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JR's notes:

This article has never appeared in print but was written especially for PLANET RADFORD in February, 1999. It was intended to be rather longer, but work (i.e. PAID work) somehow got in the way and it was never completed. However, I've added a few notes at the end to show that we really did get back.

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2,500 KM across the peninsula fuelled (almost) entirely by Sherry! It could only be...

THE AMONTILLADO RALLY

Days 1-2: All Aboard

Day 3: am - Ribera del Duero; pm - Malpica de Tajo

Day 4: to Jerez!

Well, it started out as a research trip for a new book in the TOURING IN WINE COUNTRY series but that's now been postponed. However, I'd already got the ticket and I'm doing the WSET Sherry lectures this year and is there ever an excuse NOT to visit Jerez? So we went - that's me and son James who once again fell for the line 'I'll drive before lunch and you drive after lunch...' They never learn. Worthing to Jerez and back - the ultimate Amontillado Rally, indeed.

1) Days 1-2 (Worthing-Portsmouth: 40 miles) Sat/Sun 30/31JAN99

The Crossing - M.V. Pride of Bilbao

Good, we like this trip: it's the most civilised way to travel. The Bilbao is a big ship - 37,000 tons and originally built as a booze-cruising conference centre for plonk-starved Scandinavians, but now equipped with air-conditioned cabins with private bog'n'shower and satellite TV, a telephone (room service, and international calls at $15 a minute via satellite) and a free half bottle of Champagne if you go for the fancy option. The ship is refitted every year in January, and this was its first trip out after drydock. We noticed a few changes: the supermarket/duty free area had been expanded (fears for the ending of duty-free), and the top-deck nightclub had migrated to the main auditorium but the main thing was that the restaurant was open for business.

Civilised, I said: drive on board at 20:00, leave the car in the basement, dump the bags in the cabin, and it's down to the restaurant for dinner. There's a baguette-bar and a self-service place at the budget end, but don't waste time with them. There are two 'proper' restaurants, one offering a multiple-choice table d'hôte and the other à la carte: we tried 'em both. Now, I'm not going to try and kid you that it's cheap to eat in either of these because it's not, although it's not really expensive in comparison to the price of a decent meal in London. Dinner for two will cost you about £50 in the table d'hôte and about £75 in the à la carte but hey, what are we here for?

First night out was a slight worry. There's a new tapas menu (pay a fixed price and eat all you want) which we didn't have, but I was tempted into the 'special tapas starter' at £7.75. This proved to be a stone-cold bowl of dark green leaves wallowing in oil tasting like cold spinach and yesterday's ratatouille. Avoid it. The tournedos Rossini was much better and the wine list small but intelligently chosen.

My faith was restored in the à la carte on the second night (and on the way back, in solitary splendour - we were the only diners as the ship was ploughing though a force-9 gale): once again, the menu is relatively short, which makes it believable that the galley can cope without using pre-prepared food. Certainly we enjoyed a memorable piece of beef and a truly stonking dessert of poached pineapple with black pepper: splendid.

Night time, and you can go to the theatre, or the cinema (we went to see Little Voice with Jane Horrocks), or drink in the bars, or go back to the cabin and watch telly. We ended up in the casino where James demonstrated a hitherto-unsuspected talent for roulette by doubling his £20 sit-down money within an hour. I demonstrated my sure touch at the blackjack table by winning fourteen quid, which I proceeded to lose (plus the £10 sit-down money) on the way back. James won again - maybe if we'd stayed longer we could have won back the entire cost of dinner... Is there a niche for professional roulette-players?

Best of all, the ship docks at Bilbao in the early hours of Monday morning which means that you've got a full day ahead of you on those deserted Spanish autopistas, which was just as well...

[Many thanks, by the way, to Penny Guy of P&O European Ferries and to Captain Ted Banks of the Pride of Bilbao. Two adults plus car go from Portsmouth to Bilbao and back from £309 to £1,000+ depending on when you go and how much luxury you've decided to award yourself. Tel.: 0870-600-0600 or on www.poportsmouth.com]

2) Day 3 (388 miles) Mon 01FEB99: Ribera del Duero (187 miles) and Malpica de Tajo (198 miles)

Straight out on to the motorway, no trouble at all, smug as hell (this was not to last). Jerez is some 1,000 km (620 miles) distant so we had decided to take two days over the drive, making a midday stop at Roa de Duero, offices of the Consejo Regulador of Ribera del Duero.

Javier Zaccagnini, el Director (the tall, handsome one) was serving his final week at the Consejo before leaving to take part in a joint venture with Mariano García and had arranged a tasting of some of the newer wines on the market for us as well as some splendid tapas, complete with pata negra ham and hogaza bread. 1994 was classified as Muy Buena (8/10) and 1995 as Excelente 10/10) although both years were very similar, with 9/10 a more realistic mark for both of them.

