Category: seville

Madrid Fusion 2018

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Madrid Fusión is an international gastronomy fair aimed particularly at chefs, but also at other industry professionals. As well as the main exhibition area, the highlights are the cooking demonstrations and master classes, wine tastings and competitions, and seminars on a wide range of topics from new cooking techniques to environmental issues.

This year’s event is the 15th edition and runs from the 22nd – 24th of January, and is extra special for Sevilla because the City Council and Tourism Board is promoting the city and its tapas, including a Tapas Jam Session “show cooking” on the opening day. This fabulous video features the four bars taking part in this presentation and I am so proud to be able to say that they are not only four of my favourite bars, chefs, owners and teams, but they are also my friends. I’d love to be there to cheer them on, but I have a previous work obligation so will be there in spirit instead.

The featured bars are: La Azotea (chef Santiago González) Cañabota (chef Marcos Nieto), El Gallinero de Sandra (chef & co-owner Nacho Dargallo) and Lalola Taberna (chef & owner Javier Abascal).

Watch the video – it’s gorgeous.

La Goya XL, Saca IV

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This past Monday was the presentation and tasting in Sevilla of the latest bottling of Delgado Zuleta’s Goya XL, an exquisite “en rama manzanilla pasada” that has aged and rested for more than ten years, and was selected from just six casks from the Solera Reservada de La Goya by winemaster José Antonio Sánchez Pazo. There are only 3000 bottles of this very special limited selection wine. The presentation was held in the elegant central courtyard of the Taberna del Alabardero, which proved to be the perfect setting.

There have only been four sacas (bottlings) of this wine in the history of the bodega, beginning in 2012, and they have been roughly two years apart, whenever the winemaker feels it is the right moment. Each bottling has had its own personality, and on this occasion the microclimate over the past few months in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, with a mild summer and autumn, led to a robust growth of yeast (creating the all-important velo de flor) and other exceptional characteristics that tell the winemaker that it is time for the next Goya XL saca.

According to Sánchez Pazo, this Goya XL is more alive than the previous ones, pale gold in colour with iodized reflections, and nicely unctuous, leaving light tears after swirling. It has a balanced nose in which the saline and dry tones stand out, with some hints of a slight oxidation but with great finesse. Full in the mouth, with a persistent and elegant finish and that rounds out the previous perceived sensations.

Sánchez Pazo, recently incorporated into the winery, has more than 30 years experience in sherry bodegas. It is clear that he sees his new position not only as a great responsibility, but also as a privilege. This was his first time choosing the casks that would be used for Goya XL and his passion while speaking about this wine was obvious, and infectious.

Goya XL goes through many years of intense aging that are balanced with others that are more of a “time-out”, a difficult balance to maintain that will allow the wine to continue aging throughout the years without losing the yeast. It requires very light “topping up” from the criaderas to provide nutrients for the yeast while maintaining its manzanilla pasada status.

Delgado Zuleta was founded in 1744, which makes it one of the oldest wineries in the Marco de Jerez. In 1918 it took the artistic name of a famous flamenco dancer, La Goya, for its main manzanilla, and in 1987 it merged with the Rodríguez La-Cave winery. If you are ever in Sanlúcar de Barrameda you must visit the bodega.

Premier Sherry Cocktail Bar

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A new and welcome addition to the world of sherry in Sevilla, the Premier Sherry & Cocktail Bar had its official opening on October 19th, with a special master class tasting to showcase some of its brands. The sherry cocktail bar is the sixth establishment in the Premium chain, which was founded in 2010 by brothers Martín and Enrique Maíllo, and has until now specialised in spirits – rum, gin, whisky and vodka, together with a range of tonic waters. The sherry bar is therefore something of a new departure, but aims to maintain the high standards of the group in events, service and quality of product.

In most respects the ambiance is what you might expect of a cocktail bar, with concealed blue light at the junction of walls and ceiling shining through the glassware and serried ranks of interestingly coloured bottles lining the shelves. It’s relatively small size and hints of exposed brickwork give it a subtle sense of intimacy that is quite appropriate to the nature of sherry. The unique element of the decoration, though, are the diagrams along the side wall, designed by José Peñascal, detailing the various grape and sherry production processes, and how they result in the different styles of sherry.

