Today I’m going on holidays, I can’t wait for the plane to take off!! I’ll be out for two weeks, and I’m looking forward to come back with more experiences and stories to share with you!! While I’m away, I won’t have too much time on the computer, so I’m thinking of posting recipes of food […]
This week in Malpica, the grapes have started changing colour. This stage in viticulture is called véraison (envero in Spanish). It’s a very beautiful moment when the grape bunches paint the landscape with different shades of green, pink, purple and even dark blue. All of the varietals growing in our vineyards have reached this stage […]
It is fairly common for artists to collaborate with wineries in producing creative, beautiful wine label designs, but using wine barrels as a canvas, is a brilliant idea!! In February of this year, sixteen Valencian artists exhibited their wine barrel art interpretations at an exposition during ARCO 2009, an annual international modern art fair in […]
As you might be able to tell, Spain has a lot of big wine festivals throughout the year. There’s the Night of San Juan, Haro Wine Festival, San Fermin/Running of the Bulls, and many, many others. Though these big wine festivals are a lot of fun, I really enjoy (and sometimes prefer) small village festivals […]
What do you think of this label? Do you find it offensive? Apparently it offended the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board who decided to ban the sell of Cycles Gladiator wine in the state. The picture on the label is a copy of an 1895 advertising poster for Gladiator bicycles painted by French artist G. Massias. […]
This morning I read an article about converting wine into fuel. It seems that authorities in Valencia are thinking about converting the region’s surplus wine into bio-ethanol in order to avoid the potential of a serious glut and to help stimulate the sector. The proximity of the next harvest, current stock levels and the low […]
Lately, I have been craving chocolate like crazy. Chocolate is one of my passions, so I thought that I’d pair it with my other passion, wine. For my little experiment, I chose a spectrum of chocolate ranging from dark to white (My absolute favourite is a very, very dark chocolate). I tasted each chocolate with […]
So Starbucks is going to start selling wine and beer. Not only that, but the coffee machines won’t be automatic, they’ll be open late with live music and other performances like poetry readings, and last but not least, non of the products available will have the Starbucks brand. The first of the new “coffee shops” […]
Usually when I go out with my friends for lunch or dinner, they ask me to choose the wine. They know how much I love to go through the wine list and try to pick the one they might like the most. I think by now I know their taste very well. When the waiter comes […]
This week my friend made pinchos (tapas on a stick) of tortilla Española and it was soo good. This delicious potato omelette is one of Spain’s staple tapas. You will find it in every tapas bar and, if you’re lucky, at your friend’s house. As you know, I’m not the most talented cook, but I’ve found […]
During this time of the year, people start leaving for vacation and Madrid starts to get a little bit empty. That doesn’t mean that there is nothing to do in the city. If you are planning to visit Madrid this summer, there are a lot of cultural and interesting activities for you to do, including […]
Last weekend I traveled to Javea, a cute coastal town near Valencia, for a friend’s wedding. This region is very well known for their paella (a mixed rice dish prepared mainly with seafood), so of course, I couldn’t leave without having some. I went to a restaurant called La Perla de Javea, and enjoyed a […]
Today was the third day of the encierro (running of the bulls) at the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona. So far, it’s been the fastest run this year, lasting only 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Overall, it’s been a pretty safe year, though there have been around 5 people that have suffered minor injuries. During the […]
Today I made a little trip to Malpica to check up on some things. The vineyard is looking very good, a bit more advanced than I expected, but it´s been two weeks of fairly high temperatures. Although the grapes have started to get rounder and bigger, they are still green, small, hard and bitter. People […]
Yesterday was the first day of the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona. Each year, the festival officially launches with the blast of the chupinazo, a rocket fired at the Plaza del Castillo. San Fermín is probably the most well-known Spanish festival, with more than 2,500,000 Spaniards and people from all over the world joining […]
Last weekend I was invited to a very special tasting for Santa Teresa Rum at a very unique location, 50 meters above the streets of Madrid! It was awesome!! We sat on a table that hung from a crane above Paseo de la Castellana, Madrid’s main boulevard, and the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of the Real […]
In the summer time, many people from Africa try to cross the coast to Spain. This is becoming a very big and sad problem, as these people risk their lives and many of them never get to see their dreams come true. Each day on the news, we see people in tiny boats with no room […]
This Monday, June 29th, was the Battle of Wine, La Batalla del Vino, in the village of Haro in Rioja, and though I didn’t go, I want to share with you this fun and crazy Spanish tradition. Each year, people from Haro, and nowadays people from all over the world, get together on a hilltop […]
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