Wine Fictions

 "Can you please get me a bottle of wine from Piemonte? I have this birthday from a guy from there and a... can I pass over later on?" What, for me, is an absolutely normal phone call has, this time, driven me to some further reflection on how much certain people seem to trust my wine recommendations.  In this particularly case it was nothing too much as it was a call from a close friend, but whenever people I don't really have such a big connection to say outloud that they simply trust whatever I recommend, I do feel between flattered and puzzled.  Sure it also happens to my colleagues as there are certain customers who just want to be attended by one of us.  Somehow I find it fascinating how you manage to gain someone's trust. At least, wine wise. I do believe that a big part of the job is about this unique relationship that you can establish with customers which, in a very last interpretative point, makes them come back.  That is also the reason why you often...

 A wine tasting at the Instituto Cervantes in Hamburg in the iconic Chile Haus building.  This is, probably, one of the best settings for the presentation of one of the most interesting wine projects in Spain: Grandes Pagos is a project which started in 2000 and aims to give visibility to small projects around the country which stand for their high quality.  Seven wines were selected in order to show the diversity of a territory where different soils and people work in a mix between tradition and innovation achieving astonishing results.  Before getting to the wine which has impressed me the most, I would like to share the magnificent introduction done by the Riojano writer Andrés Pascual which has guided the public in a passionate literary journey which has revealed the intimate relation between the Spanish culture and the ancient culture of wine. From García Lorca to Quixote I have to confess that this was one of the most inspiring talks I have heard these last t...