13 Friday May 2016
After two solid weeks of rain, the sun should finally be back tomorrow. Until then I’ll enjoy these last drops of Andalusian sunshine (aka Tío Pepe).
Missing a few wine meme days. So far there’s #finofriday #manzanillamonday #winewednesday #thirstythursday… any more I don’t yet know about?
12 Thursday May 2016
Not a bad way to spend a rainy Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately I only had an hour or so to “get through” 42 different bodegas worth of Spanish wines. I’d had a busy “admin” work morning, and an early tapas tour booked in the evening, and had to fit in lunch somewhere along the way. But it was the first time Sevilla was hosting this major wine event so I felt I should at least put in an appearance, and I’m glad I did. Ran into a LOT of people I hadn’t seen in ages, some literally in over a year or more, and so it was good to reconnect. Also good to see many of the local “usual suspects”… I HAVE A DREAM that if I keep seeing the same people at these things that one day I will remember their names and where I know them from. Until then, it’s the usual smiling and chatting and wondering who I am talking to. 🙂
07 Saturday May 2016
Posted in food & drink, gastronomy, sevilla, sherry, twitter, twitter friends
It was Saturday morning, a rare weekend day off, and so I posted on Twitter… “what to do today…?” About an hour later I got a text from the most wonderful José Pizarro saying that he and his partner Peter Meades were still in Jerez and thinking about heading to Sevilla. And then it happened.
José called to say they’d be arriving at their hotel around 2 pm, so I met them there and we embarked on a Tapeo Extremo, starting off at Bodeguita Romero, where José and Peter had their first ever pringá. We had a lot more than that, actually, with José saying I should order the food and then he would order the sherry to go with it. Talk about matches made in heaven.
It must be said that Bodeguita Romero has a new – and amazing – sherry list. We finished off with a 20 year old VOR Cream from Bodegas Traditción, and even though I’m not crazy about creams I totally fell in love with this one, perfectly paired with aged manchego in manteca.
Then it was time to wander a bit. So we wandered into Barrio Santa Cruz and I showed José and Peter where I used to live, and P snapped this photo of us outside my old house. I think this set a personal record for the number of photos ever posted of me on the internet… EVER. This one and the one above. But somehow Peter has a very gentle eye and a knack for catching the spirit of the moment, not just faces. Love this pic of me and José. 
During our stroll around Barrio Santa Cruz we stopped into another of my favourite places, Las Teresas. And I got a pic of these gorgeous guys “hamming it up”. Then it was off to Gourmet Experience atop the central Corte Inglés in Plaza del Duque. I can’t actually remember why we did this, but we ended up eating oysters and drinking pink champagne.
And then like Cinderella I returned home after my magical lunch with these two wonderful guys, while they went off to finally check into their hotel and later on go out for dinner. Meanwhile I was happily in PJs by 8 pm and Netflixing with Morcilla. But what a wonderful day!
21 Thursday Apr 2016
I’ve loved Keith Haring’s work since I first came across it in the mid-80s. So I was delighted to come across this piece in the Toro Museum at Bodegas Osborne, which combines the emblematic Osborne bull with images from Picasso’s Guernica. Genius.
18 Monday Apr 2016
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So exactly a week after having to miss the presentation of Tío Pepe en Rama 2016 (because of this!) I found myself having a post-shopping pre-dinner glass of wine up at Gourmet Experience and my pal Silvia stopped by. Silvia not only runs the place at GE but her father Antonio Flores (AKA the winemaker poet) is the master wine blender at Gonzalez Byass and is also the guy responsible for Tío Pepe en Rama. Turns out Silvia missed the presentation too (she was only able to stop by for a quick hello before it all got going) and she insisted I try a glass. And well, it was damn fine. Thank you Silvia!
Tío Pepe en Rama 2016 was first selected in October from 100 of the best casks from two of the oldest Tío Pepe soleras, Rebollo and Constancia, and finally bottled (16,000 in total) in April from the top 60 out of those initial 100 casks.
A wild unfiltered wine, with all its yeast and organic contribution. Yellow, pale, golden tones, cloudy (yeast in suspension). The nose is pure albariza, salinity, nuts, bakery aromas. Tasty, intense, long, salty and slightly bitter finish. Or as Antonio would say… el sol de Andalucía embotellado (bottled Andalusian sunshine).
casa azahar 