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A BASIC SPAIN
ITINERARY
There is no way
you can see Spain in 1 week. But you can have a memorable
vacation time in Madrid and see some of the
highlights of Old Castile if you budget your
time carefully. You can use the following itinerary to make
the most out of a week in Spain, but feel free to drop a place
or two to give yourself a day to relax. One week provides
enough time, although barely, to introduce yourself to such
attractions of Madrid as the Prado Museum
and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. After 2 days,
you can head for the once-royal city of Toledo,
the most historic and evocative of all Spanish cities. You'll
have time to take in Segovia with its Alcázar "in the
sky" and the austere monastery-fortress of El Escorial,
burial place of Spanish kings.
Days
1 & 2: Madrid
Take
a flight that arrives in Madrid as early as possible on Day
1. Check into your hotel and hit the nearest cafe
for a pick-me-up café au lait and croissant before
sightseeing. Take the Metro to Atocha or Banco de España
to begin your tour of the Museo del Prado,
allowing at least 2 hours for a brief visit. Since you can't
see it all, concentrate on the splendid array of works by
Velázquez and take in some of the works of Francisco
de Goya, including his Clothed Maja and Naked
Maja.
Break
for lunch in and around Plaza de Santa Ana,
known for its outdoor terrazas. This was the center
of an old neighborhood for literati, attracting such Golden
Age authors as Lope de Vega and Cervantes. Hemingway drank
here in the 1920s.
After
lunch, walk west to Puerta del Sol, the very
center of Madrid. This is the Times Square of Madrid. Northwest
of the square you can visit Monasterio de las Descalzas
Reales, Madrid's art-filled convent from the mid-16th
century and a true treasure trove.
After
perhaps a siesta at your hotel, head for Plaza Mayor,
Madrid's most beautiful square and liveliest hub in the early
evening. For dinner, patronize Hemingway's favorite restaurant,
Sobrino de Botín.
On Day 2,
take the Metro to Atocha for a visit to Museo Nacional
Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, whose main attraction
is Picasso's masterpiece, Guernica. Once here, you
can also view one of the greatest collections of modern art
in Spain, taking at least 2 hours. In the afternoon, view
Madrid's third great art museum, Thyssen-Bornemisza
Museum, absorbing its many treasures. A visit will
easily absorb at least 2 hours of your time.
In the early evening,
join in that ritual of tasca hopping, going from one bar or
tavern to another and sampling hot and cold tapas
or small plates of Spanish appetizers, ranging from fresh
anchovies to the tail of a bull. You can discover plenty on
your own, virtually on every street corner. After all that
food and drink, you'll hardly need to order dinner. Stagger
back to your hotel or else attend a flamenco show. Refer to
"Madrid After Dark" for the best flamenco showcases.
Day
3: Day Trip to Toledo
Having
survived 2 days in the capital of Spain, bid adios
and take a RENFE train to Toledo. These depart frequently
from Madrid's Chamartín station (trip time: 1 1/2 hr.).
Much
of Spain's history took place behind Toledo's old walls. There
is so much to see here that you need 2 days, but on a hurried
visit you can visit the fortified palace, the Alcázar,
with its Army Museum; and the crowning glory of the city,
the Catedral de Toledo. The masterpiece of
El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, rests
in Iglesia de Santo Tomé. If time
remains, see Casa y Museo de El Greco, or
the House and Museum of El Greco, although the artist didn't
actually live here. Toledo is known for its damascene work,
so you may want to return to Madrid by train that night with
a souvenir.
Day
4: Side Trip to Segovia
While
still based in Madrid, begin Day 4 by taking
an excursion to Segovia, leaving from Madrid's
Chamartín station and arriving 2 hours later. The thrill
of visiting the most spectacularly sited city in Spain is
to view its Alcázar, rising starkly
above the plain like a fairy-tale castle created by Disney.
You can also view the Cabildo Catedral de Segovia
and the town's architectural marvel, Acueducto Romano.
After lunch in Segovia, head 11km (7 miles) southeast to view
the Palacio Real de La Granja, the summer
palace of the Bourbon kings. Return to Segovia and take the
train back to Madrid.
Day
5: Side Trip to El Escorial
Vying
with Toledo as the most popular day trip from Madrid, the
half monastery/half royal mausoleum of San Lorenzo
de El Escorial is reached from Madrid's Atocha station
in about an hour. Felipe II constructed this mammoth complex
for "God and myself," with its splendid library, palaces,
and some of the world's greatest art.
You
can spend a full day here, breaking only for lunch, as you
wander the art galleries and state apartments, including the
throne room.
If
you have time, make a side trip to El Valle de los
Caídos (Valley of the Fallen),
a moving and evocative monument dedicated to the caídos
or "fallen" who died in the Spanish Civil War in the late
1930s. Return to Madrid in the evening.
Day
6: South to Córdoba
Leave
Madrid early in the morning, taking the 419km (260-mile) train
ride (AVE or TALGO) to Córdoba in the south, reached
in 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Córdoba was once the capital of
the Islamic nation in the West. Take 2 hours to visit its
Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba, the
greatest Islamic masterpiece remaining in the Western world.
Its stunning labyrinth of columns and red-and-white striped
arches alone is worth the visit. With remaining time you can
visit Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos,
a stellar example of military architecture where Ferdinand
and Isabella once governed.
After
lunch, take one of the frequent trains running between Córdoba
and Seville. The fastest train, the AVE, takes only 45 minutes
to reach Seville, where you can spend the night.
Day 7: Seville,
Capital of Andalusia
For a more extensive
tour of Andalusia, refer to "Andalusia in 1 Week" . The next
morning, get set to experience the glories of Seville. We
like to acclimate ourselves by wandering the narrow streets
of Barrio de Santa Cruz, the most evocative
district, with its medieval streets, pocket-sized plazas,
and flower-filled wrought-iron balconies or tiled courtyards.
After
that, head for the Catedral de Sevilla and
Giralda Tower. The cathedral is the largest
Gothic building in the world and the third largest church
in Europe. After spending 1 1/2 hours here, climb La
Giralda, an adjacent Moorish tower erected by Islamic
architects in the 12th century.
After
lunch, head for the Alcázar, the other
great architectural monument of Seville, which lies north
of the cathedral. This is the oldest royal residence in Europe
still in use, dating from the 14th century. Allow 1 1/2 hours
for a hurried visit. With time remaining, visit Museo
Provincial de Bellas Artes de Sevilla, a converted
convent housing some of Andalusia's greatest artwork, including
masterpieces by El Greco and Murillo. A standard visit takes
1 1/2 hours.
As
the afternoon fades, go for a stroll through Parque
María Luisa, which runs south along the Guandalquivir
River. In summer you can rent a boat and go for a refreshing
sail. After dinner in the old town, head for a flamenco show
if you still have energy.
The
next morning you can take a fast train back to Madrid for
your flight home, saving the further wonders of Andalusia
for another day.
SPAIN
FAMILY TRAVEL: A BASIC ITINERARY THAT CAN BE CUSTOMIZED JUST
FOR YOU!
Spain offers many
attractions that kids will enjoy. Perhaps your main concern
about bringing children along is pacing yourself with museum
time. After all, would you really want to go to Madrid and
miss the Prado? We suggest that you explore Madrid for 2 days
with the brood in tow, then spend a day wandering through
the old city of Toledo, which kids may think was created by
Disney. After that, fly from Madrid to Barcelona for 2 days
in a city filled with amusements for kids. Finally, fly from
Barcelona to Seville for your final 2 days in Andalusia. In
Seville, you can link up with either a flight or a fast train
back to Madrid.
