

"Dawes is uniquely qualified to comment on the wines of Spain, having lived there for eight years in the late '60s and early '70s and since returned frequently to keep abreast of new developments. While his consulting career has been built on his knowledge of French and American wines, his passion has always been for Spain and its wines . . . Dawes is one of the most painstaking tasters we know." – Stephen D. Tanzer, The New York Wine Cellar.

Articles on Spanish Gastronomy, Wine & Travel by Gerry Dawes

Spain’s Ferias del Vino - Spanish Wine Fairs

Madrid Fusión 2007: A Watershed Moment in Spanish Modern Cuisine History

Encuentro Verema: Valencia's Winter Wine Conference, January 26 & 27, 2007

Galicia’s Green Gold: White Wines from Native Spanish Grapes

Valencia: Damned Near Everything You Need to Know About the Incredible Food, Wine & Cultural Scene in Valencia & Alicante

Rice to Riches, Food Arts, May 2007 (The Surprising Cuisines of Valencia & Alicante)

The Cuisines of La Comunitat Valenciana (Valencia, Alicante & Castellón)

Alicante: Monastrell Restaurant & La Taberna del Gourmet

The Emerging Wines of Valencia: Hitting Their Stride

The Wines of Murcia: Jumilla, Land of Monastrell

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

Vinoble: "Noble" Dessert & Fortified Wines Fair in Jerez de la Frontera, the Sherry Capital

La Rioja: Roda & Contino Mano a Mano

Spanish Artisan Cheeses & Spanish Wines That Complement Them

Con-queso-dores: A Ham & Cheese Adventure in the Conquistador Villages of Western Spain, Castilla y León & The Mountains of Asturias

Con-queso-dores: A Ham & Cheese Journey in the Columbine and Conquistador Villages of Western Spain; the highlands of Castilla y León & The Mountains of Asturias

SPECTACULAR DALÍ EXHIBITION IN PHILADELPHIA

Sanlúcar Sunset in a Manzanilla Glass

And suspended from the rafters, along with a blowfish, are amphoras, the pottery urns, which were used in the days when Spain was a part of the Roman Empire to ship. . . .

Cervecerías: Spain's Beer Bars

If you ask the average Spaniard (and most foreigners, for that matter) for a definition of a cervecería, one of Spain’s ubiquitous so-called beer bars, you will get all kinds of answers, almost none of them right.

Alta Expresión Vino -Black gold or fool's gold?During the past decade, scores of powerful, highly concentrated, new-wave wines have cropped up all over Spain like the saffron crocuses that proliferate in La Mancha every October. These intensely extracted, international style wines encompass a bewildering array of newly minted brands that vary widely in quality and seriousness. Lumped together under the controversial term vinos de alta expresión ("high expression," or "high concept" wines--read high extract and some say "alta extorsión," for the outrageous prices some command), these potent wines depart sharply from the traditional, mellow, age-worthy style for which La Rioja, the country's premier wine region, is famous. Winning high praise in some circles and vociferous criticism in others, alta expresión wines have pushed Spain smack into the center of the brewing international debate between winemaking traditionalists and advocates of the high-octane New World approach.

Spain's Vaunted 2001 VintageFirst appeared in The Wine News, April/May 2002.For fans of Spanish wines, and particularly those crafted from tempranillo - Spain's finest indigenous red wine grape - the 2001 harvest may have produced one of the greatest vintages of all time - an ironic conclusion to a rollercoaster growing season afflicted by hard frost, inordinate heat, prolonged drought and potentially damaging rains.On back-to-back visits in September and October, I spent more than six weeks prowling the vineyards of Spain's key red wine-producing regions - from the firmly established La Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Navarra, Penedès and Priorato to up-and-coming spots such as Toro and La Mancha. A veteran of more than a dozen Spanish harvests, I have rarely seen grapes in such healthy condition or a harvest season (vendimia) that enjoyed such propitious weather.

Rioja: The Mountain Cat Springs to Life

Because La Rioja is so large and produces so much wine, this old lion may appear to move slowly, but like the mountain cat that it is, once this time-honored region springs to life, it will be hard to hold back. In fact, La Rioja is in a dynamic state of evolution, and many of its classic bodegas are already producing some of the best, modern-style wines in Spain.

Photo Gallery: Spanish Food A collection of food photographs from around Spain.

