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!!!

 

More fun with Katie, Deb and Rhett

   Katie, Deb and Rhett were here for the Festa Major and we went two nights. Deb and Rhett had their dancin' boots on and wowed the crowd. As usual, all of our neighbors from Carrer Major were there and it was great to see everybody.

   The morning after the first dance Katie, Deb and I walked out to the Ermita and had a picnic. We sat at Maria's family table (40 person capacity). The girls wore their tiaras and it was a beautiful morning. We took a siesta in the afternoon so we could be fresh for the following night's dance.

   I took them up to La Figuera to look at my estate wine. There is an Ermita there, as well. We had a picnic in the shade and looked out over the Ebro valley. La Figuera is one of the highest villages in Montsant and was used as a lookout  point during the Guerra Civil. We visited Falset on the way home.

  The next day was the end of the Festa and, of course, we went to see the diablos. They put on a spirited display but the band was a little smaller this year. I also noticed that most of the diablos are young people from the village.

   Katie, Deb and Rhett took off for the French Pyrenees the following day. They took a leisurely trip across France and ended up staying on a yacht in a little town near Perpignan. They made their way back to Barcelona via Figueres and the Dali museum. I took the train to Barcelona and stayed two nights with them.

   Rhett treated us all to dinner at his favorite restaurant near Las Ramblas (Caracoles).¡Gracias amigo!  We had a wonderful meal, wandered around and took the Metro back to our apartment. They got up the next morning and toured Sagrada Familia and the Gaudi buildings in Gracia.

   We met Francesc Masdeu in the afternoon and he showed us around Gracia. Gracia is the sweetest neighborhood you've ever seen but please don't tell anybody! Rhett and Deb wanted to go to the Harley-Davidson dealership in Barcelona to get some souvenir shirts. After that, we took a cab to Park Guell.

   It was my first visit there. We hiked all over and saw the sights. Their are incredible views of Barcelona around every corner. We took another cab back to Barri Gotic and had tapas for dinner.

   Nothing beats touring Barcelona with some of your best friends! It was a thrill to have Katie, Deb and Rhett here. Please come back, y'all!!!

 

 

 

Dinner with Lluisa and Albert

Lluisa and Albert were so generous to invite us to dinner last week. Philip had two young ladies visiting and they joined us. Kate and Imie grew up together and are still good friends. Kate went to Oxford and Imie went to Exeter. Kate worked for Philip when she was at Oxford.

Albert and Lluisa have a lovely home just outside El Masroig. We were introduced to their very charming sons, Alberto and Lluis. Alberto is studying geo-technology in Brighton and Lluis will go to Barcelona in a few weeks to study computer programming. They both speak very good English and it was a pleasure to get to know them.

The dinner was superb. Albert bought some Pyrennean steaks and we grilled them. Lluisa prepared some wonderful side dishes. There was mucho vino and several people practiced with the porrón. The porrón is a traditional drinking vessel that's passed around. If you know how to use it, individual wine glasses aren't needed. Catalan meals are all about sharing so the porrón is a lot of fun. Even if you don't know how to use it, it's still fun if you don't mind a little wine on your shirt.

We arrived at Lluisa and Albert's just before 9 p.m. and staggered away just before 1 a.m. under the light of an almost full moon. It was about a 15 minute walk home and the nighttime view of El Masroig from the south was absolutely enchanting.

¡Gracies Lluisa i Albert!

 

 

Castle and beach day

 

Our friends, Katie, Deb and Rhett, flew over with me. Deb and Rhett came to see us in 2012 but this is Katie's first trip to Europe. Aside from a four hour delay in D.C., the trip went smoothly until I lost Rhett and Deb on the motorway outside the airport. Fortunately, they had GPS in their car and were able to get to El Masroig about the same time as Katie and me. We did some sightseeing in the area. Rhett wanted to change his rental car at the airport in Reus and we went to Salou afterward.

 The next day we went to the beach at Hospitalet. It's still my favorite beach in the world.

We ran into our usual watch vendor. After five summers, we've become old friends. He's a cheerful lad and very patient with the gringos. Katie bought a nice blue watch and I hope it's still running. We made the obligatory visit to Miravet. It was Katie's first castle. I regret that Deb and Katie forgot to bring their tiaras but more about that later.

It's been a very dry year here. The vineyards are looking good and we have a better crop than most people. I put down 20 liters of water per vine on Wednesday just to give them a little drink. Marc Tost has been doing a good job.