Aside from offering great wines and cocktails, the Premier Sherry Cocktail Bar also gives private tastings, in both Spanish and English, by appointment only. The space can also be booked for private events.

The opening day tasting was interesting and lots of fun, with as good an attendance as the venue really allowed, and was headed by sherry ambassador Pepe Ferrer. An excellent range of sherries from the Consejo Regulador was accompanied by delicious snack pairings.

Many thanks to Cristina Botija and Desirée Ramos of Premium for organising the event, which I hope will be the first of many.

sherry ambassador Pepe Ferrer

pouring palo cortado

the sherry production wall

Pepe Ferrer, Enrique Maillo, Martín Maillo, José Peñascal

Premier Sherry Cocktail Bar
Jaen 1
Tel +34 955 133 032
3.00 pm – 2.00 am (4 am weekends)

Andalucía Sabor 2017

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Andalucia Sabor is the Fine Food and Wine Fair of Andalucia, held every two years and showcasing the best of the produce and cuisine of the region. It’s an opportunity for producers to exhibit their wares, and to meet with chefs, food industry professionals and interested members of the general public. As well as the multitude of exhibitors’ stands there are also show cookings and discussions, and opportunities for networking among attendees.

The venue for the 6th (2017) exhibition was, as always, the impressive Fibes Palacio de Congresos in Sevilla Este, with the main exhibition room, two smaller exhibition rooms and the Auditorium housing the Fair.

This was actually the fourth time I’ve attended, and the range and quantity of products this year was, I think, the most impressive so far, and I was able to meet and talk to a number of exhibitors, including some old friends, as well as sampling some of the goodies.

The staples of Andalucian cuisine were all well represented, of course. The two smaller exhibition rooms housed respectively quality olive oils, a market sector that seems to be always expanding and diversifying, and wines and sherries, which also seems to be creating new brands and flavours, as well as the tried and tested old favourites. Also well represented were the regions cheeses, in a bewildering variety that included several I was unfamiliar with, and pork products – not only our very special jamones, but some more unusual ones too (I came home with a jar of lomo de cabeza al orza after sampling a few bites at one of the stands). Other stands featured artesenal bread, jams, and our famous cold soups.

I also try to make a point of going to a couple of the show cookings in the auditorium, though this time, with more than enough to see in the main exhibition, I only saw two – one on the rices of the Guadalquivir, the other a culinary tour of Granada, which at least gives you an idea of the variety of themes on offer.

This year’s exhibition is now over, and as always it’s been a fun and interesting few days, demonstrating once again that Andalucia is blessed with more than its fair share of top quality produce, with an exceptional variety that comes from the many different types of terrain in the region. Will definitely be back for the next one in two years’ time!

Pando Cheese Tasting

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Pando Restaurant @PandoSevilla in San Eloy Street has been running a series of excellent “Gastronomic Schools” – educational tastings – of which the latest was this week’s cheese tasting, hosted by Diego Ruiz de Terry of Pando (Grupo San Eloy) and presented by Antonio Rodriguez Vacas of cheese distributors TGT group.

We tasted three very different cheeses, one goats’ cheese, one sheeps’ cheese, and one dairy cheese, accompanied by different wines.

Queso Ibores is a surprisingly mild and creamy goats cheese from the Extramadura region, with none of the harsher overtones of some goat cheeses. We had the natural version, but it also comes flavoured with pimentón, which gives the cheese a deeper yellow-orange colour. Delicious served with a light white wine.

Queso Roncal is a typical strong mature (minimum of 4 months ageing) sheeps cheese from the Navarra region of northeast Spain that has been produced in the traditional way for hundreds of years, and was the first cheese to have a Denomination of Origin (1981). Serve with quince jam and grapes and an earthy red wine to bring out the full flavour.

Queso Mahón is a dairy cheese (a relative rarity in Spain) from the island of Menorca, named after the port which was its point of export. The version we had was an aged variety (it also comes fresh or semi-cured), hard and flaky in texture, with a yellow-orange colour and a strong, rather salty, flavour. Excellent with a nice red wine.

Thanks to Pando and TGT group for putting on an enjoyable event.