Chocolateria San Gines

Churros, C. San Gines Gerry Dawes copyright 2004...Churros con chocolate at Chocolatería San Ginés

The Estate Wines of Jean León

Summary: Miguel Torres Maczassek, Managing Director of Jean León and son of Miguel Torres Riera, Bodegas Miguel Torres, long one of Spain's most important wineries.

Spanish Rosados*

Saveur can talk about Hemingway downing them in one gulp, but he actually carried Las Campanas rosados around Spain with him in a cooling bag during the Dangerous Summer. . .

The New Wines of The Ancient Kingdom of Navarra

Navarra, the landlocked northern Spanish province that shares a wild stretch of the western Pyrenees with neighboring France, is one of the most rewarding places in Spain for wine aficionados in search of good up-and-coming wines, exceptional regional cuisine and off-the-beaten-track travel experiences. Given the advances of the past few years, Navarra promises to be Spain's next great wine discovery and is set to become a major producer of top-quality wines from across a spectrum that includes world-class whites, exceptional rosés, native and foreign varietal reds and surprising dessert wines.

Food in Navarra: Navarra's Country Cuisine

Navarra's country cuisine, talented chefs and lively restaurants are among the best in Spain. They have at their disposal a vast cornucopia of ingredients to draw from: garden-fresh produce such as artichokes, asparagus, beans and red piquillo peppers from the Ribera of southern Navarra; quail, partridge and rabbit from the mountains; trout from the cold, clear mountain streams; fish and shellfish from the nearby Atlantic; excellent artisan cheeses from Roncal in the Pyrenees; and lamb from all across the province.

Tasting & Touring in Navarra

Bodegas Julián ChiviteThe 1994 vintage – combined with the coming of age of the Chivite family's spectacular 150-hectare Arínzano Estate Vineyard (planted to tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and chardonnay near the historic town of Estella) and the maturation of Fernando Chivite's winemaking skills – will firmly place Chivite among the ranks of Spain's greatest wineries.

Rias Baixas Wines

Spain: Looking Back To The Future

Three-star restaurants, cultish boutique wines and appreciative, affluent consumers: europe’s gastronomic epicenter just may be shifting to España.When I first began traveling the wine roads of Spain in the early 1970s, the state of Spanish wine and food was dramatically different than it is today...

About the Author

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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.

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

(Click on arrow to play video

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com Alternate e-mails (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@optonline.net or gerrydawes@hotmail.com

Mencía: Articles on an Amazing Grape Variety From Northwestern Atlantic Spain

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 Articles on the Mencía grape in Bierzo & in Galicia (Ribeira Sacra & Valdeorras):

The Wine News and Wines From Spain News - ICEX-USA

All Photographs by Gerry Dawes.

Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago in Vilafranca del Bierzo, Castle of Vilafranca del Bierzo

Godello Grapes

Mencía grapes.

Mencía grapes.

Ricardo Pérez tasting Corullon at Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo.

Old vines vineyard near Corullón.

Plowing in the precipitously steep vineyards of Corullón. 

A mule is brought in especially for this task.

Vineyard worker in the Palacios's vineyards near Corullón take a vino break with a drink from a wine bota.

Corullón, Bierzo.

Sunset from Palacios's Moncerbal Vineyard in Corullón, Bierzo.

New Spain Posts January-September 2007

New Spain Posts January-September 2007

Some of my faithful readers, among the dozen of you, have expressed concern about the lack of posts and rightfully so. I have been traveling to Spain too much and can't keep up with it all!!! I am now averaging eight trips per year. To cut down on that average, I consolidated what would have been three-four trips in April-May to a one-month stay, so I have done three trips so far this year, a total of nearly eight weeks, and I am overloaded with information and backlogged with photographs. Some times you wish upon star and the star answers.

Posted (click on links below) and upcoming reports include: Read More

Spain’s Food & Wine Fairs: A Perpetual Feast

Text & Photographs by Gerry Dawes

All photographs copyright 2008 by Gerry Dawes (Not to be used without permission, gerrydawes@aol.com)

Spanish food and wine fairs, wine trade fairs, , promotional events and gastronomic conferences can keep dedicated Spanish wine professionals, foodies and aficionados alike busy all year round, as I found out over the course of 2007, when I made a half dozen ten trips to Spain, many of them connected two and three deep to Spanish wine events. Spain now has thousands of wineries and it takes a lot of tastings to bring all that wine to the attention of the press, importers and consumers.

