The 'Turó' at 25 + Peralada at 100
Year 13, No. 15
In 50 years from now, a child will be reading an old book and have to walk up to his or her grandparent and ask, “Please, do tell me what ‘fall’ was?”
I say that as while writing this during a trip to the Ribera del Duero region, we seem to have lost “fall” somewhere along the way in recent years. A winemaker I talked to said, “Two weeks ago it was 30C and we were in short sleeves and now it’s like the dead of winter.”
On the plus side, it’s raining with little regard for anyone’s comfort but Spain needs all the water it can get even if that means there are some soggy vineyard walks.
I can’t complain in any regard however as, despite it being two weeks ago, hanging at the corners of my palate and in that happy part of my mind, there’s the taste of el Celler de Can Roca and 25 vintages of Recaredo’s Turó d’en Mota. It was a tremendous lunch where the winery celebrated all the wines from 1999 up to the embryonic 2023 with a group of lucky souls in the wine media. I keep saying it, but many thanks to the Recaredo team for pulling off what was truly the event of the year in Spanish wine.
In some ways it took my back to another fine trip the month previous to celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of Castell de Peralada in Empordà. It should come as no surprise that both of these trips stood out not just for the wines and the setting, but for the incredible food offer in the Girona Province of Catalunya and, as there’s no way I can capture it in pure words alone, I’d recommend you to visit the region if you haven’t already.
In shifting gears to what isn't the latest and greatest (and not from the Girona Province) there’s also been an essay by guest author, Charlie Leary (*) on the fascinating link between Bordeaux and Rioja that redefines a great deal of what we’d thought about the relationship between these two mega regions of France and Spain.
I’ve been covering a lot of ground recently as well that will be forthcoming in new reports still to come this year, so do stay tuned.
Drink well, be well.
-Miquel
(*) Free to read