These were the wines:

1) Jóvenes Vizcarra 1998 - purple//real raspberry nose with ketones (maceración carbónico?)//bright fruit, hint of liquorice (15)

Tionio 1997 - purple-ruby//new-wood on the nose with wood rather dominant//good fruit (15)

Pradorey 1996 - red//noticeable wood on the nose//good fruit, very drinkable now (15)

Pago de Capellanes 1996 - red//closed nose, a hint of fruit//lovely ripe fruit on the palate, good balance with excellent tannin. (16)

2) Crianzas Casajus 1996 - ruby//almost completely closed//big structure with excellent tannins and fruit in equilibrium: an excellent future (17)

Lágrima Negra 1996 - ruby-red//some fruit but very closed//enormous fruit on the palate, some austerity, excellent tannic balance; austere now but great, early-maturing stuff (18)

Arzuaga Navarro 1996 - purple//good fruit with oaky notes//lovely fruit balance, plenty to offer (17)

3) Reservas Arzuaga Navarro 1995 - ruby-red//lovely perfume of summer fruits//tannins are hard but there seems to be plenty of fruit. Is there enough? (16)

López Crístobal 1994 - ruby-red//closed nose//big, austere, lotsa tannin but lotsa fruit, too and has the seeds of greatness within it (17)

Arzuaga Navarro 1994 - ruby-red//good aromatic fruit/nice structure: austere but good balance; not as much ripeness as López Crístobal (16)

Valduero 1994 - red//nice fruit nose with oaky notes//big, warm fruit on the palate, long but plenty of tannin (16)

Félix Callejo 1994 - ruby//subtle summer-fruit aromas//good, warm ripe palate with good structure and length (16)

Briego 1992 - red-garnet//nice 'old vines' nose//soft, still some tannins, good structure, perhaps a little low on fruit? (16)

Duron 1991 - red//closed, some fruit//rather dry, and a little too austere: not really enough fruit to survive the reserva ageing with grace (15)

Félix Callejo 1991 - red//closed, although some fruit//nice current flavour but the tannin dominates - insufficient fruit to age well for much longer (15)

4) Gran Reservas Protos 1990 - red//nice, subtle fruit nose, in balance with the wood//mature, balanced, ready to drink (16)

Félix Callejo 1989 - red-garnet//a hint of volatile acidity on the nose - almost 'cheesy'//good, ripe fruit on the palate although still a little austere - at this age, is it too late for the fruit to come forward? (16)

Total: 17 wines tasted and the star of the show was Lágrima Negra. This compounds my own opinion, gained after many years of visiting Ribera del Duero that what they do really well hereabouts is crianza wines: just enough oak to throw the fruit into sharper relief and add a third dimension to the wine and not so much as to bury it in an oaken coffin. Splendid base-wines in this tasting were murdered in the cask: we must get away from the received wisdom that 'reserva' will automatically get you a higher price than 'crianza' on the back label.

Respect, by the way, to Zacca, who has been instrumental in dragging this region out of its torpor and making it vibrant, exciting, and even fashionable: at a London restaurant the other day (end FEB) I mentioned Ribera del Duero wines to a trendy PR person who positively fizzed with recognition... 'And so right to serve with dinner, these days...' She said. Zacca did that. Let's see if he can do it with his new venture!

Southward, southward, got horribly lost in Madrid (crap signposting, not my fault) ending up at Malpica de Tajo about 18:00, the road closed under a new scheme but a tip-off from the Most Hon. The Marqués de Griñón that there was a sneaky way round the bollards saw us up the lavender drive and in the Casadevacas in time for a pre-dinner tasting. This is Griñón's old hunting lodge in the province of Toledo and surrounded by his most mature vineyards. He spends most of his time at his country house in the province of Madrid and was due in Stockholm the following morning to receive an award for 'winemaker of the year' from an international jury. Ironically, Carlos Falcó is an agronomist, and not a winemaker, as he is wont to point out, and he believes that this gives him a wider view than that to which most pure œnologists aspire. His latest ventures (in Argentina and Castilla-León as well as the province of Toledo) have espoused S cott Henry training and half-dry root irrigation. (New readers start here: Scott Henry devised a training method which splays the vine leaves like solar cells on an orbiting space satellite to gather maximum sunlight for the photosynthetic process; half-dry root irrigation involves exposing two roots and only irrigating one of them. the other is fooled into sending a drought warning to the vine which releases abscissic acid, causing the stomata beneath the leaves to close. In this way, all available moisture and nutrients are passed directly to the grape to maximise ripeness and must-quality). His winemaker is Julio López and his consultant is Michel Rolland; nothing is left to chance in the vineyards of the Marqués de Griñón.

So, what are the wines like? (Light insufficient to determine accurate colours):

1) Durius (white wine made in he region of the DO Rueda but not from grapes harvested entirely within or approved by the region and so not entitled to the DO): 33/33/33 Verdejo, Sauvgnon, Viura. Around £3.99 in UK.

Lovely fresh fruit gooseberry nose//plenty of fresh, citrussy fruit - simply delicious (15).