In January, it all begins at Madrid Fusión, an annual event, where a roster of the top chefs in Spain—augmented by other star chefs from around the world—come to show the latest superstar cooking techniques. Taking best advantage of the drawing power of the superchefs, ICEX Vinos de España / Wines From Spain puts on a star-studded show of their own at the event. In 2007, celebrating its 25th Anniversary, Wines From Spain presented more than 130 top-rated Spanish wines in several España: Vientos de Terruño / Spain: Winds of Terroir tastings at Madrid Fusión. La Rioja also presented two big panel tastings—one contrasting classic and modern style Rioja reds, the other focusing on versatility of the tempranillo grape.

Tetsuya Wakuda at Madrid Fusión

Ferran Adrià with a food producer at Madrid Fusión

Juli Soler, El Bulli & Teresa Barrenechea, Termomix Spain at Madrid Fusión

Esmeralda Capel with white truffles

José Mari Arzak, Ferran Adrià, Rafael Ansón, Tetsuya Wakuda

Wakuda, Trotter, Norman Van Aken and Friends Having Tapas at Rafa in Madrid

Gerry Dawes and Paul Prudhomme at Madrid Fusión

That was just the beginning. Later that month in Valencia, the sixth edition of Encuentro Verema, one of Spain's most prestigious wine conferences, took place in Valencia on January 26 and 27 at the five-star Meliá Valencia Palace Hotel. The conference, organized by Valencia-based verema.com, one of the world's most visited wine websites, featured two days of high level seminars and tastings. Bodegas Herederos de Marqués de Riscal, presented "The Evolution of Rioja Wines in the Past Century," following by a tasting of historic vintages of Marqués de Riscal Reserva wines back to the stellar, legendary 1945, as well as their 2001 Barón de Chirel, perhaps the greatest in that wine’s history. The next day, Managing Director-Winemaking Team Leader Agustín Santolaya of Bodegas Roda presented a tasting of representative vintages from the winery since its creation. One of the event’s highlights was the presentation of the Verema Awards for 2006 to: Best Bodega 2006: Bodegas Roda; Rising Star Bodega: Viñas del Vero; Best Wine Award 2006: Vega Sicilia Único 1994; Wine Personality of the Year 2006 Award: Mariano García of Bodegas Mauro, Maurodos and other wineries; and Award for Best Restaurant Wine Service: Restaurante Atrio (Cáceres).

León Grau, José Luís Contreras, Verema.com & Ricardo Pérez, Descendientes de J. Palacios, Bierzo

Ricardo Pérez, Descendientes de J. Palacios, Bierzo (left) & Juan Such, Verema.com (right)

Telmo Rodríguez

In early March in Ferrol (A Coruña, Galicia) the Chamber of Commerce of Vilagarcia de Arousa staged the bi-annual (2009 is next) Fevino—Fería de Vino de Noroeste—a show based primarily on the white wines of Galicia, but with exhibitors from around Spain. Here, in a less crowded environment, some 300 bodegas brought more than 1,000 wines to taste. This one is particularly good for importers and the press interested in the wines of northwestern Spain, because sit-down sessions with bodega principals and representatives are available on a one-on-one basis.

Also a bi-annual fair—and the biggest of them all—is the huge Alimentaria fair, a huge event with thousands of exhibitors (which next will take place in Barcelona from March 10-14, 2008). Hundreds of bodegas bring thousands of wines to show and along with a mind-boggling variety of foodstuffs, there is Barcelona’s equivalent of Madrid Fusión, the less well-known, but superb BCNVanguardia Congreso Internacional de Gastronomía de Alimentaria, all of which combine to make Alimentaria a not-to-be-missed event for wine lovers and foodies alike.

Charlie Trotter at BCN Vanguardia

Ferran Àdria at BCN Vanguardia

Juli Soler of El Bulli

José Andrés & Quique Dacosta at BCN Vanguardia

In April, back in Madrid at the Casa del Campo, the Grupo Gourmets, for the past 21 years, has staged the Salón Internacional de Gourmets in three different exhibition halls, where some 1,000 exhibitors show an estimated 35,000 products, among them thousands more wines from all around Spain. This is one of best wine and food fairs I know and another no-miss event for wine and food professionals and aficionados of the best of Spanish products. For more than 30 years, Grupo Gourmets has been the publisher of Club de Gourmets magazine and an outstanding guidebook series that includes the annual Gourmetour Guía Gastronómica y Turística de España and the Guía de Vinos Gourmets wine guide.

