Friday, September 26: Arrived in Barcelona on a Vueling flight and shared a taxi to the Majestic Hotel with a Norwegian MW, Mai Tjemsland. At 9 pm met up with Miguel Torres, his Director of Communications Christoph Kammüller and Gerard Basset. Miguel had invited us to dinner at the Restaurant Moments in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel a short walk away from our hotel.

We began with a bottle of Torres Fransola 2012, a very fresh and delightful Sauvignon Blanc, followed by Torres Milmanda Chardonnay 2011, which I had with parrotfish in a mild curry sauce with zucchini and enoki. The multi-coloured fish apparently come from the Balearic Islands and looks rather like a parrot! A chocolate dessert followed. The hotel has a clever way of presenting the wine cork – a piece of malachite, with grooves to hold the two corks.

Device for holding corks at Moments in the Mandarin Hotel

Saturday, September 27: After a late breakfast I walked around the old city of Barcelona for three hours, taking in the Cathedral and Parroquia Santa Maria del Mar. Came across a large demonstration for Catalan independence.

Catalan independence demonstration

Barcelona is a city of bicycles with cycle lanes everywhere. One shop I saw has a bicycle air pump outside inviting cyclists to use it. Also lots of beggars with inventive methods for pulling at your heartstrings. One woman had two cats with her; another had a dog dressed up in a headscarf and lensless green sunglasses. Another hads a cut-down Coca Cola can on a line attached to a short fishing rod which he would cast towards the passersby. Along the Avenida Portal de l’Angel were several North Africans selling knock-off hand bags. They had set out the bags on square white sheets with strings attached to each corner, so if the cops came by they could haul them away with one pull and make a run for it.

Handbag salesman about to flee cops

Stopped in at Mas Q Menos (46, Rambla de Catalunya) for an Iberico ham sandwich and a glass of Hijos de Rainera Perez Manzanilla “La Guita.” After dealing with emails I went up to the 8th floor of the hotel where there’s an open-air bar and small pool. Great view of Barcelona from there. Sat and had a glass of Fernando de Castillo Manzanilla.

Gaudi’s cathedral from the rooftop bar of the Majestic Hotel

At 9 pm all the guest journalists were bussed to Barcelona’s city hall for a welcome reception by the Mayor of Barcelona to the Wine & Culinary II International Forum.

Sunday, September 28: The opening of the forum, sitting next to Treve Ring, a wine writer from Vancouver.

9:30. Welcome by Miguel A. Torres, President of Bodegas Torres, and Rafael Ansón, President of the Royal Academy of Gastronomy. Miguel: “This year I have a complaint with Someone up there. We had rain in all our vineyards. We got botrytis on the grapes.” Constellation is 15 times bigger than Torres.

9:45. “The Sommelier’s psychology and the training of Sommeliers,” by Gérard Basset, World’s Best Sommelier 2010, OBE, MS, MW and MBA. He referred to the film Somm. “I want a sommelier who loves people. For me a sommelier is a salesman… it’s a business… A sommelier needs to be a great ambassador for the wine producer.” Need to understand the profile of the guest. “In my restaurant wine comes first. Food and wine have to come together at the right time.” “I can’t imagine going on holiday where there is no wine.” Sommeliers, like chefs, should do stages at different restaurants in different cultures. “If we’re out of stock of a wine we don’t say we’re out of stock. We offer a more expensive wine at the same price of the requested wine.”

Gerard Basset speaking at the Wine & Culinary Forum

10:15. “When wine inspires the dish,” by Josep Roca, from El Celler de Can Roca, 3* Michelin and World’s Best Restaurant 2013. Biting lettuce and have a sip of red wine… Texture dimensions in food. “Wine is the most intellectual drink we have.” Lyophilization: extracting water molecules from, say, wine and creating a powder. The same with grapes. A bread made of wine with the seeds to give it a crunch. “Eat the wine and drink the dish.” “Success paralyses you. It’s very healthy to go to a market you know nothing about.” (About him and his brother going to South America to open a restaurant.)