Days
1 & 2: Madrid
Arrive
early in Madrid to get a running start. Museo del
Prado opens at 9am, but you can get an early jump
on sightseeing by heading for the adjoining Parque
de Retiro (Metro: Retiro). With its fountains and
statues, plus a large lake, this is a virtual amusement park
for kids. Although your child may not be a museum buff, there
are many works in the Prado that will sometimes fascinate
kids long after their parents' attention has strayed -- take
The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch as an example.
After 2 hours spent traipsing through the Prado, head for
Parque de Atracciones in the Casa de Campo
for Disney-like fun, including a carousel, pony rides, and
even an adventure into "outer space." There are places for
lunch here. In the afternoon, take in the Zoo Aquarium
de la Casa de Campo, with its tropical auditorium
and some 3,000 animals on parade. Finally, a thrilling ride
on the Teleférico is a fit ending
for a busy day.
For
Day 2 in Madrid, take your brood to Palacio
Real (Royal Palace), with its 2,000
rooms. Your kids may have never seen a royal palace before,
and this one is of particular interest, with its changing-of-the-guard
ceremony, its gardens, and its collection of weaponry and
armor. Allow 2 hours for a visit. If you arrived by 9 or 9:30am,
you'll still have time to see Museo de Cera de Madrid,
the wax museum. You can easily spend an hour here and may
have to drag your kids away for lunch.
For
your midday meal, head for one of the restaurants at Plaza
Mayor or on one of the side streets branching from
this landmark square. This is the heart of Old Madrid, and
you can easily spend 2 or 3 hours wandering its ancient streets.
Sobrino de Botín is our favorite place
to dine in the area. It was also beloved by Ernest Hemingway,
who featured it in the final pages of his novel, The Sun
Also Rises.
To
cap your experience, head for Warner Brothers Movie
World (tel. 91-821-12-34 ;
www.warnerbrospark.com), a Hollywood theme park. It's not
very Spanish but is fun for all ages. You'll find it 22km
(14 miles) outside Madrid on A-4 in San Martín de la
Vega. You can reach it by bus no. 416, which leaves from Madrid's
Estación Sur de Autobuses. Movie World charges 32€
($42) for ages 12 to 59; 24€ ($31) for ages 5 to 11 or
60 and over. Children under 5 are admitted free. There are
all sorts of restaurants here (the best pizza is at Valentino's),
plus a vast array of amusements ranging from a Tom & Jerry
roller-coaster ride to a Río Bravo La Aventura.
Day
3: Day Trip to Toledo
Departing
from Madrid's Charmartín station (trip time: 1 1/2
hr.), a RENFE train heads south to the monumental city of
Toledo, ancient capital of Spain. A tour of Toledo is like
taking your kid into a living-history book.
Head
first for the Catedral de Toledo, one of
the world's greatest Gothic structures and a jaw-dropping
piece of architecture that will enthrall even the children.
After
a visit, wander around the historic old town, with its narrow,
twisting streets. It's a maze that's fun to get lost in. Eventually
you reach Plaza Zocodover, the heart of the
old town.
To
avoid claustrophobia after all those labyrinthine streets,
walk out of the ghetto through the San Martín sector
and over to Puente San Martín, a bridge dating from
1203. As you and your brood cross the bridge, take a look
back at Toledo rising on a hill before you, evoking an El
Greco painting.
Now
head back into the maze of Toledo for a final assault on the
old city, famous for its bakeries selling marzipan, a delicacy
exported all over the world. Our favorite stop, Pastelerías
Santo Tomé, Calle Santo Tomé 5 (tel. 92-522-37-63 ),
was founded in 1856. Buy your child -- and yourself -- some
of this sweet almond paste, but only if you've skipped dessert
at lunch.
In
the afternoon, visit Casa y Museo de El Greco,
which should last 30 minutes. Then go on a walking tour of
the military fortress, the Alcázar,
inspecting all the military weaponry. Allow a final hour for
this tour before taking one of the frequent trains back to
Madrid.
Days 4 &
5: Barcelona, Capital of Catalonia
On
Day 4, transfer to Barcelona in the east,
either by train or plane. If you arrive early, you can take
a 2-hour stroll through the history-rich Barri Gòtic
or Gothic Quarter. Children love to wander through this maze
of narrow, cobbled streets, some dark and spooky like those
in a horror movie. Drop in to visit the Catedral de
Barcelona. Take your kids on the elevator leading
to the roof for one of the most panoramic views of the old
city. If it's noon on a Sunday, the whole family can delight
in the sardana, the most typical of Catalonian folk
dances, performed in front of the church.
Southeast
of the Barri Gòtic lies the second most colorful district
of Barcelona, La Ribera, home to Museu Picasso.
Allow at least an hour for a visit and don't worry about boring
the kids. Children always seem fascinated by the works of
this controversial artist, even when they exclaim, "Mom, I
can paint better than that."
At
one of the delis in La Ribera, secure the makings of a picnic
lunch and head directly southeast to Parc de la Ciutadella.
Here the whole family can enjoy the lakes, promenades, flower
gardens, and wacky Cascada fountains. The highlight is Parc
Zoològic, the top zoo in Spain, spread over
13 hectares (32 acres), with some 7,500 animals, many of which
are endangered.
After
leaving the park, head west along the port of Barcelona, where
you'll find the liveliest and most beautiful walk along Moll
de la Fusta. This leads to the Plaça Portal
de la Pau at the foot of Las Ramblas (the main street of Barcelona).
At the Mirador de Colón, a monument
to Columbus, take the elevator to the top for the most panoramic
view of Barcelona's harbor.
Next,
head north along Las Ramblas. This pedestrian-only
strip extends north to Plaça Catalunya. A stroll along
this bustling avenue with its flower vendors is the highlight
of a visit to Barcelona. Kids scream in delight as a man in
an ostrich suit jumps out to frighten them. You can pay a
visit to the Museu de Cera or wax museum,
Las Ramblas 4 (tel. 93-317-26-49 ),
with some 300 wax figures ranging from Chewbacca from Star
Wars to historical personages. It is open July to September
daily 10am to 8pm; October to June Monday to Friday 10am to
2:30pm and 4 to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am to 2:30pm and
4:30 to 9pm. Admission is 6.70€ ($8.70), 3.80€ ($4.95)
for ages 5 to 11 and seniors.
To
cap a very busy day, visit the mountain park of Montjuïc,
with its fountains, outdoor restaurants, gardens, and amusements,
including an illuminated fountain display. Kids enjoy wandering
through the 1929 Poble Espanyol, a re-created
Spanish village. There are plenty of places to dine -- many
quite affordable -- in this sprawling park south of Barcelona.
On
Day 5, visit La Sagrada Família,
the uncompleted masterpiece of the incomparable Gaudí.
Take your brood up 400 steep stone steps to the towers and
upper galleries (or else go up in the elevator) for a majestic
view.
Still
in a Gaudí frame of mind, head northwest to Parc
Güell, which has been likened to a surrealist
Disneyland. Children take delight in the architecture, including
two Hansel and Gretel-style gatehouses on Carrer d'Olot. Pathways
split through the park, which still has much woodland ideal
for a picnic.
After
lunch, pay a visit to L'Aquarium de Barcelona,
the largest aquarium in Europe, with 21 glass tanks, each
depicting a different marine habitat. Take your kids through
the 75m (246-ft.) glass tunnel filled with sharks, stingrays,
and other denizens of the deep.
Cap
the day by heading for the Parc d'Atraccions,
a vast fun fair. The park atop Tibidabo mountain is reached
by funicular. First opened in 1908, the park has since modernized
the rides. Automated toys are just some of the amusements
at the on-site Museu d'Automates.
