If it’s April, this must be Spain

April 4, 2011 at 12:06 am John Davis Leave a comment

Join me this year as my blog goes “Around the Wine World in 12 Months.” Each month we’ll take a virtual tour of a different wine-growing country and I’ll share some of my tasting adventures.

I’ll start in Spain because I’ll be attending a meeting next week of the International Wine Clubs Association (IWCA) in Barcelona, one of Europe’s great cities. Besides sampling several of Barcelona’s more than 10,000 restaurants and attending flamenco shows, I’m also hoping to explore the nearby Penedes wine region.

While outstanding whites and reds are produced in Penedes, it’s most famous for Cava, a terrific sparkling wine comparable to Champagne, at a third of the cost. Cava come in a range of levels of sweetness, from the very dry Extra Brut to Brut, Extra Seco, Seco, Semi-Seco, and Dulce, a sweet dessert wine. I like them all, depending on the occasion and the food.  One of the names from this area you may be familiar with is Freixenet. Their most popular bubbly comes in a familiar black bottle.

While this will be my first visit to Barcelona, it’s far from my first trip to Spain. On one memorable occasion I met famed winemaker Alejandro Fernandez who is primarily responsible for transforming Ribera del Duro (north of Madrid; south of Rioja) into a world class wine region. It’s not every day that you are given a personal tasting tour and a traditional Spanish lunch by a legendary vintner.

There’s far more to Spanish wines then I can cover here, but we’re on the move. Next up: my German wine travels.

Kind regards,

John Davis,  founder, Wine Insiders

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