11:00. “Minerals: harmony through terroir,” by Jamie Goode, author of The Science of Wine. Examples of minerality in wine: Drouhin Chablis Les Clos 2010. Torres Grans Muralles 2009. Terroir: The way the environment of a vineyard shapes the quality of the wine, a local flavour, a sense of place. French say Le goût de terroir – meaning a rustic, angular wine, animally, earthy taste. The term terroir can be used to describe the vineyard itself. Micro and Macro (two contiguous vineyards with different terroir) or the difference between, say, Marlborough and Martinborough Sauvignon. Human element of terroir – how the wine is made. Plants are chemical factories, using light, water, air and trace elements to synthesize all they need. Grape juice from Burgundy’s different vineyards don’t taste very different. It’s the action of the yeasts and microbes that create the differences. Minerality: A relatively new tasting term. A term used by experts in different ways. Mineral smells (matchstick, gunflint); Mineral tastes (1) – high acidity, wet stones; Mineral tastes (2) – salty, textural, grainy. Randall Grahm put rocks into tanks of wine. “We were able to discern significant differences between the various types.” Could it be, more mineral wines survive and age better?

11:30. “Thinking outside the wine list: innovative approaches to selling wine in America’s top restaurants,“ by Lucas Paya, José Andrés ThinkFoodGroup’s Wine Director 2008-2014, presented by Ray Isle, Food and Wine Magazine journalist. US market 9.4 billion gallons of beverage alcohol. Restaurants are trend makers for what people buy. Younger people tend to buy their wine in restaurants. Lucas Paya: “We don’t need to recreate the wheel to produce quality wine.” Recommends a “Sommelier’s Choice” section from which the somm could hand-sell. Steak house: suggests 80% red with alcohol levels printed.

“Every time I open a bottle of wine it is an amazing trip somewhere.” (José Andrés, a Washington restaurateur.) Selling expensive wine by weight in the glass, a minimum pour of 30 mL. Veuve Clicquot is a marker on a wine list; if it’s over-priced, the list is over-priced. Cited restaurants where all wines are priced at $50. Husk, a restaurant in South Carolina, organizes its wine list by soil type. All about source. Or restos without sommeliers – Wine as a flow chart. Jaleo, Los Vegas uses tablets. You can play wine roulette. Sommeliers going back to ancient methods – sabering, port tongs, sherry dispensing, etc. Trend is US: serving wine from the barrel. Tasting wine blind before buying.

Harnessing Social Media to sell wine: tweeting what is being poured tonight from a large format bottle. Tasted Torres Mas La Plana 2009 put through a Coravin 1000.

12:15. “Wine in Mediterranean diet”, by Dr. Ramón Estruch, senior internal medicine consultant at Barcelona’s Clínic Hospital, and Domingo Valiente, Executive Director of Mediterranean Diet Foundation.

12:45. Showcooking: “Nandu Jubany’s cuisine of terroir,” owner of Can Jubany (Calldetenes). Presented by Joan Ras, president of the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy. He prepared four tapas. Invented a truffle dessert.

13:15. Cocktail-lunch offered by Nandu Jubany + Tour around Bodegas Torres’ worldwide wines.

15:30. “Far East and wine: how to make it popular.” Journalist and winemaker Víctor de la Serna interviews Jeannie Cho Lee, first MW of Asia. Jeannie: “I’d like to see a kind of Starbucks for wine… 95% of the value of wines sold in Hong Kong is red.”