Days
6 & 7: Seville, Capital of Andalusia
To
save precious time, we recommend that you fly from Barcelona
to Seville on Iberia. A train would take 11 to 12 hours to
reach Seville.
After
checking into a hotel for 2 nights, head for the Alcázar
for a 2-hour visit. This is one of the oldest royal residences
in Europe. Kids delight in its construction and layout, which
range from a Dolls' patio to Moorish gardens with lush terraces
and fountains.
Emerge
in time for lunch in the Barrio de Santa Cruz,
the former Jewish ghetto from the Middle Ages. The most colorful
place for a walk in Seville, it is filled with tiny squares,
whitewashed houses, and flower-filled patios as you explore
a maze of narrow alleyways. There are many taverns in the
area serving lunch. The center of the old ghetto is Plaza
de Santa Cruz. South of the square are the Murillo
Gardens, where you can go for a stroll after eating.
Before
the afternoon fades, head for Catedral de Sevilla,
the largest Gothic building in the world and the third-largest
church in Europe. Allow an hour for the cathedral, followed
by a climb up La Giralda, the ancient Moorish
tower adjacent to the cathedral.
For
Day 7, your final look at Seville, head for
Parque María Luisa in the morning.
Pavilions constructed for the Spanish American Exhibition
of 1929 still stand here. You can spend at least 2 pleasure-filled
hours in the park, going on boat rides along the Guadalquivir
River and walking along flower-bordered paths. If you can
afford it, treat your brood to a horse-and-buggy ride.
Afterwards,
head for the landmark square, Plaza de América,
where you can stroll through rose gardens past water ponds
and splashing fountains. Take time out to visit the Museo
de Artes y Costumbres Populares, a kid-pleaser with
all sorts of weaponry, folklore costumes, horse saddles, and
musical instruments.
For
lunch, head for Bar Giralda, Mateos Gago
1, Barrio de Santa Cruz (tel. 95-422-74-35 ),
a tavern converted from an old Muslim bathhouse across from
Giralda Tower. Try to get an outdoor seat on the terrace,
with its panoramic view of the cathedral. Since 1934 it's
been serving that kiddie favorite: patatas a la importancia
(fried potatoes stuffed with ham and cheese). Grownups like
them, too.
After
lunch, take a bus to Itálica, 9km
(5 1/2 miles) northwest of Seville. These ruins represent
what was once a Roman city founded in 206 B.C. The infamous
emperors, Trajan and Hardian, were both born here. The chief
ruin is an elliptically shaped amphitheater that once held
25,000 spectators. Spend at least 1 1/2 hours wandering through
this city from yesterday.
Return
to Seville in time for a summer night's visit to La
Cartuja (open until midnight). Now converted into
Isla Mágica (Magic Island), it was
the site of the 1992 World Expo. Turned into a theme park,
it offers rides and shows such as El Dorado
or Amazon, Gateway to the Americas. Its motion-picture
theater
Barcelona
is Spain's gateway to European culture. In so far as culture
means innovative architecture and modern art, prized
pedestrian-friendly boulevards and earlier hours, such thinking
is right on the money. It was in Barcelona in the 1890s that Picasso
found the artistic vanguard that propelled him to Paris and
world renown. And this is where Gaudí spun Art Nouveau
into his own quirky architectural idiom. Today the term avant-garde
still applies: to Barcelona's fusion cuisine, design-accented
boutique hotels, fun-loving fashion houses and even a delicious
assortment of innovative chocolatiers, all of whom cut their
teeth in the Catalan capital before taking on the rest of
Spain.
Costa
Brava Guide - Coast in Catalonia
.....
between Cantallops and Llançà — two names
that were barely dots on our map of Catalonia in northeastern
Spain — the lush mountain greenery turned quickly to
farmland rolling out for miles around us and filled with sunflowers
and bales of hay. We were traveling from the interior mountains
of this Spanish autonomous region to the Mediterranean. Again
and again, rising up in the near distance, came fantastic,
if dusty, terra-cotta-colored medieval hamlets and equally
ancient churches and farmhouses. On the streets everywhere
the lingua franca was Catalan, not Spanish, and amid all the
tourists that descend from France and elsewhere, a local pride
seemed to pervade the scene, against a backdrop that fell
away suddenly, breathtakingly, into the sea.
In Llançà we stopped at Platja Grifeu, one of
the village’s perfect beaches, with clear tropical-looking
water to swim in. At the beachside restaurant, I ordered a
tortilla española, the ubiquitous potato omelet of
Spain. It was, improbably, the best tortilla I had ever tasted.
I savored it, facing the sea and the local families sunning
themselves, in this tiny village about 10 miles from the French-Spanish
border on a road that looked like nothing more than a scribble
on the map.
By
some small miracle — and preservation efforts that have
helped to control development in Catalonia — the Costa
Brava has maintained an authenticity and a refreshing resistance
to change that keeps this stretch of the Mediterranean radically
different from the southern coasts of Spain. Fishing villages
still feel like fishing villages, medieval mountain towns
are still hushed at siesta, and artists still paint on the
streets of Cadaqués. Tourists can mingle with residents,
in the high season when a mini-United Nations cacophony of
conversation fills the streets, and in the late spring and
early fall, when visitors are fewer and more local.
Hoping to avoid the typical overcrowded, overdeveloped and
sometimes hyper glitzy European beach scene, my partner, Ian,
and I drove from village to village in Costa Brava last summer,
searching for authentic spots, medieval towns and the water
famous for its lustrous aquamarine hue. It was an opportunity
for immersion in Catalan language, culture and art. (Catalonia
is one of 17 autonomous regions in Spain, but the language
is spoken by about 10 million people on the Mediterranean
and dominates the Costa Brava.) I took along George Orwell’s
“Homage to Catalonia” and read it from luxurious
beach to luxurious beach feeling, somewhat guiltily, quite
the opposite of a Marxist.
Spanish got us everywhere, but the tourists we encountered
spoke a language soup of Catalan, French, Spanish, Italian,
Dutch. This European mélange seemed buoyed by a collective
joy in the picturesque — from the exquisite Mediterranean
coves around the medieval village of Begur, to the ancient
ruins in St. Martí d’Empúries, to the
Greek-style white-washed houses of Cadaqués. Tourists
and natives alike also wander the streets of inland and seaside
villages with lyrical names (Pals, Peratallada, Peralada and
Calella de Palafrugell) and sleep in tiny hotels run by proprietors
who want to know your name.
About an hour and 40 minutes from the Barcelona airport, Begur,
built on a hill, is a small maze of lanes dotted with excellent
fish restaurants, ancient towers and cozy bars, all scattered
beneath a dominating fortress where women and children once
ran for safety from 17th-century pirates. Within a 10-minute
drive, there are eight official beaches (and many more unmarked
coves), almost all of which are linked by a mix of paved and
unpaved walking routes, leading to shorelines of rock, pebbles,
smooth brown sand, and even volcanic black, almost Hawaii-like,
sand.
Each of our three mornings in Begur, we switched from cove
to cove, leaving the beach at the height of the day to check
out nearby villages.
In tiny, touristy Pals we met Dalwa Donofre, a Mozambique-born,
Lisbon-raised artist selling massive collages with themes
that connected back to the sea. Ms. Donofre’s work was
a clear notch above that sold in most of the kitschy shops
that lined the sun-dappled streets. In Peratallada, a well-preserved
central square filled with cafes made the village feel more
alive than some sleepier neighboring towns. But as lovely
as the light was in the villages, the siren-call of the shoreline
always made us anxious to get back to the sea.
