David de Castro and Faustino Muñoz Soria
Andalucía Brut, the first “salón del cava, champagne y otras perlas”, organized by sommelier and “foodhunter” David de Castro, was held in Sevilla on October 16-17 to promote Spanish sparkling wines as part of the gastronomy of Andalucía.
The open air venue was Puerto de Cuba, on the bank of the Guadalquivir, with a great view across the river to the Torre del Oro. After the rain of the previous couple of weeks the weather was pleasantly warm and sunny, just perfect for wandering around the exhibitors’ stands which had been set up ready for tastings of the products on offer. These included some of the best known names of the cava world, such as Freixenet, Juvé y Camps and Codorníu, and some that I was unfamiliar with, such as Mestres and Llopart, but which proved to be of top quality. As with other wines, Spain has a great variety of excellent cava, at really very reasonable prices.
To complement the cava we had some of the accessories of a good tasting to sample. There was a special selection of bottled mineral waters chosen by another sommelier, Faustino Muñoz Soria (find them in his new book Aguas del Mundo), and Castro’s own Don Pelayo regaña flatbread and picos, which were developed especially for wine tastings. We also got to try some Spanish Riofrio caviar and Iberico pork products – a killer caña de lomo and a cooked Iberico ham infused with truffle.
