Head in the Clouds, feet in the sea - La Palma Day 1
27-31-May-09 - The invitation came from Jürgen Mathäß, a German journalist and fellow member of FIJEV: the organisers of the Third International Symposium on Malvasía, which was held on the island of La Palma in the Canaries were looking for three teams of three tasters, one from La Palma, one from the mainland and one made up of international journalists, of which I was to be one.
My first thought was about getting there: the original proposal was London>Madrid>Gran Canaria>La Palma but I shuddered at the thought of changing 'planes twice, especially as one of them was at Madrid terminal 4, one of my least favourite places in the universe. I did some research and ascertained that there are no direct flights to La Palma except from the other islands, so I asked if I could fly to Tenerife and thence to La Palma. The only slight issue was that, of course, international flights go to Tenerife South, and local flights go from Tenerife North, which is about 45 minutes' drive away. The organisers, however, were happy to arrange a car in both directions, so I set forth with a will.
The flight out was with Easyjet and the car came to pick me up at 04:45 to allow for an 07:40 check-in, for flight at 07:40 (does any other country in the world actually observe this absurd 2-hour check-in pantomime? Thank goodness, as always, for Priority Pass: freshly-made coffee, croissants and a large brandy to fortify the blood). As I was getting over an attack of gout I asked for a lift on the milk-float thing, and this proved propitious: instead of the mad scramble for seats I was allowed on first, and managed to get an excellent seat (1F) right at the front with extra legroom and a pop-out table that I could actually use. This was important as the flight to Tenerife is 4h15 and I'd need something to eat (admittedly, at Easyjet prices, but there was no choice).
Another car was waiting at Tenerife south and delivered me promptly to the north airport which doesn't have a lounge but does have a very pleasant bar in which to while away the wait. The flight from Tenerife to La Palma takes 30 minutes in an ATR-72 turboprop, and the cabin service was a joy to behold. It takes about 10 minutes to reach cruising altitude and about the same time to descend, so the two stewardesses had about 10 minutes to do their stuff. As soon as the seat-belt light was switched off, they sprang into action: to the back of the 'plane, wheel a trolley to the front of the 'plane, move towards the back, with the front girl dispensing a chocolate wafer biscuit and a napkin, and the second a glass of water. Then back to the front with a plastic bag for the waste, then back to the front for the descent. It was a choreographed performance.
I arrived at La Palma at 17:30 and got the shuttle to the hotel. The venue for the Malvasía event was La Palma Princess on the coast near Fuencaliente: one of those sprawling 'resort' hotels (in fact, two hotels on one campus) with separate blocks for the rooms, 12 (count 'em) swimming pools and a full programme of sporting and other events for the energetic. We arrived in the evening of Wednesday, 27th May in time for dinner, and this was a self-service (and apparently almost 24-hour) affair in a vast restaurant on the upper level. There seemed to be no limit to the number of times you could go back and refill your plate but if I tell you that once was enough for me, you can imagine that apart from the fresh salads and fruit, the quality of food was, well, more motorway service area that 4-star hotel. There was no wifi in the rooms (but there was in the conference centre) and no room service which is, I suppose, understandable in a complex with two dozen different blocks of rooms. But 4-star???
La Palma Princess - main concourse
High concourse - looking westward out to sea
Anyway, that wasn't why we were there. The programme for the event seemed a bit heavyweight, with seminars on such as 'Influence of timing and intensity of basal leaf removal on aromatic composition of cv. Istrian Malvasía wines', with delegates from Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Baltic states. But I was relieved to learn that the tasting panel was not expected to attend these sessions, but to do two tasting concours, one on the Thursday and one on the Friday, with a final 'judge-off' on the Saturday.
My first thought was about getting there: the original proposal was London>Madrid>Gran Canaria>La Palma but I shuddered at the thought of changing 'planes twice, especially as one of them was at Madrid terminal 4, one of my least favourite places in the universe. I did some research and ascertained that there are no direct flights to La Palma except from the other islands, so I asked if I could fly to Tenerife and thence to La Palma. The only slight issue was that, of course, international flights go to Tenerife South, and local flights go from Tenerife North, which is about 45 minutes' drive away. The organisers, however, were happy to arrange a car in both directions, so I set forth with a will.
The flight out was with Easyjet and the car came to pick me up at 04:45 to allow for an 07:40 check-in, for flight at 07:40 (does any other country in the world actually observe this absurd 2-hour check-in pantomime? Thank goodness, as always, for Priority Pass: freshly-made coffee, croissants and a large brandy to fortify the blood). As I was getting over an attack of gout I asked for a lift on the milk-float thing, and this proved propitious: instead of the mad scramble for seats I was allowed on first, and managed to get an excellent seat (1F) right at the front with extra legroom and a pop-out table that I could actually use. This was important as the flight to Tenerife is 4h15 and I'd need something to eat (admittedly, at Easyjet prices, but there was no choice).
Another car was waiting at Tenerife south and delivered me promptly to the north airport which doesn't have a lounge but does have a very pleasant bar in which to while away the wait. The flight from Tenerife to La Palma takes 30 minutes in an ATR-72 turboprop, and the cabin service was a joy to behold. It takes about 10 minutes to reach cruising altitude and about the same time to descend, so the two stewardesses had about 10 minutes to do their stuff. As soon as the seat-belt light was switched off, they sprang into action: to the back of the 'plane, wheel a trolley to the front of the 'plane, move towards the back, with the front girl dispensing a chocolate wafer biscuit and a napkin, and the second a glass of water. Then back to the front with a plastic bag for the waste, then back to the front for the descent. It was a choreographed performance.
I arrived at La Palma at 17:30 and got the shuttle to the hotel. The venue for the Malvasía event was La Palma Princess on the coast near Fuencaliente: one of those sprawling 'resort' hotels (in fact, two hotels on one campus) with separate blocks for the rooms, 12 (count 'em) swimming pools and a full programme of sporting and other events for the energetic. We arrived in the evening of Wednesday, 27th May in time for dinner, and this was a self-service (and apparently almost 24-hour) affair in a vast restaurant on the upper level. There seemed to be no limit to the number of times you could go back and refill your plate but if I tell you that once was enough for me, you can imagine that apart from the fresh salads and fruit, the quality of food was, well, more motorway service area that 4-star hotel. There was no wifi in the rooms (but there was in the conference centre) and no room service which is, I suppose, understandable in a complex with two dozen different blocks of rooms. But 4-star???
La Palma Princess - main concourse
High concourse - looking westward out to seaAnyway, that wasn't why we were there. The programme for the event seemed a bit heavyweight, with seminars on such as 'Influence of timing and intensity of basal leaf removal on aromatic composition of cv. Istrian Malvasía wines', with delegates from Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Baltic states. But I was relieved to learn that the tasting panel was not expected to attend these sessions, but to do two tasting concours, one on the Thursday and one on the Friday, with a final 'judge-off' on the Saturday.
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posted by John Radford at
17:30
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