I've been working on the new Barcelona rosado with Carles and Jose Carlos at Celler Masroig. We finalized the blend yesterday and should have samples on the way next week. Francesc Masdeu came over last Friday night and we had a good visit. I will go to his house tomorrow night for dinner.
There was a festa last Saturday to honor St. Sebastian who is the other patron saint of El Masroig. The event was organized and managed by the youth association. They brought in an eight piece traditional band. Marc Tost and some of the local chicos built a big fire in the Plaza Major and cooked sausages for the town.
There is a special kind of bread that is baked only on St. Sebastian's day. While the band plays, the children dance around with loaf and pass it from person to person. When the music stops, the kids all tear into it.
As usual, there was lots of wine. They served vi ranci (similar to dry sherry) and mistela (a very sweet dessert wine). Roussó from the Cooperativa made a blend of the two that was delicious. I had a couple of copitas and decided that was enough. It was a cold night and the music was so loud I was having trouble understanding what people were saying. I left before they started cooking but I'm sure the sausage was delicious.
I did a little research to see if there was a Catalan connection to St. Sebastian. It turns out that 23 Catalans have achieved sainthood but none of them were named Sebastian. It appears that ours must be the original St. Sebastian (usually depicted as tied to a tree and shot full of arrows). I'm not sure what that has to do with dancing, bread and sausage. St. Sebastian was appealed to for protection from the plague so there may be a connection there somewhere.
In any event, these folks like to party and they're good at it!
¡Salud!