Jeannie Cho Lee, Asia’s first MW

16:00. Master tasting: “Great family wines – The Primum Familiae Vini,” by Christophe Brunet, Wine Ambassador of the PFV, and Fiona Beckett, journalist specialized in harmonies between wine and gastronomy. Tasted the following PFV wines:

• Pol Roger Brut 2004 (60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay). Fiona’s match: seared scallops, roast chicken with chanterelle, even deep-fried chicken
• Drouhin Marquis de la Guiche Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot 2011. Fiona’s match: because of its freshness at the moment, raw shellfish, shellfish risotto, lobster roll (as it matures, richer fish, scallops with pureed cauliflower with fennel)
• Egon Müller-Scharzhof Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett 2013. Fiona’s match: Thai food (when aged, smoked and cured Scandinavian cuisine)
• Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto 2012 (60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot). Fiona’s match: seared tuna, octopus; with air or age, lighter meat dishes, offal, rabbit, duck)
• Marchesi Antinori Tignanello 2011. (80% Sangiovese, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot). Fiona’s match: lamb, Korean marinaded steak; Parmigiano Reggiano
• Famille Perrin Château de Beaucastel 2008 (13 grape varieties). Fiona’s match: turkey, roast pork (as it ages, beef stew, braised short ribs)
• Vega Sicilia Valbuena 5 Año 2010 (5% Merlot; 2010 “the best vintage” of Valbuena). Fiona’s match: great steak wine, sirloin, porterhouse
• Mouton-Rothschild Petit Mouton 2005: Fiona’s match: mutton rather than spring lamb; roast beef; St. John’s meat pie
• Bodegas Torres Reserva Real 2010 (200 cases – a wine made for the King of Spain, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc): Fiona’s match: leg of lamb, Portobello mushrooms (or a good burger)
• Hugel & Fils Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardive 2007: Fiona’s match: warm baigné, cinnamon doughnuts, apple ice cream with cinnamon
• Dow’s Vintage Port 2000: Fiona’s match: chocolate

Torres wine for the King of Spain

17:15. “Cook with wine,” by Manuel Martínez, chef owner of the Parisian restaurant Le Relais Louis XIII. 2* Michelin. Suggests for a wine reduction you add a few drops of uncooked wine at the end of the preparation to add freshness to the dish.

17:45. “False wines enemies and new friends of wines,” by Ferran Centelles, elBulli sommelier 2000–2011 and www.jancisrobinson.com contributor. Cynarine – the active acid in artichokes, the enemy of wine. Raw egg, the more we cook it, the more wine-friendly it becomes. Raw food leaves a viscous layer on the tongue which prevents our tasting. Vinegar: We tasted cynarine with Bodegas Torres Cornas 2011, which really didn’t change the flavour of the wine. Toasted boiled and and grilled artichoke with Bodegas Torres Cornas 2011. The toasted sample was the better match. Tasted sabayon of egg and cooked egg yolk with Marimar Torres Acero Chardonnay 2013. Cooked egg the better match. Gherkin with Bodegas Torres Perpetual 2011 (vinegar and wine – it’s not too terrible). Tartar of prawn with lemon with Bodegas Torres Perpetual 2011. “Don’t talk about enemies of wine but these products aren’t that evil especially when prepared in ways we would expect.”

18:15. “End of geographical boundaries of taste”, by François Chartier, “Créateur d’harmonies”; Daniel Ovadía, chef owner of Paxia (Mexico); Vineet Bhatia, chef owner of Rasoi (London); and Stéphane Modat, chef of Champlain Restaurant (Montreal). Sotolon, the harmonizing element (molecule) of wine and food. Sotolon (Fenugreek Lactone) evident in maple syrup and curry. Tokaji and aged white wine have small amounts of sotolon, also in dark beers. (Acording to Wikipedia: “Sotolon (also known as sotolone) is a lactone and an extremely powerful aroma compound, with the typical smell of fenugreek or curry at high concentrations and maple syrup, caramel, or burnt sugar at lower concentrations. Sotolon is the major aroma and flavor component of fenugreek seed and lovage,[1] and is one of several aromatic and flavor components of artificial maple syrup.[2] It is also present in molasses, aged rum, aged sake and white wine, flor sherry, roast tobacco,[3] and dried fruiting bodies of the mushroom Lactarius helvus.[4] Sotolon can pass through the body relatively unchanged, and consumption of foods high in sotolon, such as fenugreek, can impart a maple syrup aroma to one’s sweat and urine. In some individuals with the genetic disorder maple syrup urine disease, it is spontaneously produced in their bodies and excreted in their urine, leading to the disease’s characteristic smell.”) François envisages “the end of the geographical borders of taste.” Fish in a black olive sauce with Syrah. Instead of the 5 tastes we know, work with molecules. Aromatic synergy. Cinnamon has many aromatic features if you remove certain molecules. We tasted Bodegas Torres Milmanda 2003 with a jelly topped with toasted pig’s ear, brown sugar sauce, maple flavour. Mexican specialty gordita de chicharron y mollijas with Bodegas Torres Milmanda 2007. Maple syrup and curry – a Thai dish – beef sweetbreads. La Coche, grated to a black paste – The Mexican truffle – lamb rogan josh with huitlacoche, fenugreek rice, stir-fry asparagus and coconut with Bodegas Torres Milmanda 2008.

