Cava and Tarragona - Day 1
08-Jun-09 - Primary school joke:
Teacher: (looking for the word 'collision') What do we call it when two things come together unexpectedly". Small boy: "Twins!"
I was reminded of this when, for the second time this year (the other was Madrid/Zamora, see posts of 30-Mar-09), I was invited on two trips which, milagroso, did not overlap, cancelling out one of them, but dovetailed into a single week very conveniently. The first (Mon-Tue-Wed) was to visit some Cava bodegas in the province of Barcelona which are pushing forward with premium wines (in the £20+ bracket), and the second (Thu-Fri-Sat) was to the province of Tarragona, with visits and tastings in/from the DDOO Priorat, Montsant, Terra Alta, Conca de Barberà and Tarragona.
The Institut del Cava had arranged the first trip, and their representatives in the UK, Threepipe had sent the invitation. My last visit to Cava-country was in 2005, but things change there so fast (as, indeed, all over Spain) that I welcomed the opportunity to have a look at what's making the running in 2009.
It was a very civilised start to the day, with a car at 08:00 to Gatwick for a 10:55 Easyjet flight to Barcelona. The Priority Pass card came into its own again with a vengeance, and this time I didn't need the milk-float but managed to creak along to the gate under my own steam, which was encouraging.
On arrival we were met by Sheena Campbell-Royle of SCRrrpp in Barcelona (she's English but has lived in Spain for more than 25 years) which handles generic PR for the Institut, and her sidekick Nadja Borovac, a multi-lingual graduate of Berkeley University in California. They were to accompany us variously throughout the trip, as well as the drop-dead gorgeous María del Mar Torres, who is the Director of the Institut del Cava.
My fellow travellers were Julie Arkell (freelance - currently Chairman of the Circle of Wine Writers), still walking with a stick after crocking her ankle falling over a dog - two years ago; Sarah Jane Evans (see posts passim); Claire Dodd of The Publican; Hannah Howard of World Drinks Report; and Alex Frith from Threepipe. Claire Dodd was arriving on a later flight so naturally I headed for the bar, and who should I meet on the way but the delightful Eleonora Scholes (a fellow member of the CWW, and see posts on the Cognac trip 23-Sep-08 to 26-Sep-08) who was on her way to join a different press trip, to Somontano. Claire's flight was, inevitably, delayed, so we got down a couple of very cold beers before it was time to leave.
We were duly whisked off to the hotel Cal Ruget in Vilobi del Penedès. This is a beautifully-restored old farmhouse, about half a kilometre from the nearest paved road, through a vineyard and then electric gates. It's run by Florian Porsche and his wife Verónica Grimal (she's Catalan, he's German) and has a very elegant style, with a swimming pool, an outside terrace for dining, pleasant gardens and free wifi, so, although it didn't offer my usual saunter down the local calle to find a sleazy bar in my spare time, it did offer everything else.
Or, indeed, not quite. My room was separate from the main building - a lovely self-contained affair with floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the swimming pool and, beguilingly, a child's classroom slate in the window with my name on it. Unfortunately the wifi did not stretch this far, so I was reduced to using the O2 dongle at a frightening £3 a meg. How do they get away with it? We retired to the terrace for tapas before departing for our first visit.
Raventos i Blanc sits opposite the gates of its palatial 'parent' Codorníu, but Josep-María Raventós left to create his own winery in 1986 - now run by his son Manuel - and the very modern installation sits within its own 90 ha of vines, beautifully landscaped and immaculately managed. The main building centres on a 500-year-old oak tree which, sadly, was blown over in a storm last winter. It's still there, leaning at a precipitous angle, awaiting its ultimate fate.
The old oak tree - laid low after half a millennium
We had a brief trip to the vineyards to see the different terroirs and microclimates and taste a couple of wines - they grow the 'big three' Cava grapes (Macabeo, Xarel·lo and Parellada - MXP) as well as some Chardonnay and (since 2000) Pinot Noir. Manuel Raventós explained that his main pricing position is in the 'high' but not 'expensive' bracket (€13-15 retail in Spain), but that he has ambitions to create a 'super-premium' wine to retail at around €100 in Spain. He's aiming at the high-end on-trade, where Gran Reserva Cava (only 2% of all production) is gaining increasing listings. As a special service to clients, they disgorge on demand and print the date on the cap, which is very brave. I only wish we could persuade the producers of Fino and Manzanilla in Jerez to do the same.
We tasted the wines blind, which is most unusual for a bodega visit, and the highlights were these:
2006 L'Hereu (60% Macabeo, the rest XP) - crisp, green fruit and fresh acidity on the nose, bone-dry palate with good fresh fruit on mid and a citrus finish, Excellent. 17/20
2006 Raventós i Blanc Rosado (Monastrell) - gris in the glass, spiky, spicy fruit with a light, delicate perfume on the nose, some warmth and riper, red fruits on the mid and a nice, warm length. 17/20
In the tasting room
Then it was a leisurely dinner in the boardroom - a book-lined library-style room, with antique furniture and a magnificent spread with a selection of the bodega's still wines: very civilised indeed.
