Friday, October 25, 2013
Breakfast with Jesus at Mas de l'Abundancia
Our neighbor, Philip, invited me to dinner last Saturday night. Philip has a beautiful finca out past the Ermita and his neighbor, Jesus del Rio Mateu, was also there for dinner. Jesus speaks excellent English along with six other languages. Jesus has a vineyard and winery named Mas de l'Abundancia. He invited me for breakfast on Sunday.
Jesus keeps a few chickens. It was the first time I had ever eaten a two hour old egg. The flavor was amazing. We had a leisurely breakfast while he talked about his wines and vines. He has garnatxa, carinyena and cabernet planted on his estate. The Siurana River runs a hundred meters from his house so his valley is cooler than much of Montsant. That's one reason he planted cabernet there. His garnatxa was grafted from some old vines nearby and Jesus believes he has a unique clone due to its superior resistance to mildew.
The whole place is a little paradise. The house is well thought out and filled with books. The winery is very workable, clean and organized. I really like his wines, too. For more info on his wines go to: www.masdelabundancia.com
I was only able to spend about two hours there on Sunday but I learned a tremendous amount from Jesus about Catalunya and Catalan culture. We discovered we have a mutual acquaintance in Gina Della Vedova who works for Folio Wines in Texas. ¡El mundo es un panuelo!
Jesus keeps a few chickens. It was the first time I had ever eaten a two hour old egg. The flavor was amazing. We had a leisurely breakfast while he talked about his wines and vines. He has garnatxa, carinyena and cabernet planted on his estate. The Siurana River runs a hundred meters from his house so his valley is cooler than much of Montsant. That's one reason he planted cabernet there. His garnatxa was grafted from some old vines nearby and Jesus believes he has a unique clone due to its superior resistance to mildew.
The whole place is a little paradise. The house is well thought out and filled with books. The winery is very workable, clean and organized. I really like his wines, too. For more info on his wines go to: www.masdelabundancia.com
I was only able to spend about two hours there on Sunday but I learned a tremendous amount from Jesus about Catalunya and Catalan culture. We discovered we have a mutual acquaintance in Gina Della Vedova who works for Folio Wines in Texas. ¡El mundo es un panuelo!
Sunday, October 13, 2013
¡Si, hombre!
Nuestro primo, Cary, came to see me yesterday. Cary is studying Spanish and literature in Barcelona. As usual, the visit began with a forced march out to the Ermita. There's nothing like a brisk walk in the bracing mountain air to clear the fog of train travel. I had a little work to do on my wine so we drove up to the winery and stopped at the vineyards on the way.
At the winery, Cary was able to see the (all too sadly) vanishing craft of traditional winemaking. We returned to the casa where I attempted to prepare a traditional dinner for us of steak and baked potatoes. European charcoal can be a little unpredictable and there was no exception last night. As I was struggling with the fire, our neighbor Dani came over. In an effort to help, he turned up his music. When that didn't work, he began blowing furiously on the charcoal. For a moment, it looked as if he had thrown a bottle rocket into the barbeque. There was a tremendous surge of sparks and flame as the charcoal finally got going.
The steaks turned out better than we expected. After dinner, Cary and I walked through Masroig. Yesterday was Columbus Day here (a Spanish national holiday) and the town was very quiet. We slept in this morning (9:30), had some melon pernil for breakfast and drove over to Falset. Cary got a brief circular tour of Falset and we returned home for a lunch of Texpacho.
After lunch, we dropped in on Maria, Cisco and Francesc. Francesc graciously offered us coffee and some hazelnut pastry. We had a nice visit and they were very happy to meet Cary. It was great to see Cary and learn of his adventures. He is an articulate, thoughtful, creative and courageous young man. I am amazed at how much he has accomplished so far. Thanks for visiting, HOMBRE!
At the winery, Cary was able to see the (all too sadly) vanishing craft of traditional winemaking. We returned to the casa where I attempted to prepare a traditional dinner for us of steak and baked potatoes. European charcoal can be a little unpredictable and there was no exception last night. As I was struggling with the fire, our neighbor Dani came over. In an effort to help, he turned up his music. When that didn't work, he began blowing furiously on the charcoal. For a moment, it looked as if he had thrown a bottle rocket into the barbeque. There was a tremendous surge of sparks and flame as the charcoal finally got going.
The steaks turned out better than we expected. After dinner, Cary and I walked through Masroig. Yesterday was Columbus Day here (a Spanish national holiday) and the town was very quiet. We slept in this morning (9:30), had some melon pernil for breakfast and drove over to Falset. Cary got a brief circular tour of Falset and we returned home for a lunch of Texpacho.
After lunch, we dropped in on Maria, Cisco and Francesc. Francesc graciously offered us coffee and some hazelnut pastry. We had a nice visit and they were very happy to meet Cary. It was great to see Cary and learn of his adventures. He is an articulate, thoughtful, creative and courageous young man. I am amazed at how much he has accomplished so far. Thanks for visiting, HOMBRE!
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Done and Done!!!
We harvested Fincas Alta y Vieja yesterday. There was a little rain on Thursday and they were predicting more yesterday. It was mostly scattered showers on Thursday and we got just enough to settle the dust in El Molar. Pere brought a big crew (13) to start around noon and they finished Finca Alta in about an hour and a half.
Six people stayed after lunch to work on Finca Vieja since the winery couldn't start processing the fruit until 6:30. The work went well and we were about 90% done when a big thunderstorm appeared on the horizon and seemed to be headed right at us. As it drew closer, everyone was picking like crazy. Pere jumped in his truck and drove around the corner to talk to Arkady, the local bar owner. Arkady has a big house and barn next to the bar. He agreed to let us park the grapes in his barn.
Pere went back to get the grapes while I helped Arkady open the doors. Pere roared into the barn with his tractor and the grapes just as the blessed bottom fell out. It was what my grandfather used to call a "Texas Toad-Strangler". There was a lot of laughter and back-slapping in the bar while we drank beer and watched the storm pass.
It is about a 15 minute drive straight uphill to the winery. The guys were there and we processed the fruit with no trouble. The grapes looked really good. We ended up with 3440 kilos and the chemistry is excellent. I will go back tonight to start the pump-overs. This has been an interesting year and I'm very pleased to be done with harvest.
Six people stayed after lunch to work on Finca Vieja since the winery couldn't start processing the fruit until 6:30. The work went well and we were about 90% done when a big thunderstorm appeared on the horizon and seemed to be headed right at us. As it drew closer, everyone was picking like crazy. Pere jumped in his truck and drove around the corner to talk to Arkady, the local bar owner. Arkady has a big house and barn next to the bar. He agreed to let us park the grapes in his barn.
Pere went back to get the grapes while I helped Arkady open the doors. Pere roared into the barn with his tractor and the grapes just as the blessed bottom fell out. It was what my grandfather used to call a "Texas Toad-Strangler". There was a lot of laughter and back-slapping in the bar while we drank beer and watched the storm pass.
It is about a 15 minute drive straight uphill to the winery. The guys were there and we processed the fruit with no trouble. The grapes looked really good. We ended up with 3440 kilos and the chemistry is excellent. I will go back tonight to start the pump-overs. This has been an interesting year and I'm very pleased to be done with harvest.
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