François Chartier

19:30. Closure by the Honorable Regional Counselor for Agriculture, Fishing industries, Food and Environmental issues, Mr. Josep Maria Pelegrí, and Miguel A. Torres.

Monday, September 29: After breakfast all the participants at the Wine & Culinary International Forum were bussed to the Torres winery in Vilafranca del Penedes, about an hour’s drive from Barcelona. We sat down to a tasting of Mas La Plana by Bodegas Torres chief winemaker Josep Sabarich. We tasted five vintages of Mas La Plana. The 1970 vintage, made from four-year-old vines, won the Gault Millau tasting in Paris in 1979, beating out French Bordeaux. I can understand why when I tasted the 1971, which was aged in American oak. It tasted like a St. Julien, still very much alive, very elegant and beautifully balanced.

Waltrud and Miguel Torres at lunch

Then we settled down to lunch prepared by the Roca brothers of El Celler de Can Roca.

In the evening I decided to try and find a tapas bar that had been recommended by my Vancouver friend Sid Cross – Cal Pen in the Place des les Olles. It was about 2 km from the hotel but by the time I found it I must have walked 4 km. There was a line-up of 30 people for 20 seats, so I left and walked back to the hotel, picking up a sandwich on the way.

Milmanda Castle

Tuesday, September 30: At 10 am a taxi took Deby Beard, a Mexican wine writer, and me to Milmanda Castle, a 90-minute drive from Barcelona. Torres acquired the property in 1978 and planted Chardonnay on 15 hectares. Lorena Canas, who looks like Penelope Cruz, showed us around the castle with its 13th century tower, and conducted a tasting of Torres Milmanda Chardonnay 2011 (straw coloured with a nutty, peach nose with a whisper of oak; rich and full on the palate, precise and beautifully balanced. (91))

Lorena Canas, chatelaine of Milmanda Castle

Then the neighbouring property, Grans Muralles (named for the wall that encompassed the Poblet monastery). Torres Grans Muralles 2006 (a blend of Monastrel, Carignena, Garnacha, and two ancient varieties, Garro and Samso): deep purple-ruby colour; smoky, toasty nose of pencil lead, plum and blackberry with a herbal note; rich and full on the palate with a tannic lift on the finish. Needs time (90–92). The soil in the vineyard here is as stony as the southern Rhône.

Two great wines

Then on to the village of Montblanc for lunch with Christoph Kammüller at El Moli del Mallol. The restaurant specializes in snails, photos of which adorn the front and back of the menu. We started with ceviche of cod with red pepper, hamon Iberico, mushrooms and bread spread with olive oil and tomato. The wines: Torres Milmanda Chardonnay 2011. Then followed a plate of snails with Torres Grans Muralles 2007 (smoky, earthy nose, rich and full on the palate, ripe black fruit flavours, more generous and rounder than the 2006 vintage (91)). Next dish, lamb chops followed by a bottle of dessert of Torres Grans Muralles 2008 which was more accessible than the 2007. Then a dessert plate and coffee.

