Andalucía Day at Binomio

Lunch at Binomio in Sevilla [click on image to enlarge] This past Monday was Andalucía Day and, as I spent the long weekend in Sevilla and Ronda, it was fitting that we had a special lunch on Monday that was made entirely of products and wines from Andalucía. At the suggestion of Shawn from Sevilla [...]

Foster & Dobbs

Last Sunday I was visited by cheese connoisseurs Luan Schooler and Tim Wilson of Foster & Dobbs Authentic Foods in Portland, Oregon. They were particularly interested in our wines because of how well they pair with different cheeses. First we had a special tasting of Botani, Selección Especial and Victoria 2010 from the tanks at the bodega. Botani [...]

Sevilla Tapas

I was recently very pleased to discover that two new Seville restaurants are serving Botani and so yesterday I mixed business with pleasure by taking a quick trip north to visit them, and was joined by my friends Manuel and Shawn (aka Sevilla Tapas). First we went to Arenero, which is located in the Barrio [...]

La Fiesta del Ajoblanco, Almáchar

On the first Saturday of every September the village of Almáchar, Málaga, celebrates the Fiesta del Ajoblanco, which features the typical products of the area: muscat grapes, wine and raisins. Visitors can sample ajoblanco, a cold garlic and almond soup that has been prepared in this region for hundreds of years, as well as other [...]

Agrifood Management Courses

This week I’ll be in Almería giving a brief presentation to agrifood managers attending a course organised by the San Telmo International Institute, a business school dedicated to training top executives. Since 1982, the year that saw the first senior management program, more than three thousand entrepreneurs and senior managers of both private and public companies [...]

Seville Visit

Had a great time in Sevilla on Tuesday. I had a very productive meeting with my wine distributor, Federico Flores, and later met with Shawn from Sevilla Tapas to visit a couple of bars with my wines. Our first stop was La Azotea where we had some excellent tapas and got to briefly chat with owners [...]

Sevilla Visit Video

This is a video we made last night at the end of my trip to Sevilla, in Puracepa with their wine expert Filippo. The written version with photos will come a bit later. I’m back in Málaga now. Lots to do before the vendimia starts, but I hope to get back to Sevilla soon.

Vineyard Visit

Yesterday I had the chance to meet a friend of my brother Jorge’s, Dana Street, who runs the Fore Street Restaurant in Portland Maine. He was in Spain with his team, Sam Hayward, Riley Shryock and Ken Thomas, to do research on Spanish food and wine for their new tapas restaurant and we had arranged [...]

Muscat Kit Kats

This is definitely a food pairing I never would have thought of for my beloved muscat grapes. But Nestlé Japan seems to enjoy coming up with different and quite unusual flavour combinations for their candy bars, including wasabi, soya sauce and green tea. And apparently also Muscat of Alexandria flavoured Kit Kats. According to The Chocolate [...]

Winemaker Dinner at Mercat Chicago

This Thursday – May 20th at 7pm – take a culinary tour of Spain with me and Iron Chef Jose Garces from the Catalan-inspired Mercat a la Planxa. At the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago. There will be a five-course dinner with wine pairings, including sous vide buffalo tenderloin, pernil asado, salmorejo & other delights! So [...]