“I like September best,” explained Oscar Górriz,
the proprietor of Sa Rascassa, a five-room pension and restaurant
on a minuscule cove called Aiguafreda — reachable by
car, of course, but also by foot along a seaside path from
the tiny white-washed village called Sa Tuna. “The hotel
is booked solid all summer, and, come fall, the pace is slower,
the tourists are more relaxed; we’re more relaxed.”
Outside, in Mr. Górriz’s courtyard, two French
tourists lounged under broad white umbrellas, swishing their
feet on the loose pebble floor of the terrace. We ordered
the fresh local fish — dorade — simple, grilled
and served with sautéed garlic and a slice of lemon.
A second dish of fresh, home-made tagliatelle pasta was tossed
with vine-ripened cherry tomatoes and homemade ricotta. Cracked
olives arrived on the table first, large and juicy, hailing
from somewhere farther down the Catalan coast, along with
a glass of crisp, cold Catalan white wine, the glass sweating
in my hand.
Mr. Górriz told us how happy he was that Catalonia
had largely managed to prevent the gargantuan building schemes
that have blighted the southern coasts of Spain — “Concrete
from Valencia to Malaga,” he said, shaking his head
at the sprawling hotels and housing blocks that have gone
up on the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol.
Back in Begur we ran into Ophelie Rouira on the footpath between
the coves that marked the black sand beach of Fonda and the
larger harbor of Aiguablava where a clutch of fishing families
still live year-round. Ophelie invited us to her tiny one-room
fishing house. Flowers spilled over rooftops, in riotous shades
of violet; a brilliant blue wall framed the outside of the
fisherwoman’s house across the narrow cobbled lane.
Her neighbor stepped outside to say hello before sitting down
to lunch; the family has been fishing and selling its wares
locally since as far back as anyone could remember.
Like Mr. Górriz, Ms. Rouira said that she would just
as well skip the high season. “I love June, September,
October — I swim until Nov. 1,” she said, pulling
out an early 20th-century photograph of the beach coves where
her house is nestled and pointing out just how little has
been added to the landscape in the last 100 years.
It seemed like it would be impossible to top friendly Begur;
but we knew there was more to explore. We drove up the coast,
past the Greek ruins at St. Marti d’Empúries
and on past Roses where El Bulli, the restaurant of Spain’s
star chef Ferran Adrià, was sold out through the end
of the year. Turning off the highway from Roses we drove into
the Cap de Creus nature preserve, a moonscape of scrub brush
and hardy mountain trees clinging to a mountain striped with
hiking trails. The highway twists and turns, clinging to the
hillside until, finally, gleaming Cadaqués comes into
view.
Cadaqués is best known for art. Salvador Dalí,
most famously, spent part of his childhood in the village,
and in nearby Port Lligat (about 30 minutes by foot from downtown)
tourists wait hours to peer inside the home he shared later
in life with his wife, Gala. The list of artists’ ghosts
haunting this small town is a who’s who of 20th-century
painters: Pablo Picasso spent time here, as did Max Ernst,
Matisse and Man Ray. The footprints of their work are literally
everywhere (in 2004 the town put up small markers at locations
that have appeared in a work of Dalí’s). But
as interesting as it is to walk in their footsteps, it is
all the more engaging to see the living artists still working,
creating and exhibiting there.
One sunny afternoon, as half the world enjoyed the beach and
the other half imbibed the red-wine spritzer known as tinto
de verano on various terraces across town, 42-year-old Pere
Bellès discussed his own joint exhibit “Dels
Fragments al Conjunt” (Fragments Together) at the Galeria
Marges-U, a space run by the artists Gustavo Carbó
Berthold and his wife, Nobuko Kihira.
Mr. Bellès is wiry and bronzed, with curly brown hair
streaked by the sun and paint from his studio. His hands and
clothes were similarly dotted with white. On the walls were
Mr. Bellès paintings and lithographs, one a set of
cuneiform-like black squares imprinted on ivory paper —
an alphabet, he explained, based on his impressions of ancient
Mesopotamian art. Large canvases were perfectly sliced into
2-by-4 inch blocks of color. On the floor, sculptures from
the artist Albert Udaeta, made of iron, could be pulled apart
and put back together like a grownup’s version of children’s
building blocks. “It’s like how the right wine
marries with what you eat,” explained Mr. Carbó,
on why he exhibited Mr. Bellès’s work with that
of Mr. Udaeta.
Mr. Bellès, who is Catalan, lives in Cadaqués
all year long. “It’s a magnificent space for creative
people,” he said. “You have the mountains and
the sea; you have tranquillity. But if you want to go out,
you can. I like the march, the rhythm of the year. In summer
there are many tourists and friends who come to town —
we can eat, chat.” It’s also a means for an international
community to see his work — exposure that small-town
artists would otherwise not have. “But in autumn, when
it is quieter, the light is best for working, and in the winter
the roiling sea is fantastic.”
Just down the hill from Galeria Marges-U, 35-year-old Gemma
Ridameya runs a very different type of gallery, filled with
wearable creations hewn from silver and rock. Ms. Ridameya
has lived in Cadaqués for nine years. In the summer
she works a seven-day week in her store, and in the winter
she dances (contact improvisation) and creates her next collection.
Sea-smoothed beach pebbles are embedded in silver for rings
and necklaces; ropes of silver are wound around and around
in curlicues that become rings and earrings; volcanic rock
is strung from silver wire. The shop is never empty. She too
meanders between languages — Catalan, Spanish, English.
Locals come in and ask her to create wedding bands or to set
stones into wearable art; tourists purchase rings, earrings,
necklaces. In Ms. Ridameya’s own ears, the earrings
were tarnished from dips in the sea.
Ian and I spent days winding around the old city’s narrow
corners, down the uneven cobblestone alleyways into one artist
atelier after another. One afternoon we stumbled upon a shop
run by the Peruvian born-Rocio Ruiz Mendizabal, who sells
silks and wool shawls and other clothing, as well as the ceramics
of other Barcelona-based artists. Ms. Ruiz, who lives in Germany
during the winter, rents out a room above the store to tourists,
all white-washed walls and 18th-century sloping ceilings.
Two nights later we ran into her on our way to dinner. She
invited us up to her rooftop.
The view was bewitching: Cadaqués glowed with lights
below us, the stars meeting the sea; boats looked like bathtub
toys bobbling far away, but sound traveling across the water
collapsed the distance between us. We talked for a long time,
sipping cava and nibbling on snacks that miraculously appeared
from the Mediterranean restaurant downstairs.
“The landscape of Cadaqués has always been the
same,” Elsa Gummà told us our first morning there.
Ms. Gummà’s family is practically Cadaqués
royalty — her grandfather invented Servetinal, a stomach-pain
medication, in the early 20th century, and with its success
bought the small hill on the far side of the bay that, in
the 1960s, became Hotel Rocamar, the largest of Cadaqués’s
hotels. Ms. Gummà was sitting behind us at breakfast,
like any other hotel guest, gently nudging her small sons
to finish their food. She was surfer-girl tan, small and athletic,
with blond streaks in her brown curly hair. Trained as a journalist,
she lives year-round outside Barcelona. She said she came
to Cadaqués every summer as a child.
“Now I come back every year for the air,” she
said. “It’s too bad you couldn’t meet my
grandfather. When he was first here, there was nothing here.
Just painters and the rocks.”