Three-star Michelin Chefs Santi Santamaria, Ferran Ádria, Paul Bocuse and Juan Mari Arzak at the Salón Internacional de Gourmets in Madrid

Torta del Casar at the Cheese Judging at the Salon Internacional de Gourmets in Madrid

Also in April and coinciding with the Salón de Gourmets, the group behind verema.com, started a new upscale bienial wine event, Vino Elite, which featured some of Spain’s top wineries and seminars by such luminaries as Spanish art film maker José Luís Cuerda (also owner of the D.O. Ribiero wine, Sanclodio), Jonathan Nossiter of Mondovino wine documentary fame and his wife, Paula Pradini, who showed her Mondoespaña segment. The verema.com group and Emiliano García—owner of Casa Montaña (a revered Valencian bodega and tapas bar that dates to 1836) and Aranleón (a very promising new Utiel-Requena winery), also staged another star turn tasting event, Vino a Toda Vela (Wine at Full Sail), one of a string of events celebrating Valencia’s turn at playing host to the America’s Cup yacht races. The event, which featured top wines from Spain and around the world was held in the cloister of the 500-year old monastery that now houses part of the University of Valencia.

Palacio de Congresos, Valencia, site of Vino Elite

Paco Higón, Verema.com; Paula & Jonathan Nossiter

The Feria Nacional del Queso (National Cheese Fair), of Trujillo (Cáceres province) in the region of Extremadura, has taken place the first weekend in May since 1986. Called the most important cheese fair in Europe, this consumer-friendly event has nearly 100 cheesemakers showing some 300 different cheeses, which can be sampled with local wines by buying tickets that are exchanged for tastes at each tented stand. The fair takes place outdoors in Trujillo's spectacular, historic Plaza Mayor, the main square, which is surrounded by distinguished buildings and the large equestrian statue of Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru.

Cheese Fair in Trujillo's Main Plaza, La Plaza Mayor.

This is a wonderful fiesta for cheese lovers. All one has to do is show up, make your way to the Plaza on foot, purchase some tickets and enjoy a superb range of artisan cheeses, the majority of which are from Spain and neighboring Portugal. The local Extremaduran cheese such as the ewe's milk Torta de la Serena, Torta del Casar and Tortita de Barros, along with Trujillo's own goats' milk cheese Ibores, are superb and among the best cheeses in Spain.

Cheese stand at Trujillo's Feria del Queso.

Following on the heels of those events was Castilla y León’s most important wine judging event, Premios Zarcillo, in which wineries from this large region’s denominaciones de origen, which includes Ribera del Duero, Rueda, Toro, Bierzo and Cigales, vie for the coveted Zarcillo de Oro top prizes in each category. The judges—a distinguished group of Spanish and international tasters—labors for several days tasting hundreds of wines from the region (and beyond; there are wines from other Spanish wine regions and foreign countries) in an unforgettable setting in the heart of the Ribera del Duero at the 14th-century Castillo de Peñafiel, one of Spain’s most spectacular castles and now the Museum of Wine.

Premios Zarcillo, Peñafiel (Valladolid)

After the Premios Zarcillo, Fenavin (Fería Nacional del Vino), Spain’s biggest annual trade fair dedicated solely to wine, takes place the second week in May in Cuidad Real. Fenavin has more than 1,000 exclusively Spanish bodegas exhibiting in seven pavilions and some 2,500 wine buyers and importers scour the exhibition spaces for four days seeking new treasures for their portfolios. This fair also features some of the best wine seminars in Spain with top experts from the around the world and Spanish experts who are only a short AVE high-speed train ride away from Madrid.

