Stephanie and Brian

    My longtime friend, Stephanie with RNDC, and her husband, Brian, came to see me early in September. Stephanie is a true wine professional and was interested in seeing Montsant and Priorat. I picked them up in Reus and we headed straight to the beach. After a typical Catalan afternoon lunch by the marina in Hospitalet, we spent a couple of hours chillin' on the beach. After we got home, Francesc Masdeu dropped by and they got to enjoy his stimulating conversation and pick up some local color.

    Stephanie and Brian were able to sleep in after almost 48 hours without sleeping.  It's a long trip from south Texas but they held up well! We went to my vineyards Monday morning. In the afternoon, we drove over to Scala Dei and we tasted some excellent wines there. We dove back through Gratallops and Falset and took some pictures.

   On Tuesday, Stephanie had two appointments set up. The first was at Vall Llach in Porrera. We were met by Roger and he drove us up to a vineyard where they were harvesting fruit for rosado. The view from Ermita Sant Antoni is spectacular. Roger was a pointed out the various important vineyards around Porrera, including the ones his family owns. Roger showed us the winery and we tasted some vineyard designated wines. He opened a rare bottle of Viognier for us and we finished it at a restaurant named Cooperativa in Porrera for lunch. 

We had an appointment at Celler Capçanes in the afternoon. Celler Capçanes is Eric Solomon's project in Montsant. We were met by Jürgen, the winemaker and marketing manager. He gave us a great tour of the winery. Jürgen treated us to a tasting of four Garnachas that were made from different soil types in Montsant. They were from sand, limestone, clay and slate. The differences among the wines were remarkable and it was a lesson for even an experienced winemaker like me.

    We got up early Wednesday morning for an appointment at Can Blau. They are my neighbors in El Molar and have built a gold-plated winery just south of my vineyards. I've known the winemaker, Nuria, for several years and she's quite talented and gracious.  Nuria is expecting her second child in November so, as you can imagine, she's a very busy lady. We tasted through the lineup at Can Blau and, as always, the wines were superb. 

Stephanie and Brian planned to spend a few days in Barcelona. They also wanted to visit some wineries in Penedes. They boarded a train north at Marça just before noon on Wednesday. It was great to be able to visit with Stephanie about mutual acquaintances in the Austin wine business. It was also great to meet Brian who is bringing a lot of innovative ideas to the restaurant scene in south Texas. Thanks for coming, y'all!!!