Sandy and salty from the sea, we reluctantly left Cadaqués
and drove north on the narrow N-260, keeping bathing-suits
at the ready, and jumping out of the car every chance we could
to swim in ever-less-populated coves as we neared the French
border. We marveled at the crazy, breathtaking zigzagging
road that pulled us through the mountains and hugged the coast
as we neared Port Bou, the last town in Spain.
Spain
is Don Quixote country—visitors passing through La Mancha
between Granada and Madrid may indeed find, as they gaze at
the row of windmills near the town of Consuegra, that the
windmills do resemble giants. Related Destination Guides
Visitors
to Spain are likely to have their idealized fantasies of the
country become realities. Almost all of Spain's villages and
towns host fiestas, which visitors can easily locate and join
spontaneously.
Walks through cities in Spain may take travelers by medieval
Arab fortresses or to bars for wine and tapas. Or visitors
might discover a guitarist practicing in a park.
Young lovers can be seen embracing in Spain's ancient streets,
and visitors can see flamenco dancers moving with a rehearsed
yet passionate fury. Spain is pleasingly down-to-earth yet
fascinatingly theatrical all at once.
Spain is Europe's second most mountainous country (only Switzerland
has a higher terrain), and the climate varies dramatically
according to altitude as well as latitude. In the province
of Granada, it is possible to ski in the mountains and lounge
on a beach, both in the same day. True alpine conditions prevail
in many of Spain's mountains, from the Pyrenees along the
border with France to the Sierra Nevada above Granada in the
south, and the central two-fifths of the country is primarily
high plains crossed by mountain ranges and rivers. Besides
the mainland peninsula, Spanish possessions include the Mediterranean
Balearic Islands, the Canary Archipelago (in the Atlantic
off the coast of Africa) and the Moroccan coastal enclaves
of Ceuta and Melilla.
Mainland Spain can be divided into three climatic zones: the
Oceanic in the north (the rainiest and greenest part along
the Bay of Biscay); the Mediterranean Zone (sunny and semiarid);
and central Spain (hot in summer, cold in winter, relatively
dry). Spain is also divided into distinctive, politically
autonomous regions, each with its own culture and history,
and several with their own languages (including Catalonia,
Galicia and the Basque region). Hot, arid Andalusia, to the
south, is the home of flamenco, bullfighting and spectacular
Moorish architecture
Spain's history was shaped by many forces—the Celts,
Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans and Germanic tribes (Visigoths,
Vandals) all had a strong hand in influencing the people of
the Iberian Peninsula, of which Spain is a part. Perhaps the
greatest artistic and intellectual ferment in Spain, though,
was under the Islamic conquerors, the Moors (Arabs and Berbers),
who ruled parts of the peninsula from 711 to 1492. This period
of history in al-Andalus was characterized by a diffusion
of culture among Jews, Christians and Muslims, and Europe,
North Africa and the Middle East. Periods of peace and cooperation
were interspersed with spells of fierce fighting. Universities,
unique architecture and an age of religious toleration were
all fostered by many of the Islamic rulers, most notably those
of the Caliphate of Cordoba in the late 10th and early 11th
centuries. After a protracted struggle with Christian forces,
the Moors were finally defeated in 1492. That same year, all
Jews were expelled from Spain, and Columbus crossed the Atlantic
under the Spanish flag to reveal the New World to Europe.
The next century saw the apogee of Spain's power and influence
throughout the world: Theirs was the first worldwide empire.
In addition to their adventures far afield, Spanish kings
controlled all or parts of what are now Portugal, the Netherlands,
Italy and France. By the early 1600s, most Muslims had been
forced to convert or were expelled from the peninsula. Imperial
ambitions brought on imperial excess, however, and adventurism
finally sapped the strength of Spain. The country went into
a decline that saw it lose nearly all of its colonial possessions
by the late 1800s.
In the early part of the 20th century, Spain was in turmoil
as its traditional culture and economy clashed w
ith modern political and social forces. The breaking point
was reached in 1936 with the first shots of the horrific Spanish
Civil War. Fascist dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, with the
help of Hitler and Mussolini, emerged victorious from the
civil war and ruled until his death in 1975. He left Spain
in the care of King Juan Carlos I, who helped transform Spain
into a modern democracy. With its new freedoms, the country
enjoyed a cultural renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s, and
joined the European Union in 1986. The country held the world's
attention in 1992 as host of the Summer Olympics (in Barcelona)
and Expo '92 (in Seville). In the new millennium, Spain continues
to integrate itself into the EU.
Spain's main attractions are historical sites, lively cities,
some of the finest art in the world, castles, cathedrals,
the Alhambra, shopping, the White Villages, cultural events,
beaches, museums, caves, hiking, watersports and great food.
Anyone who likes to travel will enjoy Spain. From its art
museums and its tapas bars to its beaches, Spain's appeal
is so broad that it's truly a country with something for everyon
Menorca's port city of Mahon was the birthplace of mayonnaise.
At 2,133 ft/650 m, Madrid is the highest capital city in Europe.
It became the capital in 1561 when Philip II moved his court
from Toledo to be closer to his beloved palace, El Escorial.
Point Tarifa is the southernmost spot in Europe. It is considered
the best spot in Europe for windsurfing and kitesurfing.
Morocco is only 8 mi/13 km from Spain's southern shore across
the Strait of Gibraltar. There are ferries and excursions
from Algeciras and Tarifa.
Spain has the second-highest number of UNESCO World Heritage
Sites, after Italy.
The Torre de Hercules in La Coruna on the Galician coast is
claimed as the oldest lighthouse in the world, dating to 20
BC.
Christopher Columbus brought the first cocoa beans to Spain
on his return from his last voyage to the Caribbean in 1502.
The Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes drank a bitter chocolate
drink with Aztecs in 1519. He added cane sugar and spices
to make it more palatable. Back home, the Spanish served it
piping hot and created the world's first hot chocolate.
Top 
Spanish Wine and Food
Pairings 101
Pairing
foods with wines is very much like discovering wonderful new
Spanish Mediterranean recipes. Just as the right combination
of ingredients complements and highlights each other to create
a gourmet dish, pairing the right wine with a meal in Spain
creates a combination that celebrates and enhances the experience
of both Spanish food and wine.
And,
just as a recipe doesn’t have to be complex to be mouth-wateringly
good, you don’t have to be a wine connoisseur or gourmet
cook to enjoy the benefits of the right wine pairing.
A basic
understanding of the food, the wine and how the components
and flavors in each interact can make it easy to find a successful
pairing on a daily basis, and can greatly increase the chances
of finding an exciting synergy between wine and food.
Start
with the Wine
When you’re first trying your
hand at pairing, we recommend starting with a wine and then
selecting and creating the food around it. The simple reason
for this is that it’s much easier to tweak a food recipe
to make it more compatible with the wine, than it is to start
blending your own wines.
Pick
a wine you know a love already. This way, you’ll have
a sense of its flavors already, which you can use as a starting
point to experiment with food pairings. Plus, if the recipe
doesn’t work, at the very least you’ll be able
to enjoy a nice bottle of wine!
Be ‘Prepared’
With The Food
Forget the white wine with white meat
and red with red meats. The best place to begin your food
selection is with an understanding of how the food is being
prepared – the components and flavors in the dish that
are integral to pairing it with wine. This is why food and
wine pairing in restaurants can be challenging. You think
that everything will be fine and then discover that the dish
has a different flavor (Why did the chef add olives, they
didn’t mention them on the menu?), texture (Wow, I didn’t
know that the sea scallops and bay scallops are so different!)
or cooking method (I expected the chicken to be grilled, but
it is poached.).