2) Chardonnay Valdepusa (two-thirds barrel-fermented with 6 months on the lees; 12 months' oak)

Nice, ripe varietal nose//lovely rich fruit on the palate: delicious, if a touch unsubtle. Very new-world in style (16)

3) Durius 1996 (Red - made in the Toro region but as above, etc. etc. 25/25/25/25 Tinto Fino, Tinto de Toro, Garnacha, Cabernet-Sauvignon. Around £3.99 in UK)

Lovely, spicy nose, lotsa fruit//lovely big ripe rich palate (16)

4) Marqués de Griñón Argentina Tempranillo 1997 - 80% has 5-6 months' oak

Immediately richer, riper, southern-hemisphere fruit on the nose//an elegant balance between fruit and tannin (16)

5) Dominio de Agrelo (Argentina) 1996 Malbec (with 20% Merlot, approx. 9 months' oak)

Ripe, berry-fruit nose//impressive balance, rich fruit, oaky notes and an elegant finish (17)

6) Marqués de Griñón Rioja 1997 jóven (only six months' oak so it doesn't qualify as crianza)

Lovely spicy summer-fruits nose//delicious full fruit, a hint of oak (17)

7) Marqués de Griñón Rioja 1995 reserva

Delicate nose, with some raisiny fruit//delicious full fruit, maturity, excellent (17)

8) Petit Verdot 1998 - tank sample (experimental)

Very closed//tough, tannic style but with good fruit, well balanced: excellent potential (17)

9) Cabernet-Sauvignon 1998 - tank sample (25-year-old vines)

A little dumb on the nose//enormous concentration on the palate, bagsa fruit and spice; lovely, long and delicious; will be superb (18)

10) Syrah 1996 - cask sample - 2/3 French oak, 1/3 American; of which 1/3 new.

Real spicy black pepper - classic Syrah nose//similarly big, spicy and rich palate with some austerity and great potential (17)

11) Petit Verdot 1996 - (wood as for number 10)

Delicate nose, good fruit//tremendous richness on the palate: enormous fruit and power (17)

12) Cabernet-Sauvignon 1996 (do.)

Light, spicy nose//powerful rich fruit with solid tannins but starting to drink now - excellent potential (18)

Dinner was a simple meal of lentil soup, venison fillets with rice and apple tart served in the kitchen of the hunting lodge beside a lazily-snapping log fire. We retired early and were not tempted by the swimming-pool: even this far south it was still February.

Must also mention breakfast if only for the home-made preserves including an astonishing Syrah marmalade: delicious but, sadly, only available to house guests.

3) Day 4 (365 miles) Tue 02FEB99: via Mérida to Jerez

It's difficult to judge a place on a short visit, especially when you're driving and have no idea whether you're in the best bit or not (take the Michelin Green Guide, dummy - Ed.) but we saw little of the monumental Roman architecture of Mérida, so raved about by everyone. However, we did spend a pleasant hour or so wandering around the shops and drinking cold beer under the orange trees in the plaza mayor, but decided to move on and take lunch at a road-house to avoid the inevitable getting lost whilst-leaving-the-town syndrome as demonstrated almost everywhere on this trip (crap signposting, of course, not my navigational skills).

We took lunch at the Hotel Vetonia on the N630 (km 647) which is just north of Almendralejo: very pleasant, unpretentious roadhouse, but such as we only dream about in the UK. We enjoyed a bottle of a fascinating white from the new DO Ribera del Guadiana:

1) Blasón del Turra, Co-op Santa María de las Viñas, 100% Macabeo (Pts 1,250 - £5.30 on the table) pale straw//pleasant, fresh if rather neutral nose//very nice, crisp, fresh, good acidity, lacks weight but an excellent luncheon wine (14)

Anyway, a good lunch (shellfish fry-up, prawns and mushrooms, bottle of wine, bread, water, Pts 4,225 - £18 - the lot) and, once despatched, we ploughed ever onward, got hopelessly lost in the outskirts of Jerez (totally crap signposting) but ended finally, safely ensconced in the hotel Serit (calle Higueras) in time for a mid-evening tapas crawl through the old town: the best pata negra of the trip so far at the bar La Canilla (cost Pts 1,500 - £6.40 - a plate, don't ask). Early bed, sound sleep. Lotsa ZZZs. A word about this place: not as high profile as the Hotel Jerez (splendid swimming-pool) or as grand as the Avenue Sherry Park (magnificent entrance hall) but only Pts 7,000 £30) for a twin room with bath'n'bog AND air conditioning, although we didn't need it in February. Excellent service - run by a nice young family, no restaurant but a small bar and it's within walking distance of the old town centre. Highly recommended. (An extra Pts 1,000 a day for private garage if you want it).

To be continued...

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JR's notes:

Sadly, it never was, although we did get around Jerez well, visiting such as Valdespino, González Byass, Domecq, Lustau, Osborne at al - see the MITCHELL BEAZLEY POCKET BOOK OF FORTIFIED AND SWEET WINES [book.htm] for full details. On the way back we spent a very pleasant morning in Seville, went up la Giralda, saw the Plaza de España and the rather sad, semi-derelict landscape which the Expo'92 site has become. Shot up to Madrid, got lost (crap signposting) but ate at El Amparo (magnificent!) and stayed overnight at that hotel opposite the Atocha railway station. Next morning off to Bilbao, visited the Guggenheim (spectacular!) and stayed at the only hotel in Santurtzi before taking ship for home the following morning. A great trip, indeed.

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