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Tag Archives: sherry

feria by day

18 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by azahar in andalucia, fiestas, flamenco, sevilla, sherry

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feria, flamenco, horses, sevilla, sherry

The April Feria in Sevilla is not my favourite thing – in fact it’s not even my favourite feria – but I do like stopping by for at least one afternoon to see the splendid horses and the lovely flamenco dresses. By chance this year it has also coincided with the azahar, which is still (just barely) on the trees. It also suddenly became summer yesterday, with beautiful blue skies and temps of around 32º or more.

So here are a few pics from yesterday, with possibly some “feria by night” ones to come. It’s been years since I’ve been to Feria in the evening, but I have an invitation to go tomorrow, so we shall see.
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singular wines

06 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by azahar in andalucia, restaurants, sevilla, sherry, wine

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baqvs, manzanilla, sevilla, sherry, sherry lover, singular wines, vela flor

As soon as I saw the line up for this sherry tasting I knew I’d have to attend. I was already familiar with Velo Flor by Bodegas Alonso, one of the most unique (and delicious) manzanillas I’ve ever tasted, but the Pedro’s Almacenista Selection range by Singular Wines were new to me.

The tasting was at BaQvs in the Hotel Casas de la Juderia, and was led by fellow sherry educator Luis Gutiérrez, who is also the owner of the restaurant. Along with the five fabulous wines – fino, manzanilla, amontillado, palo cortado, oloroso – we were given a  history lesson on the origins of wine making in the Sherry Triangle region, and also taken through the sherry making process. It’s clear that Luis really knows his stuff, though I would have liked a bit more tasting note info and discussion on what actually makes these wines “singular”. But it was a pleasant evening, and thanks are due to BaQvs restaurant for the organising and hosting of the event.

jerez getaway march 2018

06 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by azahar in food & drink, friends, getaways

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bodegas, food, friends, gastronomy, jerez, jerez getaway, sherry

This week I was supposed to be out on an Andalucía Adventure travelling around the white villages with Peter and our friends from Austin Texas Jane & John, but the rainy weather put the kibosh on that plan. Instead we opted for a return to sherry country with a side trip to Cádiz.

After arriving in Jerez and checking into our hotel we made our way to the central market for a quick breakfast of churros, followed by a market visit and a quick sherry at El Pasaje. Then it was time to visit Bodegas Tradición.

As most of you already know, Bodegas Tradición is a unique bodega experience. Not only do they only make VOR and VORS sherries (aside from one fino) but their private art gallery is a joy to behold. Sabrina put out some lovely snacks for us and we sat around chatting and sipping our very special wines. It was actually Tradición’s palo cortado that changed my life all those years ago at a bar in Sevilla, turning me into the sherry-obsessed person sherry professional I am today.

After leaving Tradición we made our way back to the city centre for a penúltima, in order to relax and figure out where to have dinner that evening. That’s when I heard from Rocío from Bodegas Urium and we ended up having an impromptu bodega visit there with the family: father and bodega founder Alonso, and Rocío’s husband Mario. This small family-run biz doesn’t offer public tours, but on occasion they very generously open up their doors to friends, and friends of friends. As always, Alonso was in fine fettle, regaling us with stories while pouring wines from the barrel. I think Jane & John came away from this visit a bit awe-struck, and to be honest, I always do too.

Dinner that night was at one of my favourite places in Jerez, the super traditional Tabanco Las Bandarillas. It’s all home-style cooking there, nothing fancy, but always fabulous. And with super friendly service. Then it was time for bed as we had another special bodega experience planned for the next morning.

vinos ricos aquí

27 Tuesday Feb 2018

Posted by azahar in food & drink, friends, getaways, sherry, tapas, tapas bars, twitter friends, wine

≈ 1 Comment

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cuatro gatos wine fest, el puerto de santa maria, el puerto getaway, sherry, wine

Like the sign says… vinos ricos aguí! And indeed there were. The third Cuatro Gatos Wine Fest took place last Saturday (February 24th) under the big top behind the Hotel Duques de Medinaceli in El Puerto de Santa María. Peter and I arrived by train around noon and made our way to the hotel-apt we had booked for the night.

The courtyard of the Palacio de Luja is much more impressive than the rather tired and slightly sad apartments they offer, so I’m not even going to show photos of the apartment. It was clean, though with an overpowering “air freshener” smell, but everything just looked old and unloved, if you know what I mean. Luckily we were out and about most of the time.

Somehow I didn’t take many photos at the wine tasting, probably because it’s not easy to hold the iphone one-handed. It was great running into Paula and Andrew – two of my favourite sherry gurus – and seeing lots of other people I know, both producers and fellow wine lovers. We mostly hung out around the sherries, and got to taste some pretty spectacular wines. It was also a learning experience for me, tasting the groundbreaking wines by Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Pérez, and also a new release of three 2014 single pago manzanillas by Viñas Callejuela, clearly showing the importance of terroir. Looking forward to visiting the Pérez and Callejuela bodegas soon.

Around 3 o’clock we took a lunch break and headed over to one of my favourite spots in El Puerto – La Bodeguilla del Bar Jamón. They were offering a stand-up buffet at the event, but sitting down for awhile at this point was a very attractive idea. Paula joined us and, as you can see, we had a delicious time. After lunch Paula had to drive back home to Mijas, and we went back to try a few more wines before calling it a day.

