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Posts Tagged ‘Spain’

13th

July

2009

DONOSTIA OR BUST

As everyone loaded on to the bus from the Parador/former monastery in Villefranche, we left at the same time and headed north for the final leg of our journey, the Basque country and San Sebastian, which the locals call Donostia. We started, as we always do with any kind of travel, looking at the road map. It showed that, to stick with the main highways, we had to back-track quite a way to the south to hit the main highway (A-66) that would take us to the northern coast of Spain from Villafranca de Bierzo. Though it looked like a pretty minor road, the route from Ponferrada, just east of Bierzo, north through Villablino, then jogging east toward the main highway north of Leon through a speck on the map called Cabrillanes (Ca bree yan ez), seemed the most direct.

We made the cut east in Villablino, and, as travel progressed, there was some discussion as to whether we had missed the proper turn and were even on a smaller road than was depicted in the map. For the next couple of hours we were on what was a narrow two lane road that didn’t exactly look like Spain’s version of ‘Caltrans’ had been there any time in the last couple of decades or so. The roads were cut along the edges of some fairly good sized mountains for the most part (maybe 300-800’ above the floor of this elevated valley). The countryside itself was stunning. Lush green fields running up the sides of the hills, a number of them separated by old stone walls, it looked more like pictures we had seen of Ireland than anything we were expecting in Spain. There would be the occasional speck of a town perched on an inset on the hill than another 30-40 minutes of mountain roads. In some places half of the outer lane of the road had fallen away, and it didn’t look like a recent development. All the while (probably 2.5 hours we’d guess) we were wondering if we would ever find the main highway, A-66, let alone San Sebastian or the Atlantic Ocean. Finally we did hit the throughway, eventually making a 10 minute stop at an ‘auto grill’(decent roadside cafes they have in Spain similar to those in Italy) for a quick bite (tortilla, of course). The trek to San Sebastian took about seven hours overall and we saw a part of the world we doubted we would have ever seen had we not taken the ‘shortcut.’

Playa de la Concha from the promenade.

Bayfront

It would be impossible to describe all of the cultural nuances of this part of Spain. There are entire books written about the history of the Basque people and, of course, there are great numbers of them who want to establish their own country which is why most folks have heard about them now. There have been some rather violent incidents attributed to Basque separatists. We read two books devoted to Basque history and culture and have a cursory understanding of this fiercely independent people. They still have their own language that isn’t like any other language on earth and road signs there are still in both Spanish and Euskali (what they call the Basque language). The Euskal words aren’t remotely similar to Spanish and there are two obvious and significant differences. First, the Basque alphabet has a ‘k’, Spanish doesn’t. Second, and the one that really throws most people when they look at it, is the combination tx, which is pronounced like a ‘ch’. The most prevalent example is the wine Txokolina, the Hondurribi based, frizzante white wine that is served everywhere there as the classic aperitif with tapas, called pintxos (pin chos) in that part of the world.

The streets of San Sebastion.

Fishing Boats in the Bay

We arrived at the hotel, the Maria Christina mid-afternoon. We had not able to book ourselves at the Maria Christina as this was a holiday weekend in Europe and it was full. Fortunately, we ran into a long time friend from a Spanish winery in the US prior to leaving who grew up in San Sebastian. He made the arrangements at he hotel for us, insisting that was where we had to stay. The Maria Christina is a lovely spot sitting right where the river flows into the Atlantic and the rooms look out on the smaller of the two bays around which San Sebastian is built.

View from the Maria Christina.

We walked about five blocks to the ‘old town’ for a late afternoon snack to tide us over until our dinner reservations that evening at Arzak, a Michelin Three Star of great repute in this part of Spain. We had been tipped off on by someone in the wine business (he worked at the Spanish Table, a Spanish food/goods store in northern California, as well as with a wine importer) who we met who had lived in San Sebastian and worked at Arzak. He had also given us an extensive list of the pintxos bars in the area so we were definitely dialed in and regretted only that we did not have enough time in San Sebastian to explore them all. A few bites, a couple of glasses of Txokolina, a short walk to absorb the very cool surroundings and back to the hotel (it was late afternoon by that time though it looked like about 2 in the afternoon outside) to shower and dress for dinner.

Having been to Michelin rated restaurants a few times, we were surprised by the casual elegance of Arzak. It wasn’t stuffy at all, the staff was in what we presume was more traditional local dress rather than the stiff suit and tie formality of the many French spots we had dined. One thing we can say for Arzak, and for Spanish wine lists overall, is that we found the prices comfortable and sensible. Here is a reknowned restaurant that has a 1968 Lopez de Heredia Rioja Bosconia on the list for something like 70 euro (about $100) and Torre Muga 1994 for like $130). We opened with an Emilio Rojo, an delicious, extremely limited white blend from Ribeiro that they were selling for not much more that we do here (about $50-this is a ‘three star’ mind you-a wine like this at Mina, though it is probably not high profile enough to be on their list, would probably be $200, can’t even guess what the older wines would have cost in a New York restaurant…you’d probably need TARP money to buy them).