The three
key points
To keep in mind when selecting the food
are
1. The food item being paired;
2. The cooking method of that item; and
3. The additional flavors or sauces
The fundamental
rule is to begin by pairing delicate wines with delicate flavors,
medium-bodied wines with medium-weight or intensity flavors,
and strongly flavored foods with wines that will stand up
to their pungency. To help keep things simple as you get started,
we’ve put together the following guide. Like anything,
these are not absolute rules, but good guidelines to follow
to help create the most successful and interesting pairings.
Mourvedre
( Monastrell in Spain)
FLAVORS
Crisp
- Tangy
Earthy
- Hearty
Intense
- Spicy
WINE
TYPE
Albariño
Verdejo
Viura
Riesling
Sauvignon Blanc
Palomino
Tempranillo
joven
Pinot Noir
Tinto del Toro
Cariñena
Tempranillo
reserva
Syrah
Monastrell-Mourvedre
Garnacha
Graciano
FOODS
Salads/Vegetables
Fish
Poultry, Game
Birds, Pork, Veal
Beef, Offal
SAUCES
Lemon based
Butter; Cream
Meat
Wine Demiglace
PREPARATION
Poached/Steamed
Sautéed
Baked Roasted
Grilled Braised
To
make the wine even more compatible you can use the sauce to
try to imitate flavors in the wine. For instance, mushrooms
work well with Pinot Noir, tomatoes with Sangiovese, herbs
and mint with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, and dark berries
with Shiraz.
As we
noted, it’s not critical that you memorize this guide
and follow it to the letter. The important point is to use
this to help learn how the different types of flavors pair
with different wines. This understanding of food components
and wine flavors is actually much more helpful that simply
matching a food to a wine and the basic chicken breast is
a great example of why.
Imagine
a chicken breast poached (i.e. cooked in water) with a light
lemon herb sauce. This might be a dish that could be friendly
with light to medium bodied white wines like Pinot Gris and
Sauvignon Blanc. Now add a cream sauce and you can move up
in body to a fuller bodied wine, maybe a Chardonnay. Or try
it roasted and suddenly the flavors are such that it can marry
with light to medium bodied reds, like Pinot Noir or Sangiovese.
Grill it and it becomes great with fuller bodied reds, even
Zinfandel or Shiraz (Syrah).
On The Contrary
In addition to
marrying foods with complementary wines, many people like
to create a contrast between various components in the dish
and the wine in much the same way that you would balance sweet
dessert recipe with a tangy sauce. This is as simple as enjoying
a crisp acidic wine like a Sauvignon Blanc to cut through
a very buttery sauce, or possibly a more oaky Chardonnay with
a very tart or sweet dish.
The result
is different, but the approach remains the same – consider
the flavor of both the wind and food to create a specific
taste experience.
Dining Out
You can see why
our point about the difficulty of pairing a wine with a meal
can be rather tricky when you’re dining at a restaurant.
That’s why it can also be more fun. Sometimes those
surprises can open your palate to wonderful new experiences.
Of course,
don’t ever be shy about asking how a food is prepared
or requesting help from the sommelier. Be sure they explain
how the preparation of the food pairs nicely with the wine.
You’ll be more assured of enjoying your meal and will
learn some good lessons for your next adventure in your own
kitchen.
Cheese, Wine and Fruit
Any simple gathering
can become a tasting event with the classic combination of
wine, cheese, and fruit.
An Iberian Couple: Spanish
Wine and Cheese
By Jim Clarke
Like
sparkling wine kept under pressure and then released, Spanish
food and wine is suddenly exploding past the country's borders.
In addition to several big-name chefs, the wines and cheeses
of the country are becoming popular, and not just in Spanish
restaurants. Among cheeses, Manchego has spearheaded the
attack into American restaurants, and there are several
others trailing in its wake - with many more waiting to
be discovered, for that matter. Similarly Spanish wine isn't
limited to Rioja anymore; Priorat and Rias Baixas and Penedés
and many other quality wines with distinctive personalities
are being brought over by enthusiastic and informed importers.
As
with France's vinous and dairy products, Spanish wine and
cheese make great companions, so I set out to play matchmaker.
I was fortunate to visit Spain recently and try a number
of wines - inevitably accompanied by cheese - and decided
to supplement my education with some research here in New
York City. Murray's Cheese Shop in Greenwich Village generously
provided me with several great cheeses from their immense
selection, and I took them over to see my friends at Union
Square Wines to pull some bottles from their shelves that
seemed like promising partners.
I began
with a creamy mild cheese called Tetilla,
which brought back fond memories. The cheese comes from
Galicia, in the northwest of Spain above Portugal, and was
the first piece of food I put in my mouth when I visited
the region last December (The second was some wonderful
grilled octopus, a traditional Galician preparation; wonderful,
but it made an odd breakfast for me, still on East Coast
time). Tetilla is a soft, creamy, mild cow's milk cheese;
in Spain, these are less common than those made from sheep
or goat's milk, but Galicia's green hills make it the Spanish
leader in cow's milk production - cows being pickier eaters
than sheep or goats. The cheese's name, which means "nipple,"
comes from the fact that the cheese is molded into a shape
that is said resemble a breast. If so, they must have had
Madonna's get-up from the early nineties in mind; the shape
is on the cone-like, Hershey Kiss side.
Its
risque shape aside, this cheese followed a classic rule
of wine and cheese pairing: pair a cheese with a wine from
the same region. Galicia is home to the Rias Baixas
appellation which makes white wines from indigenous grapes:
Albariño primarily, but also Treixadura and Loureira;
these are the wines that brought me to visit Galicia. On
this occasion I tried the tetilla with the Nora
2002 Albariño, which shows an aromatic nose
of peach, apple, and melon with a minerally finish. Paired,
it passed its fruity qualities over to the cheese, lightening
it, and took on a more Chablis-like character itself. San
Simón is Tetilla's alter-ego, a smoked version
that's a bit meatier. It also works with Albariño,
but preferably something with a brioche edge that will blend
well with the smokiness like the Condes de Albarei
2002. If you like cheese croissants it's the match
for you.
Cabrales
has already made waves in the U.S. among lovers of blue
cheeses, but for a blue that's a little tamer (i.e. one
that non-blue fans might forgive you for serving) but still
creamy, piquant, and flavorful, try Valdeon.
It's also the only other cheese we tried that is made with
cow's milk, albeit usually mixed with goat's milk depending
on seasonal availability. Traditionally it is wrapped in
leaves and aged in caves for two or three months, where
it develops its blue veins.
Like
many blues, Valdeon calls for a sweet wine. Alvear's
2000 Pedro Ximenez Añada worked well, adding
a fullness and roundness to the cheese. In this case the
wine may be the real winner; the Pedro Ximenez can be a
bit too syrupy, and the cheese toned this down and allowed
me to concentrate on the figs, dates, and caramel of the
wine without being overwhelmed by its texture and mouthfeel.
A 2001 Altos de Luzon Jumilla from Finca
Luzon also profited from being paired with the
Valdeon. The wine's tannins cut through the fat in the cheese,
while the slate and other earthy notes emerged from the
wine, toning down the fruit.
However,
the Jumilla's best match was an Idiazabal,
made from sheep's milk in the Pyrenees. Traditionally this
cheese was smoked; my sample represented a growing trend
away from that treatment, allowing it's buttery and nutty
flavors to stand on their own. Together with the cheese,
the wine retained all its aromas of blackberry, plum, and
slate, and its tannins once more addressed the fat of the
cheese to clear the palate. The cheese seemed creamier and
smoother in the company of this wine, and they both share
an up-and-coming status. The Jumilla DO in Murcia, near
Alicante, allows the use of Garnacha, Tempranillo, and Mourvedre
(called Monastrell in Spain); it has long been an area of
great potential, and the winemakers here have begun applying
modern craft to creating more dynamic wines than they have
in the past.