After stopping by the hotel to change shoes we headed out again for a walk around town and ran into another person we know who has recently moved to Cádiz. Jane and her son were looking for somewhere for dinner and so later that evening we once again found ourselves at Bodeguilla, this time with them, for a tapas snack at the bar. Then it was back to the hotel to sleep.

Next morning over breakfast we were trying to work out what to do for the rest of the day (our train home was for 6pm) and we decided there probably wasn’t much doing in El Puerto on a Sunday. So after a quick look at the train schedule, and also a quick google for a place to leave the suitcase, we popped over to Cádiz, which turned out to be an excellent idea. More on that tomorrow!

winter sherry chicken

12 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by azahar in cooking, homecooking, sherry, spain

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casa azahar, chicken, home, homecooking, sherry

You can tell it’s winter because I don’t normally cook like this for myself. Though in fact this made about three meals, the best being a garlicky chicken sandwich on a crusty roll, with a bit of soy mayo and crispy greens on top. And of course a generous glass of fino sherry was added to the sauce while cooking. Maybe I should start writing my own sherry cookbook?

jueves de cata

10 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by azahar in events, sevilla, sherry, wine

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el corte ingles, gourmet experience, jueves de cata, sherry, tasting, wine

The Corte Inglés Gourmet Experience and Probando Wines have put together a series of “jueves de cata” wine tastings, and the first one was this beautiful selection from Bodegas Diez Mérito. While all the sherries were outstanding, the VORS Fino Imperial amontillado totally blew me away. It was a very relaxed event, led by Fran León, and was followed by a sampling of sushi from Sushi Spot Corner, which we didn’t stay for. But hoping to catch the next tasting!

yay! vinoble!

08 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by azahar in sherry, wine

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jerez, sherry, sherry education, vinoble

I got my accreditation for Vinoble 2018 – so excited!

anne & paul

05 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by azahar in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, getaways, sherry, tapas

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anne paul, friends, jerez, jerez getaway, sherry

I first met Anne and Paul last spring when I went to Jerez for a sherry tasting followed by a combined birthday/leaving party for our mutual friend Momoko. Since then we’ve stayed in touch and have also met up on other Jerez Getaways, such as this past weekend.

We all went to the Lustau sherry tasting at noon on Saturday, and afterwards met up with our friend Tomoko at nearby Albalá Restaurante for an amazing lunch. This (of course) was followed by a penúlitima and Paul chose a bar that I’d never been to before, but will certainly visit next time I’m in town. Then it was “suddenly” time to get the train home. Fabulous day… I look forward to taking Anne and Paul on a tapeo in Sevilla sometime soon.  🙂

Albalá: tuna tartare, asparagus in tempura, secreto meatballs,
pork tenderoin, wild boar, apple tart

La Penúltima with Tomoko, Anne, Peter and Paul

Paul & Peter at the Jerez train station

lustau sherry tasting

03 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by azahar in getaways, sherry

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bodegas lustau, consejo regulador jerez, jerez, jerezgetaway, sherry

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 azahar in cancer, friends, hope, hospitals, sevilla, sherry

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

friends, hospitals, oncology, sherry

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.

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So OF COURSE on the warmest day of the year (so far) l am cooking up a garum masala 🌶 with chicken thighs, lots of spinach, garlic, onion, roasted red peppers. Gutted l couldn’t find fresh cilantro 🍃 #homecooking #casaazahar
Manolo (son of Alfonso) with caracoles 🐌. Bar Alfonso “El Rey de los Caracoles” #Sevilla #tapas #sevillatapas
Manzanilla Monday with caracoles 🐌. Bar Alfonso “El Rey de los Caracoles” #Sevilla. #tapas #sevillatapas #manzanillamonday #sherrylover
Bocadito de calamares fritos with chipotle. No mention of it being served on BAO in the menu - way too sweet. A nice mollete would’ve have been better. But the calamares were perfect. @catalinasevilla #sevilla #tapas #sevillatapas
Deep fried artichoke chips with romesco sauce. @catalinasevilla #sevilla #tapas #sevillatapas
Tile coffee advert in Calle San Jacinto #Triana. #sevilla #trianeando
Cold Beer O’clock! 🍺🦐 Cervecería La Grande #Sevilla #beeroclock #azaharbeer
And... that’s a wrap. Midnight fireworks marking the end of #FeriaSevilla18. Goodnight #Sevilla 😘
Brioche torrija with dulce de leche, ice cream. Delicious. @labrunildatapas #sevilla
Crackburger™️ O’clock! @labrunildatapas #sevilla #tapas #sevillatapas
Vermouth O’clock! Delicious vermut made from fino and manzanilla sherries. @vermuteriasyosoytupadre #sevilla #vermut #vermu #vermouth
Beautiful (and delicious!) ajoblanco with smoked herring and trout roe. La Sal #Sevilla #tapas #sevillatapas #gourmettapastour
Morcilla’s favourite perch. #catsofinstagram #azaharcats #casaazahar
Elegant amazonas enjoying a chilled manzanilla on horseback. #FeriaSevilla18 #sevilla #sherrylover
Becquer’s cigar. Pastry wrapped prawns and cuttlefish with alioli. Award winning tapa st @espacioeslava #sevilla #tapas #sevillatapas #gourmettapastour

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