I recently stumbled across an article about a lunch put on at New York’s Daniel Restaurant exclusively for wine writers, educators, sommeliers and retailers. Peter Sisseck(Pingus) and Alvaro Palacios (Palacios Remondo of Rioja and Finca Dofí of the Priorato) had been invited to show off their wines, and talk a bit about the level of quality that they maintain in their wines. Hosted by ICEX, the branch of government here in Spain who is both responsible for foreign trade and for whom can be a perpetual thorn in the side of anyone trying to help foreign trade here in Spain, have a series of video interviews in English on their site with the people involved with this dinner.

Although the videos with Peter and Alavaro are fun to see, I don’t think ardent followers of their lives will find anything new on the video. On the other hand, it is great to hear from two of Spain’s wine legends. Have a look and let me know what you think.

As if Tempranillo hasn’t gained enough notoriety through the rise and recognition of Rioja wines, it will now stand off against itself in the annual Tempranillo competition being held in Cologne Germany the 22nd through the 24th of May. With the support of Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade and the acknowledgement of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, the Spanish Federation of Associations of Enologists (FEAE) has organized this International wine competition called, “Tempranillos al Mundo”. Their objective is to showcase not only the renowned grape variety Tempranillo, and its several other synonymies (the other names for which the Tempranillo goes by) - such as Tinta Roriz or Ull de Llebre, but also to award the producers who have shown the elaborated the absolute best from this variety.

According the website, the goals of the competition are:

To support the production of high quality wines based on Tempranillo.

To support the quality measures undertaken by Tempranillo producers throughout the world.

To showcase the diversity and richness of Tempranillo currently being made.

To encourage a quality approach in the organisation of qualitative wine competitions by improving tasters’ knowledge of Tempranillo.

To contribute with the popularization and the expansion of wine and its culture.

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From The Wine Academy’s website, this event will be held June 15th and 16th of this year in Barcelona:

The Barcelona Wine Festival is the new name given to the International Wine Symposium which, until now, had been organized in the city of Marbella, in 2004 and 2005.

For 2 days, the event offers master classes, seminars and guided tastings conducted by the most prominent personalities of the national and international wine industry. Amongst some of the wine celebrities that have taken part in the past two editions are Jancis Robinson, José Peñín, Alejandro Fernández, Carlos Falcó, Stephane Derenoncourt, Miguel Torres, as ell as representatives of prestigious organizations such as Wines of Chile, Wine of Australia, Wines of South Africa, University of California Davis and Crus Classes de Graves, amongst many others.

It’s a great chance for the public to meet some of the most important faces in the wine world while tasting some great wines. However, I unfortunately, will not be able to make it this year, but I do encourage anyone who will be in Barcelona to check it out. For the “low” price of 100 Euros, you can taste over 600 wines which neither covers the seminars nor the professional tastings offered. At the high end, an all inclusive ticket will fetch 342.20 Euros. For that price, I truly hope the ticket includes all the seminars and tastings!

Just to give you a bit more information, here’s the line up of celebrity speakers:

Dewey Markham - Wine writer
Jancis Robinson - Master of Wine
Thierry Gascó - Pommery
Charles de Philipponat - Champagne Philipponat
Serena Sutcliffe - Master of Wine
Ramón Llagostera - Celler Mas Doix
Victoria Pariente - Bodegas Dos Victorias
Pedro J. Martinez - Casa de la Ermita
Francesc Grimalt - Anima Negra
Agustí Torelló - Agustí Torelló Mata
Jaume Gramona - Gramona
Delfí Sanahuja - Castillo de Perelada
José Buján - Freixenet
Juan José de Castro - Codorniú
Luis Lopes - Revista do Vinho
Rene Barbier - Clos Mogador
Thomas Lignier - Perrier Joüet
Javier Zacagnini - Aalto
Pedro Aibar - Viñas del Vero
Nico Manessis - Wine Writer
Christophe Jacquemin - Louis Roederer.

Despite the price, the festival does look as if it would be a great time. If you’re going to be in the area and want more information, please go to The Wine Academy’s website.

Early last week, I came across this article: '’Put a Cork in It'’ regarding a new law in Catalonia which effectively outlaws the use of anything but cork for sealing wine bottles. At first, I was stunned, shocked and outraged when I read the article. “How can they do this?” I said to myself while I was picking my jaw up off the floor. For years now the move to alternative closures for wine bottles has been an indicator of wineries who understand the problems and issues which result from using cork. In fact, as witnessed by this lively discussion over at the Wine Bulletin Board eRobertParker.com, my outrage is not an isolated reaction to this news. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the debate, it basically comes down to the issue of Cork Taint or TCA.

Depending on who you ask, 1%-7% of all bottles sealed with a cork exhibit an “off odor” that can ruin a wine as a result of a chemical occasionally found within the cork called TCA. In order to combat this, wine makers for years have looked into cork alternatives such as screw caps, plastic corks, or even special glass enclosures in order to combat this from happening. Fortunately, these alternatives have generally been quite successful. In fact, if you ask any educated wine drinker their opinion regarding cork alternatives, they most likely will agree that the use of cork alternatives for young wines meant to be drunk young, nothing could be better.
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In reality, “red grape” is not much of a description, but this was the exact description that was given to me when I first purchased this little grape vine a few weeks ago. What you’re looking at in the picture above is its first budding, and not two days later, the first leaf making its way toward the sun. Granted, I am fully aware that grapes are supposed to be grown in long rows, harvested and then made into wine. However, when one lives in a bustling city where grapes are only eaten, and not seen, I figured it was time to bring my own personal vineyard to my doorstep.

What I know of this vine’s lineage is that it should, if the picture on the box it came in was correctly labeled, give me a red Spanish grape - most likely a table grape of questionable quality. I also know that soon after it came out of the box, all the buds on it fell off, forcing my roommates to smile politely as I continued to water a dead brown stick. Today, as I so proudly look upon my little vine, I turn to my roomates with my tongue stuck while making “thbbbtss” sounds rightiously saying, “I TOLD YOU SO!” at their obvious lack of faith.

In all honesty, why am I wasting my time with my pathetic efforts at raising a vine in a pot? Simply put, I have never lived near enough to a vineyard to see the process that a vine goes through as it turns from a gnarled piece of wood into a draping curtain of leaves. Nor have I followed its progress from the setting of small pre-mature grapes to deep juicy purple grapes. Obviously, just by reading this site, you are well aware that I have seen the process of a vine from start to finish throughout my travels, but that just doesn’t satisfy my curiosity to see the whole picture. In fact, I’m willing to bet there are a few wine lovers out there who are also wondering what this process looks like as well. (more…)