The European commissioner for Agriculture, Dacian Ciolos, just gave up on trying to regulate the production of organic wines due to the lack of support from most of the European Countries. Wine is a product that is excluded from the ecological agriculture regulation, and the producers who make wine from grapes cultivated this way claim […]
This year we are having very weird weather, and we can see the influences of this in our Malpica vineyard. Last week we got 15 litres per square meter of water in one day! And the temperatures are awfully chilly. The last 10 days we had temperatures of 8ªC/46ºF in the morning and around 15–20ºc/59–68ºF during […]
On Wednesday we got the Osborne Bull on the street for a very special occasion: the presentation of a new line of Osborne bull t-shirts and polo shirts. This small collection was born from a partnership between the fashionable and trendy brand Springfield and Osborne. The line is called “Marea Roja” which means “red tide,” […]
Yesterday was the 7th edition of the Champagne saloon in Madrid, and we were there to showcase Ayala, the champagne brand that Osborne distributes in Spain from Bollinger Group. The Ayala winery is located in Reims, one of the three main regions in Champagne. In case you didn’t know, Champagne is not just a wine […]
More and more I´m reading and hearing about the Tempranillo grape being planted outside the Spanish borders. Tempranillo is Tempra Tantrum’s main variety and the most well known indigenous grape planted in Spain. It is present in 27 wine producing regions and in each region, this grape variety has different characteristics that makes a wide […]
Yesterday was the Vinoble 2010 kick off, the International Exhibition of Noble Wines that takes place every two years in Jerez. This is the only wine fair exclusively dedicated to fortified, dessert and natural sweet wines. The venue is amazing, as it is between the doors of an old Álcazar, an Arab fortress from the XI […]
Are you tired and stress? Then, as more than half of the population, you may need a year of sabbatical and the Rioja Government is willing to pay you to do so in their region, obviously to promote tourism and awareness of Rioja. To get this cushy job you have to go through a pretty tight […]
By now you might have noticed that I have quite a sweet tooth, so I couldn´t be happier to find out that one of the newest trends in Madrid are fancy cupcakes! There are a lot of bakeries that now offer delicious and cute little cakes. Spain´s specialty is not about icing and baking, so […]
Have you ever tasted a wine from India? Maybe it´s the first time you even know they make wine there too. Don´t worry, most people don´t know either. India has debuted this year at the London International Wine Fair with 9 different producers. They were all in the same tent, so the image of India as a […]
This weekend is the first anniversary of the blog!!! Time to celebrate!! I enjoy so much sharing with you all of my experiences and thoughts, and talking about wines, Spain, gastronomy, etc. I hope this is the first year of many others, and that you enjoy reading my crazy stories as much as I enjoy […]
Along with the Tempra Tantrum team, we’ve decided to start a movement to make Tuesdays the best day of the week. Mondays are known for the blues, Wednesday is Hump Day, Thursday is the new Friday (at least sometimes it feels like it!), and Friday is the weekend, so we wanted to make Tuesday special […]
I´m so thrilled!! Two of our wines were awarded with medals at the “Concours Mondial de Bruxelles” 2010, a very important and one of the most prestigious wine contests in Europe. Every year the contest changes location, and this one was celebrated in Palermo, Italy. Our Osborne Pedro Ximenez (PX) 1827 was awarded the Great […]
Starting today, the Rioja region will launch a campaign in the USA to promote Rioja wines. The campaign will focus mostly in NY, Florida and Chicago, as these are the states where Rioja is better known. Today wine journalist Leslie Sbrocco, will conduct a tasting in Chicago´s Ivy Room of 12 Rioja Wines, priced in […]
Would you call a wine drink made without alcohol –0.5 or 0.0% — a wine?? I’ve just tasted a new range of these products: white, rosé and red with 0.5% alcohol and another red with 0.0%. I´m pretty open to new things so I tasted them to see if they were anywhere close to a wine. […]
This week Spain has put on its flamenco dress and gotten into the Feria mood. Every April since 1846, the Feria de Abril –also known as the Feria de Sevilla –takes place in this city. During 5 days, Sevilla is colored with music, flamenco dresses and joy. Hundreds and hundreds of stalls –casetas in Spanish– with […]
The Malpica vineyard has started to seem like spring has finally arrived! Some plots have grown some buds that are quite tiny and soft and have some reddish color in them. They look beautiful, like Nature’s labor. Other plots are more developed and you can actually see what the shoots will look like, but they […]
Chocolate and wine together are two simple pleasures that can really complement each other. When I get a box of assorted chocolates I love to grab a few friends, a couple bottles of wine and let the taste testing begin! When pairing chocolate and wine, the wine should be as sweet as the level of […]
This winter in Malpica has been pretty cold and wet. In the last 2 months it has rained as much as it usually does in the whole year, and not to mention we had a couple of big snow storms that left the vineyard completely white. Because it doesn’t happen very often, I have to […]
With the Winter Olympics about to start, people from all over the world will be arriving in Vancouver this week to experience the local flavor and tastes of western Canada. This could mean a big surprise for some, as British Columbia is an emerging and pretty serious wine region they may not have expected. Although […]
The latest crazy thing I read about wines is a cellar under the sea. To promote sea activities the City of Vizcaya in northern Spain has just settled 4.500 bottles in an iron cage at 14 meters below the sea. To avoid neoprene pirates from stealing the precious treasure, the cage is surrounded by cameras and […]
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