Lunch at El Moli del Mallol  in Montblanc with Deby Beard and Christoph Kammüller

A quiet evening. Picked up a copy of Julian Barnes’s letters at a second-hand book stall outside the hotel. Packed and went early to bed.

Wednesday, October 1: A taxi took me to Barcelona airport for the flight to Frankfurt, then Air Canada to Toronto.

Thursday, October 2: A tasting of Greywacke wines with Kevin and Kimberley Judd.

• Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2014: pale straw; minerally, green fig with a floral note; medium to full-bodied, elegant, gooseberry and green fig flavours with lively acidity with a tart grapefruit and green gooseberry finish. (91)
• Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2013: pale straw colour; smoky, minerally, elderberry, grassy; fuller in the mouth than the 2014. Fine spine of acidity. (92)
• Greywacke Wild Sauvignon 2012: straw colour; spicy, smoky, touch of barnyard on the nose; round on the palate, leesy, sour cream, green plum, elderberry and grapefruit flavours; rich and opulent on the palate. More in Graves style. (92)
• Greywacke Wild Sauvignon 2011: pale straw colour; minerally, white pepper, full in the mouth with green melon, grapefruit and gooseberry flavours. Seamless in the mouth. Fleshy and elegant with great length. (93)
• Greywacke Chardonnay 2010: straw, smoky, toasty, honey and apple nose; elegant, Burgundian style, crisply dry, great length. A lovely wine that lingers on the palate. (92)
• Greywacke Pinot Gris 2013: pale straw colour; tangerine nose; rich and unctuous, peachy sweetness, Alsace style. (89+)
• Greywacke Riesling 2013: developing petrol notes, honey, lime; medium-bodied, touch of the acidity balances the residual sugar, grapefruit, lime and lemon zest flavours. (89)
• Greywacke Pinot Noir 2013: red ruby colour; cherry, minerally nose; ripe, black cherry, juicy flavours with a note of violets; firm tannic structure but not intrusive, good acidity. (90)
• Greywacke Pinot Noir 2011: deep ruby colour; very Burgundian nose, black raspberry and violets with beautifully integrated oak; rich and full on the palate, firmly structured with a tannic lift on the finish. A seamless wine drinking beautifully now but will hold three years. (93)
• Greywacke Late Harvest Riesling 2011: straw with a lime tint; honey, grapefruit nose; rich and fully on the palate, beautifully balanced, the acidity carries the honeyed citrus fruit flavours to an unconscionable length. (92)

Kevin Judd tasting his Greywacke wines

Then on to the ROM for Wine Country Ontario Presents for a tasting of Ontario VQA wines.

