Category Archives: sherry

lustau sherry tasting

03 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by in getaways, sherry

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

Another Jerez Getaway, this time to attend a sherry tasting at the Consejo Regulador de Jerez (Sherry Council) in their magnificent Bodega San Ginés. As a Sherry Educator I like going to these tastings from time to time as a kind of “refresher course” because there is always something more to learn and experience about sherry wines, and on this occasion one of my favourite bodegas was presenting their wines.

Bodegas Lustau was the first sherry bodega I ever visited, with my friend Peter and I being given a special private tour by Director of Communications and Brand Ambassador for Lustau, Federico Sánchez-Pece, who took part in today’s presentation, along with Lustau’s master wine blender Sergio Martínez and César Saldaña, Director of the Consejo Regulador. Both Federico and César are gifted speakers and it’s always a pleasure to listen to them wax lyrical about their favourite subject.

After the cata Peter and I met up with sherry-loving friends Anne, Paul and Tomoko, but more on that later…

Federico Sánchez-Pece, César Saldaña, Sergio Martínez

Manzanilla Papirusa, Fino Puerto Fino, Amontillado Escuardilla,
Oloroso Don Nuño, Mostcatel Emilín

Bodega San Ginés

après oncology

01 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by in cancer, friends, hope, hospitals, sevilla, sherry

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , ,

This morning I had an appointment with my new oncologist. After last week’s “good news bad news” situation following the PET scan I have to say I’ve been pretty stressed, with some days better than others. Say what you will, but after all my cancer history, the idea of a looming recurrence threat just became a lot more real to me. I try hard not to think about this too much, but sometimes it’s just too much.

Anyhow, today my lovely friend and colleague Cinta came with me to my appointment to act as “interpreter”, because when I get really nervous somehow my knowledge of Spanish totally flies out the window, and I wanted to be sure I didn’t miss anything important.

The good news is that both Cinta and I like the new oncologist. She was patient and had a gentle touch whilst poking around my belly. She was also patient as I tried to explain my situation in a more elaborate manner than she possibly required. Then she said that she was going to ask for both a colonoscopy and abdomen-thorax CAT scan, in order to find out what was causing the increase of inflammation seen in the PET scan, and also the extreme abdominal pain I’ve been having since November.

EXCEPT the weirdest thing has happened. After having had “travelling” abdominal pain for almost three months, sometimes so intense I couldn’t sleep and could barely walk… the day after the PET scan ALL THE PAIN DISAPPEARED. What?? I mean, seriously, it’s gone. Well okay, there are a few “tugs” here and there. But I no longer want to scream in agony when I roll over in bed or bend over to put on my shoes. The new onc is taking this as a positive sign, but the tests still need to be done. And I’m still scared.

Anyhow, after Cinta and I left the hospital and got a taxi back to the centre, it seemed like a good time to relax with a nicely chilled manzanilla, even though it wasn’t quite noon yet. Luckily this isn’t anything unusual in Sevilla.

feels like christmas!

23 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by in food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars, tapas tours

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

The other day I was updating my Sherry Education pages on Sevilla Tapas, as well as organizing some recently booked sherry & tapas tours and a private sherry tasting, and it occurred to me that I should also update the sherry info PDF I give to my clients. I usually print this up at home and, while useful, it lacks (shall we say?) a bit of visual polish. And so I asked the Sherry Council in Jerez if they had some promotional material I could use on my tours and tastings. And check it out! These came yesterday morning and it felt like Christmas all over again.

The larger booklet is basically the same information I have on the PDFs, but obviously this looks much more professional. And the smaller one is a guide to food and sherry pairings entirely based on tapas bars in Sevilla. Perfect! Looking forward to using them soon.

amigas & más

10 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by in food & drink, friends, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

chef Javi Abascal & Cinta Romero

I love this chica. I was fortunate to meet Cinta Romero a year ago when I visited her unique private catering venue La Cochera del Abuelo. And I was even more fortunate when shortly afterwards she became a part of my fabulous We Love Tapas team. Since then we have become friends as well as colleagues, and she is always an inspiration to me.

As Cinta and I share a passion for gastronomy in Sevilla we also make great “tapas research” partners. But yesterday was an extra special outing as we finally managed to meet up at La Lola Gourmet Tapas, which is run by a friend of Cinta’s, chef Javier Abascal. We were treated to a special tapas tasting menu, which was outstanding.

Later we were joined by Cinta’s daughter María (who had the burger) and later still by her husband Javier (for a penúltima). It was a fantastic afternoon, with lunch finally finishing around 6.00 pm. Great food and wine, even better company, and lots of interesting conversation. Mostly “talking shop”, which could have continued for a few hours more. Instead we made a date for a “tapas dinner” next week to pick up where we left off. Really looking forward to it.

a day in jerez

04 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by in andalucia, food & drink, getaways, sherry

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

Sometimes the best plans are the ones that are barely planned at all. I had started thinking about last year’s Birthday Month, when I took a short getaway trip each week of January to celebrate my big 6-OH birthday on the 7th (one day is never enough 😉 ). Anyhow, it seemed a bit much to celebrate 61 in the same way – but wait until I turn 65! – and yet I still wanted to do something special. So I decided that taking a day trip each week this month would be a fun thing to do. Then I realized that I was already in the middle of the first week and still hadn’t planned the first day trip!

Then by chance I got a “follow” on Instagram from Bodegas Fernandez Gao, an up and coming winery in Jerez I’d been interested in learning more about and, although I knew they still weren’t offering tours, I asked if I could pop by for a visit – and they said yes! So that sealed it. I decided to go to Jerez for the day. And of course I immediately got in touch with my friend Tomoko to see if she wanted to meet up. It turned out that there was already a little party planned at one of my favourite bodegas and I ended up getting an invite. But after our visit to Fernandez Gao we decided to stop off at Las Bandarillas for a quick lunch before heading over to Urium.

I can’t remember the number of impromptu fiestas I’ve stumbled upon at Bodegas Urium. At this point that place really feels like my second home in Jerez. This time expat pals Paul & Anne had arranged a little “sherry and Christmas cake” thing at the bodega, that ended up growing… and eventually included me and Peter.

It was a fabulous bodega party, with everyone (I think maybe 25 of us?) all standing around a long food-laden wooden table with sherry glasses in hand, all talking, all catching up. Some people I met for the first time, but it was mostly meeting up with old friends. Afterwards Paul, Ann and Tomoko joined us in the center of town for a “penúlitima” before we had to catch our train home. A perfect day out.