Fenavin, Spain's Largest Wine Fair, Cuidad Real

Another bi-annual fair, and one of the most rewarding, is The Vinoble International Noble Wines Exhibition, is held every two years at the end of May in Jerez de la Frontera. In 2008, it will be staged from May 25 through May 28. It is the only wine fair dedicated exclusively to fortified, dessert, and naturally produced sweet wines, not just from Spain, which has a much overlooked vibrant production of luscious wine in this genre, but from around the world. The setting for Vinoble is Jerez’s beautifully renovated 12th-century Arabic Alcazar fortress, which dates from the Almohade epoch of the Moorish occupation of Spain. The site is spectacular with wine tasting stands occupying the gardens of the Alcazar, and wine tastings such as a Château D'Yquem retrospective and a palo cortado Sherries presentation are held in the complex's former mezquita (mosque) and tasting pavilions in the Renaissance Palace of Villavicencio, which was built within the walls of the fortress in the 17th and 18th centuries. More than 100 noble wine producing areas for from fortified and sweet wines from around the world show their best labels at Vinoble.

Vinoble: Tasting in the former Mezquita of the Alcazar in Jerez de la Frontera

But, at Vinoble, as might be expected, it is the host country, Spain, which shows the most extensive variety of high quality sweet and fortified wines. Local Sherry bodegas bring out a broad range of high quality fortified wines--finos, manzanillas, olorosos, amontillados, creams, pale creams, moscatels and Pedro Ximénez sweet wines, as do bodegas from nearby Andalucian wine regions such as Montilla-Moriles (Cordoba) with a range of finos, amontillados, olorosos and Pedro Ximénez; the Condado de Huelva with fortified Sherry-like wines, including delicious orange essence-flavored ones; and Málaga, which showed some exceptional moscatels. Cataluña was represented by sweet wines from Penedès and Priorat; Valencia by sweet mistela moscatels; Navarra by late harvest moscatels and vinos rancios; Alicante by moscatels and fondillones; Jumilla by late harvest Monastrell-based wines; and Rueda, Rías Baixas and Yecla by late harvest entries.

Only in Jerez at Vinoble can wine professionals and aficionados alike find such a broad range of high quality "Noble" wines. Even one day at Vinoble is an education into this relatively little-known, magical world of late harvest, fortified, botrytisized, dessert and dry wines such as manzanilla, fino and amontillado Sherries. Touring the Spanish stands in May 2006, I was able to taste an amazing array of wines that underscored the importance of this emerging genre of exceptional wines from all around Spain.

All these food and wine fairs take place before June, but there is more. On the first weekend in August, there is the lively Fiesta de Albariño (no permanent website) in Cambados, a charming Galician seaside town in the Val do Salnés region of Spain’s top white wine producing area, Rías Baixas. This region is where a wide range of producers make most of the excellent Albariños that are so food-friendly to modern (and traditional) cuisines have taken American wine lists by storm. Scores of the Val do Salnés region’s best Albariños are available for tasting at open-air stands along an esplanade outside the Parador de Cambados. Top wine journalists (and one American, this writer) taste wines for two days to select the top Albariños each year.

Xosé Posada, Presidente of the Irmandade de Vinhos Galegos (Brotherhood of Galician Wines) & Irmandade Member Gerry Dawes at La Festa de Albarinho in Cambados

Do Ferreiro Cepas Velhas Albariño & Nécoras (Crabs) from the Rías of Galicia, from which comes some of the world's greatest shellfish.

Those who think they might not get enough Albariño at Cambados can show up a week earlier for wonderful, little-known, country Albariño wine fair in Meaño, where more than a dozen small wineries from the Asociación de Bodegueros Artesanos, led by Francisco Dovalo of Cabaleiro do Val, stages a weekend showing of their artisan wines, along with Galician bagpipe music and culinary specialties such as pulpo a la gallega (octopus steamed or grilled and sprinkled with Spanish olive oil, superb Spanish pimentón [paprika] and sea salt) and local shellfish, which is some of the best in the world.

Asociación de Bodegueros Artesanos Emblem

With Francisco 'Paco' Dovalo, Presidente of the Asociación de Bodegueros Artesanos at their Albariño wine fair in Meaño.

I have gone to all the events described in the past two years and was privileged to be invited to speak at several of them. I could have kept on going to any number of Spanish harvest wine fairs in September, October and November, when the great chefs conference, Lo Mejor de la Gastronómía, takes place in San Sebastián, and the excellent IberWine, billed the Salón Internacional de Vino (a biannual event devoted to Spanish and Portuguese wines that alternates between Madrid, Portugal and the U.S.), but even a marathon Spanish wine geek like me needs a respite sometimes. Still, I can’t wait for the next round to start each year.

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