The
seriously intense Monte Enebro is a cheese
that benefits from aging and mold without developing blue
veins. A coat of ash and mold forms on the outside of this
creamy, spreadable goat's milk cheese, and its tanginess
is buttressed by a walnutty base. A Cava like the Marques
de Gelida NV Brut brings forth a wonderful smokiness
from the cheese, whose nuttiness, in turn, brings out yeasty,
bready notes to accompany the sparkling wine's citrus and
green apple aromas. Both wine and cheese gain smoothness
from the pairing as well. If you've been overindulging in
sparkling wines and would like something still, try a sherry
like the Delgado Zuleta Manzanilla; there's
enough acidity in this wine to keep the cheese's tang in
control, and they both possess a complementary nutty element.
A goat's
milk cheese with a decidedly different style is Garrotxa,
from Catalonia. It's firm, with notes of chalk, wild herbs,
and brine as well as a touch of nuts to it. The 2002
Naia is also from Catalonia, in this case from
the Rueda DO. The primary grape here is
the indigenous Verdejo, and the Naia displays lots of floral
aromas which are typical to the grape, along with touches
of peach and melon. The herbal scents of the cheese together
with the wine's floral qualities bring to mind wind-blown
Spanish hills, and the texture and acidity of both partners
balance quite well.
Torta
de la Serena is a cheese I make a beeline for every
time I see it served. Seriously rich and creamy, this soft
cheese from Extremadura owes its distinctive, somewhat stinky
character to the Merino sheep of the region and the thistle
rennet used in making the cheese. Its bold style needs a
big red wine to stand up to it. I've enjoyed this cheese
on occasion with the 2001 Condado de Haza
from the Ribera del Duero, a wine made from 100% Tempranillo
grapes; it's dark berries, licorice, and chocolate wraps
around the cheese like some yet-to-be-invented bon-bon.
An earthier wine also does great things with this cheese;
the 2000 Blecua from the Somontano
DO is an international blend of Cabernet Sauvignon
and Merlot together with Spanish natives Garnacha and Tempranillo.
Earth, slate and forest floor aromas are layered with black
fruits and a clear balsam note from oak-aging; it smooths
the more aggressive aromas in the cheese and readies the
palate for another bite.
The
last successful pairing I tried brought together what may
be the two Spanish products most well-known in the U.S.:
Rioja and Manchego. 1994
was a special vintage in Rioja and prompted many winemakers
to lay down some of their wine according to the special
aging requirements to create a Gran Reserva. The Ramirez
de la Piscina 1994 Gran Reserva still shows all
the character of the tempranillo grape set among the aromas
of extended aging: red fruits like cherries and dried cranberries
floating over earth, smoke, and barnyard aromas. Meanwhile
Manchego is a rich sheep's milk cheese with a mild nutty
character and sometimes a pepperiness that increases with
aging. In this case my semi-aged Manchego brought new life
to the wine, obscuring the barnyard character and filling
out the fruitiness. There was just enough tannin left in
the wine to balance with the fat of the cheese, and the
smoke of the wine blended well with the cheese's nutty touch.
Manchego comes from La Mancha, the land of Don Quixote and
Sancho Panza; literature's classic pair meets its match
on the Spanish table with wine and cheese pairings that
ride together just as well.
My
thanks to Liz Thorpe at Murray's Cheese and Alexis Beltrami
at Union Square Wines for their help in preparing this article.
The Happy Couples: Spanish Wines
and Cheeses Together
Cheese:
Wines:
Tetilla
Nora 2002 Albariño,
Rias Baixas
San Simón
Condes de Albarei 2002
Albariño, Rias
Baixas
Valdeon
Alvear 2000 Pedro Ximenez
Añada
Finca Luzon 2001 Altos de Luzon, Jumilla
Idiazabal
Finca Luzon 2001 Altos
de Luzon, Jumilla
Monte Enebro
Marques de Gelida NV
Brut Cava
Delgado Zuleta Manzanilla
Garrotxa
Naia 2002, Rueda
Torta de la Serena
Condado de Haza 2001,
Ribera del Duero
Blecua 2000, Somontano
Manchego
Ramirez
de la Piscina 1994 Gran Reserva,
Rioja
SPANISH WHITES: Can You
Name One?
By Al Dereu
When
you consider Spanish wines, what usually comes to mind are
the reds from the Rioja and Ribera del Duero areas, the
sweet and dry sherries from Jerez (the word sherry itself
is a vulgarization of the word Jerez), and the sparkling
wine called cava from the Penedés area south of Barcelona.
Ernest Hemingway, no stranger to a mellowing beverage, mentioned
Spain’s excellent and inexpensive dry rosés
on and off in his works, but by and large rosés are
under the radar In the United States. Rarely does white
wine come to mind – and that’s a shame. Spain,
as the country with the world’s most total acreage
devoted to vineyards, is home to an array of white wines
ranging from the exotic, food-friendly albariño to
the more neutral, clean, crisp viura and verdejo to the
more familiar chardonnay and sauvignon blanc.
Albariño
Albariño,
Spain’s signature white wine, is named for a grape
grown in Galicia. It is to Spain what sauvignon blanc is
to New Zealand and pinot grigio is to Italy, even more so
in that almost nowhere else in the world is this grape grown.
Almost exclusively bottled as a varietal (that is, with
100 percent albariño and no other grapes blended
in), it is as unique as it is food-friendly. It unquestionably
ranks as one of the world’s finest, albeit underappreciated,
white wine varieties. It literally has no equal, although
if asked to name one I would suggest New Zealand’s
ripe yet racy sauvignon blanc. Or course albariño
does not show the same herbal/grassy aromas and flavors,
but in terms of being relatively light in body and displaying
forward fruit as well as assertive, palate-cleansing acidity,
New Zealand sauvignon blanc is probably albariño’s
closest stylistic cousin
These
qualities — light body, searing acidity, and intense
minerality — make you think of bottling an ocean breeze.
They allow albariño to pair brilliantly with a plate
of seafood, shellfish, or, more specifically, paella. Spain’s
take on a rice dish, paella is typically studded with scallops,
mussels, shrimp, chorizo, and/or chicken. It is finished
with sherry and traditionally served in enormous pans designed
to serve a dozen or even more at a time. Personally, I wouldn’t
dream of eating paella without some albariño on hand.
In my mind it certainly ranks as one of the greatest and
most natural of food-and-wine pairings around. Albariño
will also pair well with any seafood rich in mineral or
slate qualities (think oysters), though a lobster drenched
in butter would be better served alongside your favorite
chardonnay, be it Californian or French white Burgundy.
Albariño’s home is in Galicia, just north of
Portugal, and clearly it enjoys its dominating maritime
influence. Galicia is lush and verdant, the landscape more
reminiscent of Scotland or Ireland than the rest of the
Iberian Peninsula. Given the grape’s undeniable success
here, it’s hard to fathom why no one has tried to
grow it elsewhere. I can’t recall having tried an
albariño from any other country. While some experimentation
with oak barrel fermentation has yielded modest success,
it is the grape’s primary qualities that set it apart.
For the most part, I don’t see how barrel fermentation
(versus the normal stainless-steel tank) or any degree of
aging can improve upon something that is so unique and so
good as it is.
Albariño’s
Portuguese genetic cousin, alvarinho, is used to make vinho
verde. The latter cannot match the former’s exotic
nature and in general pales, not only in color, but also
in depth and intensity. Vinho verde on the whole is far
more neutral in flavor despite its genetic similarity and
geographic proximity to albariño.
