I’m sitting surrounded by the most inviting selection of food and wine, marvelling at the aromas emanating from sweet acorn-fed Iberian ham and truffled salchichon; free-range cured ham shoulder and acorn-fed Iberian chorizo; green olive oil from Castillo de Canena in Andalusia; a stunning hake pate from Cantabria; organic Manchego cheese PDO from Albacete towards the south-east; and a gloriously fresh traditional gazpacho. I’m back in Spain, where I spent one of my most recent holidays in Europe before lockdown.
In reality I’m at home in Glasgow on a gloomy November afternoon. I’m about to switch on my computer and log into Zoom in anticipation of my first masterclass in Spanish food and wine pairing. I’ll be travelling from the Basque Country to Cadiz and Rioja to the plains of Extremadura and Andalucia and it’s the nearest I’ll get to actually travelling again to Spain in the short term.
On my table is a selection of interesting wine samples too, produced in terroirs ranging from high altitude, low rainfall, windy and dry, to damp and misty; from sandy to clay to limestone; and from ancient to modern production methods. I’m soon to discover that Spain’s growing areas from plateaux to mountains are higher than France, which give many of its wines a freshness and makes them good for matching with food.
Rose Murray Brown MW
Spain not only has a long winegrowing tradition dating back to Roman times (Roman Empire chronicles tell of shipments leaving Tarragona and Andalusia), but it also boasts a cutting-edge modern wine industry that is suited to contemporary menus. I’m about to learn this and more from the first-ever series of virtual Eat Spain, Drink Spain webinar, and expertly led by the Edinburgh-based Master of Wine and journalist Rose Murray Brown (pictured right). Although I can’t see everybody at the zoom session, I understand there are 130 attendees from all over the world. (I’m already thinking how fab it would be if Scotland did something similar for its world-renowned food and drink – but that’s for another time.)
Rose immediately declares that Spain is becoming increasingly known as nation of food and drink, that it has the largest area of vineyards in the world, and that in terms of gastronomy it’s the most dynamic and exciting country in Europe at the moment. It has 11 iconic gastronomy items cheese, fish, fruit, vegetables and legumes, ham, meat and sausages, olive oil, spices and salt, sweets, table olives, vinegars and - naturalmente - wines. Some 70 wines are protected by PDO, and 41 by PGI, status.
Azafran de la Mancha saffron also has PDO status, and is a Slow Food flagship product; likewise the Pimenton de Murcia and Pimenton de La Vera are also PDO. Three types of salt – sea, flake and crystal – are mainly produced in Ibiza, Cadiz and the Balearic Islands, and smoked salt is trending in the foodie market. Also, chocolate production in Spain is huge and there’s a big chocolate and wine matching movement going on.
With Rose we sample some fascinating undiscovered regions and producers, along with better-known ones.
An aromatic stainless-still fermented 2018 VdT Castilla y Leon Albillo, for example, is produced in the highest altitude of all the wines we taste. Along with a delicious sliver of organic ewe’s milk Manchego DOP and a corner of Emily quince paste, we’re off.
Over 90 minutes or so I learn many things, but mostly …
That zingy Cava Anna de Codorniu Brut (70% Chardonnay, 15% Parellada, 15% Macabeo/Xarello)) goes very well with food, especially gazpacho, fish and crab, melt-in-the-mouth jamon, and tortilla. But producers (the majority of whom are in Catalonia) need to bang the drum for Cava and make the world aware that it’s produced in the traditional method, and is therefore on a par with French Champagne and Italian Franciacorta. With the rise in popularity of Prosecco and the challenge posed by new English sparkling wines, the Spanish industry is in danger of missing the boat unless it shouts a bit more.
That tinned fish is big in Spain. Line-caught tuna loin in olive oil is a premium product. Hake pate by La Ermita in Cantabria goes well with the award-winning Cuarenta Vendimias Cuvee Rueda 100% Verdejo from 40-year-old vineyards by Bodega Cuatro Rayas, one of the first modern white wine regions.
Spain was behind the times in experimentation for ages but a new generation of producers who have travelled the world have now returned home to take the industry forward. For example, the old terraced vineyards of Perelada Comercial SA, close to France, is currently enjoying a renaissance in the hands of the third-generation Perelada family. Its Finques Emporda is amazingly good with sugar-free chocolate with almonds by Horno de San Jose, a 100-year-old family business in Cantabria.
We Scots wine lovers tend to forget about sherry. In Spain, it’s become a significant popular movement among the young. We tried the Fernando de Castilla Antique Oloroso, from the small bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla in Cadiz, currently enjoying a fantastic renaissance. “For the younger generations especially, it’s all about eating and drinking local,” says Rose Murray Brown.
Finally, the exquisitely-named small-batch Balcon de Pilatos Maturana Rioja 2017 from the ancient 200 year old Valdemar vineyard is delicious – and robust enough – to keep pace with Beher’s chorizo of acorn-fed 100% Iberian pigs. A taste of tradition, and a fitting way to close our session.
Salud. And bravi, #eatspaindrinkspain #spainfoodnation and @rosemurraybrown.com.