• Diprofio Sauvignon Blanc 2013: pale straw; gluey nose, grassy, citrus peel; medium bodied, dry, crisp grapefruit flavour. Good acidity. (86)
• Creekside Sauvignon Blanc 2013: pale straw; grassy, green plum nose; dry, medium-bodied, touch of sweetness balanced by acidity. (87)
• Copper’s Hawk Talon 2013: pale straw colour; grassy, gooseberry nose; fresh, green fruit flavours, crisp Sauvignon character. (87)
• Cave Spring CSV Riesling 2012: honeyed grapefruit nose; ripe grapefruit and honey with an apple note. Medium-bodied with good length. (89)
• Cave Spring The Adam Steps Riesling 2013: pale straw colour; minerally, petrol, honey, grapefruit; beautifully balanced fruit and acidity; Spätlese style. Lovely mouth-feel. (91)
• Château des Charmes Riesling Old Vines 2012: pale straw with a lime tint; lime, minerally, honey; grapefruit and honey flavours, stylish, off-dry. (88)
• Thirty Bench Riesling 2013: pale straw, lime tint; monerally, floral, honey, citrus nose; elegant, lighton the palate, pencil lead, honeyed grapefruit flavour. (89)
• Thirty Bench Riesling Triangle Vineyard 2013: pale straw with a lime tint; minerally, not as expressive on the nose as the blended Riesling but tighter; lively acidity, lovely mouth feel. Will develop well. (91)
• Tawse Riesling 2012: very pale lime colour; minerally, floral, honeyed, grapefruit rind nose; a mix of sweet and sour flavours with a touch of bitterness on the finish. (87)
• Fielding Lot 17 Riesling 2013: almost water white; minerally, grapefruit skin with a touch of honey; dry, crisp, mouth-watering, well made with good length. (89)
• EastDell Black Label Riesling 2013: minerally, sulphur note; perfumed, floral, grapey. (85)
• Flat Rock Nadja’s Vineyard Vineyard 2013: palest sraw colour; minerally, grapefruit nose; light spritz, elegant, lime flavour, delicate and ethereal; Mosel style. (90)
• Norman Hardie Chardonnay 2012 (County): straw colour; smoky, spicy, toasty, apple nose; Burgundian style, ripe apple and peach flavours with well integrated oak, medium-bodied, with a long persistent finish. (91)
• Bachelder Lawrey Vineyard Pinot Noir 2012: pale ruby colour; minerally, cherry nose; medium-bodied, dry, elegant, firmly structured. (89+)
• Domaine Queylus Tradition 2011: ruby colour; high toned, raspberry nose; Burgundian style, lean, firm structure. (89)
• Domaine Queylus Réserve 2011: ruby colour; raspberry with a touch of oak on the nose; silky mouth feel, firmly structured, dry, Volnay style. Well made. (90)
• Grange of Prince Edward Pinot Noir 2012: mature ruby colour; earthy, cherry nose; dry, floral, cherry flavour, tannic finish. (87)
• Delaine Syrah 2011: dense ruby colour; dry, herbal, blackberry nose; dry, medium-bodied, savoury-herbal flavour. (88)
• Lailey Syrah 2012: dense ruby colour; minerally, smoky, minerally, herbal nose; dry, elegant, northern Rhône style, firmly structured. A well-made Syrah (91)
• Creekside Broken Press Syrah 2011: deep ruby colour; peppery, herbal, blackberry nose; lean but savoury flavours, firm and well structured. Good for the vintage. (89+)

Saturday, October 4: The Ontario Wine Awards fall wine tour for sponsors’ guests. This year we’re visiting Mike Weir winery and Angels Gate. At Mike Weir, we had a glass of the gold medal sparkling wine from the Ontario Wine Awards 2014 – Peller Estates Rosé with its Icewine dosage. Then winemaker Jeff Hundermark led us through a tasting of Mike Weir Riesling 2012 and Mike Weir Cabernet Franc 2012 before taking us outside to see the Riesling vineyard. It began to rain.

Jeff Hundermark assessing his Riesling grapes

Then inside the winery in an upstairs private room, decorated with Mike Weir golf memorabilia we had lunch: Devil’s Rock blue cheese with quince paste with Mike Weir Vinyasa 2013 (a blend of Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris with 70 calories per serving.) Next course, Lake Erie pickerel with succotash of corn, beans and bacon, with Mike Weir Unoaked Chardonnay 2012 (very aromatic from the Chardonnay Musqué in the vineyard). Main course: roast chicken stuffed with goat’s cheese and sun-dried tomatoes topped with prosciutto with fingerling potatoes and green beans.

Mike Weir’s new winery

Then on to Angels Gate, where winemaker Philip Dowell led us through a tasting of Angels Gate Archangel Chardonnay 2011 sparkling wine, Angels Gate Pinot Noir Rosé sparkling, Angels Gate Pinot Gris 2013, Angels Gate Mountainview Chardonnay 2010, and two vintages of Angels Gate Mountainview Pinot Noir: 2010 (the wine of the year at the Ontario Wine Awards 2014) and 2011.

Angels Gate’s winemaker Philip Dowell