Teacher: (looking for the word 'collision') What do we call it when two things come together unexpectedly". Small boy: "Twins!"
I was reminded of this when, for the second time this year (the other was Madrid/Zamora, see posts of 30-Mar-09), I was invited on two trips which, milagroso, did not overlap, cancelling out one of them, but dovetailed into a single week very conveniently. The first (Mon-Tue-Wed) was to visit some Cava bodegas in the province of Barcelona which are pushing forward with premium wines (in the £20+ bracket), and the second (Thu-Fri-Sat) was to the province of Tarragona, with visits and tastings in/from the DDOO Priorat, Montsant, Terra Alta, Conca de Barberà and Tarragona.
The Institut del Cava had arranged the first trip, and their representatives in the UK, Threepipe had sent the invitation. My last visit to Cava-country was in 2005, but things change there so fast (as, indeed, all over Spain) that I welcomed the opportunity to have a look at what's making the running in 2009.
It was a very civilised start to the day, with a car at 08:00 to Gatwick for a 10:55 Easyjet flight to Barcelona. The Priority Pass card came into its own again with a vengeance, and this time I didn't need the milk-float but managed to creak along to the gate under my own steam, which was encouraging.
On arrival we were met by Sheena Campbell-Royle of SCRrrpp in Barcelona (she's English but has lived in Spain for more than 25 years) which handles generic PR for the Institut, and her sidekick Nadja Borovac, a multi-lingual graduate of Berkeley University in California. They were to accompany us variously throughout the trip, as well as the drop-dead gorgeous María del Mar Torres, who is the Director of the Institut del Cava.
My fellow travellers were Julie Arkell (freelance - currently Chairman of the Circle of Wine Writers), still walking with a stick after crocking her ankle falling over a dog - two years ago; Sarah Jane Evans (see posts passim); Claire Dodd of The Publican; Hannah Howard of World Drinks Report; and Alex Frith from Threepipe. Claire Dodd was arriving on a later flight so naturally I headed for the bar, and who should I meet on the way but the delightful Eleonora Scholes (a fellow member of the CWW, and see posts on the Cognac trip 23-Sep-08 to 26-Sep-08) who was on her way to join a different press trip, to Somontano. Claire's flight was, inevitably, delayed, so we got down a couple of very cold beers before it was time to leave.
We were duly whisked off to the hotel Cal Ruget in Vilobi del Penedès. This is a beautifully-restored old farmhouse, about half a kilometre from the nearest paved road, through a vineyard and then electric gates. It's run by Florian Porsche and his wife Verónica Grimal (she's Catalan, he's German) and has a very elegant style, with a swimming pool, an outside terrace for dining, pleasant gardens and free wifi, so, although it didn't offer my usual saunter down the local calle to find a sleazy bar in my spare time, it did offer everything else.
Or, indeed, not quite. My room was separate from the main building - a lovely self-contained affair with floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the swimming pool and, beguilingly, a child's classroom slate in the window with my name on it. Unfortunately the wifi did not stretch this far, so I was reduced to using the O2 dongle at a frightening £3 a meg. How do they get away with it? We retired to the terrace for tapas before departing for our first visit.
Raventós i Blanc - main winery
Raventos i Blanc sits opposite the gates of its palatial 'parent' Codorníu, but Josep-María Raventós left to create his own winery in 1986 - now run by his son Manuel - and the very modern installation sits within its own 90 ha of vines, beautifully landscaped and immaculately managed. The main building centres on a 500-year-old oak tree which, sadly, was blown over in a storm last winter. It's still there, leaning at a precipitous angle, awaiting its ultimate fate.
The old oak tree - laid low after half a millenniumWe had a brief trip to the vineyards to see the different terroirs and microclimates and taste a couple of wines - they grow the 'big three' Cava grapes (Macabeo, Xarel·lo and Parellada - MXP) as well as some Chardonnay and (since 2000) Pinot Noir. Manuel Raventós explained that his main pricing position is in the 'high' but not 'expensive' bracket (€13-15 retail in Spain), but that he has ambitions to create a 'super-premium' wine to retail at around €100 in Spain. He's aiming at the high-end on-trade, where Gran Reserva Cava (only 2% of all production) is gaining increasing listings. As a special service to clients, they disgorge on demand and print the date on the cap, which is very brave. I only wish we could persuade the producers of Fino and Manzanilla in Jerez to do the same.
We tasted the wines blind, which is most unusual for a bodega visit, and the highlights were these:
2006 L'Hereu (60% Macabeo, the rest XP) - crisp, green fruit and fresh acidity on the nose, bone-dry palate with good fresh fruit on mid and a citrus finish, Excellent. 17/20
2006 Raventós i Blanc Rosado (Monastrell) - gris in the glass, spiky, spicy fruit with a light, delicate perfume on the nose, some warmth and riper, red fruits on the mid and a nice, warm length. 17/20
In the tasting roomThen it was a leisurely dinner in the boardroom - a book-lined library-style room, with antique furniture and a magnificent spread with a selection of the bodega's still wines: very civilised indeed.
Dinner!
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posted by John Radford at
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