There
is also less variation vintage-to-vintage in the overall
quality of albariños than there is with, for instance,
wines from Burgundy or Bordeaux in France, where the whims
of Mother Nature can wreak havoc on the grapes and resultant
wines. Another consequence of this is price fluctuations,
as demand for a “good vintage’s” wines
inflate its cost to the consumer. Albariño’s
prices remain consistent year to year. And its relative
obscurity in this country also helps keep down the price
tag. A few albariño producers to look for include
Martin Codax, Pazo de Señorans, Burgans, and Fillaboa.
Some friends and I recently enjoyed a bottle of this last
one with tapas at Café Iberico on the near north
side of Chicago.
Viura and Verdejo
Viura is the
most important white grape of the Rioja area in north-central
Spain. Rioja is an area far more renowned for its tempranillo-based
reds than its whites; some people even think the Spanish
word Rioja means red, but it is actually a contraction of
“Rio Oja,” a tributary to the Ebro River that
runs through the region. Viura makes a far more neutral
wine than the aforementioned albariño, lacking the
latter’s exotic aromas, flavors, and overall complexity.
It has its place, however; if you consider the scorchingly
high temperatures typical of the Iberian inland during the
summer months, you can readily appreciate its uses. A lighter-bodied,
lower-alcohol wine is much easier to drink in unbearable
heat – a big, buttery, 14 percent alcohol chardonnay
doesn’t quite quench the thirst as well.
I’ve
heard some suggest that the full potential of viura has
yet to be realized. While I’m not wholly convinced
of this, I’d be thrilled to someday learn that there
is more to this pleasant little white. Spain is still breaking
out of the isolation that gripped the country during the
long rule of Francisco Franco, who only passed away 30 years
ago. The modernization of the country’s winemaking,
investment in new equipment, and total commitment to cleanliness
are relatively recent phenomena. For literally centuries,
much of Spain “crafted” and drank an oxidized
white of little character. So it’s not far-fetched
to think there might be uncharted waters even for a grape
they’ve grown for hundreds of years.
There
has been some experimentation with oak barrel fermentation
with mixed results. The Rioja bodega (winery) Conde de Valdemar
offers a decent, well-made white, in addition to a stainless-steel
tank fermented one. The unoaked white is a great warm-weather
quaffer and pairs well with lighter (white) fish and perhaps
a simple herb accent – nothing too heavy. An oaky
one would seem more suited for scallops with garlic pan-fried
in butter.
Verdejo
is another indigenous Spanish grape not really cultivated
elsewhere. It is grown in Rueda, northwest of Madrid and
near the world-class red wine region of Ribera del Duero.
Verdejo reminds me most of sauvignon blanc. In fact, sauvignon
blanc is also grown in Rueda, and you can find varietal
bottlings of both grapes as well as blends of the two together.
Light in body and crisply refreshing (noticing a pattern
yet?), verdejo can be called upon to quench your summer
thirst and complement a salad or herb-seasoned fish or chicken
dish.
Even
more so than viura-based wines, you’ll rarely if ever
encounter much oak influence with Verdejo. One benefit of
this is the price – utilizing oak barrels for fermenting
or aging wine inherently increases the price of the finished
product. While viura and verdejo-based wines may not be
the best white wines you’ll ever have, the flip side
is that they won’t bleed your wallet dry either. Even
$8-15 a pop will get you a good, genuine example of these
wines, and that’s really not much to ask for something
distinct, food-friendly, clean and easy. Really good albariños
cost more along the lines of $13-20 a bottle, which is still
relatively inexpensive. A high-quality chardonnay, be it
from California or France, could easily cost twice that
and more.
Other Spanish Whites
Some other
Spanish whites that don’t fit into the above categories
warrant mentioning. The Huguet family, longtime makers of
the Spanish sparkling wine cava, make a “still”
(nonsparkling) white called can feixes. It is blended mostly
from grapes used for cava: xarello, parellada, and macabeo
(the regional clone of viura), with a splash of chardonnay.
Xarello has various “correct” spellings, so
if you see any word close to this, it’s probably the
same grape. This blend displays restrained flavors of lemon
and unabashed minerality; this would serve as a good intro
to Spanish whites for Pinot grigio fans. It’s available
in Chicago, where I live; and I recently found it being
poured at a small wine store in Leesburg, Virginia, when
I was there for a wedding. The friendly and knowledgeable
saleswoman and I agreed that it is definitely different,
consistently good, and begging for a plate of oysters or
shellfish.
Marqués
de Cáceres, a Rioja winery, makes a white rioja called
satinela. It is made mostly from late-harvest viura, with
some malvasia filling out the blend. It is fairly sweet,
hinting at apricots, white peaches, and even white flowers.
Unlike some dessert wines, though, this finishes with good
palate-cleansing acidity. The winery’s data sheet
calls this “a very original wine in Rioja” and
recommends having it with “foie gras, curry dishes,
[and] sweet and sour dishes,” but I tend to think
peach cobbler or poached pears. To offer both the forward
fruit flavors and a crisp finish is no small feat in winemaking,
especially considering its $10 price tag. In comparison,
the world’s most esteemed dessert wines can cost $40
to $100 for a half bottle and much, much more.
Marqués
de Alella, in the tiny area of Alella, makes a spritzy white
called clasico that is another pleasant pairing with seafood.
The area itself is near Barcelona and the Mediterranean
so this is far from surprising. It is made from the local
grape pansa blanca, which is their variety of the xarello
grown nearby for the production of cava.
The
winery Gramona makes a blend called gessami from muscat
and sauvignon blanc that drinks like an Alsatian gewurztraminer.
It is even sold in a tall, thin bottle like the wines from
Alsace, France. It is fragrant, fruity, and even a tiny
bit sweet. The muscat grape gives it an apricot/ripe peach
quality, and the sauvignon blanc lends a floral note to
it.
An
important rule of thumb when buying Spanish white wines
is that they are almost without exception meant to be drunk
young. Stick with recent vintages, and if you can, hold
up the bottle (if it’s clear glass) to any light:
a young, acidic white wine should show a greenish tinge,
and anything brownish should be shunned. If it doesn’t
look fresh, it’s not likely to taste that way. This
holds true for most less-expensive whites, not just Spanish
white wines. I’ve heard some talk that albariño’s
acidity is intense enough to merit some aging, but I’m
unconvinced. I don’t understand why you would try.
Exploit its intrinsic qualities: buy and drink them young,
young, young. If five or 10 years from now we learn that
they do age well, then all the better. For now I’ll
stick with what I do know. On that note my thoughts are
turning towards how to work some paella into my dinner plans
sometime soon.
Spain news: Bullfights
and Hollywood Rescue
April 5 (Bloomberg)
Spanish bullfighters are counting on Hollywood stars Adrien
Brody and Penelope Cruz to save their 900-year-old sport.
Filming began last week in the bullfighting heartland of
Cordoba for ``Manolete,'' the story of a bullfighter who
died after being gored in 1947. His bravery in the bullring
and romance of an actress inspired Ernest Hemingway to call
him "a demi-god" in the 1960 book on bullfighting,
"The Dangerous Summer."
"It could give bullfighting a boost," Victor Puerto,
a 32- year-old torero, said in a telephone interview. "The
criticism we get is destructive and puts people off going
for the first time. You have to go at least once to see
why poets, writers and musicians have been inspired."
Attendances at bullfights fell 11 percent from 2002 to 2004,
according to the government, while the number of people
wanting to ban t | |