What’s fun about ordering something like the Emilio Rojo in a restaurant, beside the fact that we could find something this interesting on a wine list (Toto, we’re not in the O.C. any more), is that it lets the sommelier know that you’re probably not the typical ugly American…that you are likely some sort of wine geek to order this obsure bottling. We did the tasting menu and had a spirited discussion with the chef/owner Senor Juan Mari Arzak about the future of Rioja (he is an impassioned fan of the new wave, I have a soft spot for old school Rioja though I certainly appreciate well done modern renditions of the genre as well). There were lots of small plates, all excellent, but only a couple that hit that rare ‘burned into memory’ status. Kathy was quite taken with the ‘bronzed’ onion that came on my meat plate, both visually and flavor-wise. My favorite course was the foie gras baked onto little rafts of thinly sliced apple, simply elegant, rich, yet light on its feet. Arguable the dish of the night sort of defies description. There was a creamy chocolate something (a puidding? A mousse?) molded into a ball shape and served over a strawberry sauce with a basil ice cream alongside. The combination sounded odd but was mind bending. Arzac is definitely a place to go if you are looking for fine dining as it stood up to its reputation but was also fun (some elite restaurants can seem more like church than dinner). Talk about your full days, this definitely was one of them.

A tapas bar

Pintxos

The next day was our only full day in San Sebastian and it was spent relaxing and taking in the old town part of the city at a leisurely pace. We had coffee and croissants at a streetside restaurant, found a market that had the famous Basque cherries ( it is a short season right at this time of year), walked along both bays, and had pintxos at a number of spots in between. We also ran into what appeared to be some sort of ‘street fair’ for this holiday weekend. There were food and wine booths set up by each of the provinces and a stage where cultural exhibits such as music and dances were performed. There were a number of Basques roaming the streets in capes and their formal black berets. We sampled a Spanish churro (much lighter and not the greasy/doughy consistency of the amusment park versions we see here) and saw one performance on the stage of what looked to be Irish dancing done to bagpipes (there is a strong evidential pool apparently suggesting the Celts may have originated in Galicia). You can learn stuff just walking around sometimes.

There were probably 40 pintxos bar in what was about a 10-12 block section of old town San Sebastian. The two we would mention are (there are a number that came highly recommended but they were all open at different hours) Zeruko and Gandarias. Zeruko was definitely one of the lighter handed ones, very creative stuff with a number of cured fish preparations. The foie gras atop a layer of creamy cheese was perhaps less heart healthy than some of the others but the generous cut of foie and the modest price (3 euro) made it a bit too tempting. It was difficult to really get the full shot of one of the food presentations at these pintxos bars (we gave it a shot anyway) but it was a compelling and inviting display that, because of the various health codes in California anyway, could never be replicated here. Looking at all of the prepared items and simply pointing to what looked good to you and getting immediate gratification was a delicious divergence from the normal eatery scenario. Fun stuff, too bad you have to go all the way to Spain to have this kind of experience.

Foie gras and the ever-present glass of Txakoli

More pintxos.

Later in the day, when we were hungry, we had planned to do a more serious ‘bar hopping’ for dinner. Unfortunately, our body clocks were not in sync with the locals and a number of the food bars on our hit list were closed, set to reopen in a couple of hours. So we decided to go back to have dinner at a bar that we had visited earlier, Gandarias, which was also on that list and had one of the hipper wine lists for this area. They were also famous for serving Joselito brand jamon, arguably the Romanee Conti of pork products. We knew of this ham’s reputation and had even had it on a couple of occasions. We had seen one in a market stall in Madrid available for sale (they are so in demand that they are allocated to buyers) at 74 euro per kilo…$47 per pound, bone and all). Here they had probably two dozen hang from racks behind the bar and over a strairwell. We had plates of Joselito, artichokes, a cheese selection and an old Contino Rioja, and that served as a perfectly fine dinner.

San Sebastian is one of those special splaces. As I have said to folks individually, it is one of the coolest places we have ever visited. It’s a little bit like Santa Fe, New Mexico in the sense that it has a certain aura, a certain charisma that you can’t necessarily verbalize, but you can definitely feel. We have traveled to Europe a reasonable bit and have seen some places. This is one of those places we want to come back to. Tomorrow we start heading home.

Tags: Arzak, San Sebastian, Spain
Posted in Travel | No Comments » by Steve

7th

July

2009

HILLS, RIVERS, AND WILD WINES

The last day of the formal ‘wine trip’ was to be spent with Raul Perez and some of his vintner and, as days go, it was pretty memorable for a number of reasons. It all started with a drive from Villefrancha to the vineyards in Bierzo through winding mountainroads and occasional small towns. It seemed the drive took a long time but that was due in part because the bus driver, who had been an amazing asset throughout the trip, apparently missed one miniscule turn and we got off course. When we go to our destination, as you probably have come to expect, our first order of business was to walk the vineyard, or in this particular case, literally climb it up the switchbacks that scaled probably 300-400 ft vertically along the terraced vineyards. It was a pretty good hike to the top but everyone was determined to make except Kathy who wasn’t sure the knee she injured spelunking in the bodegas at Torremoron would take the hill so she stayed in the bus with a book.

I made it a good way up the hill but was forced to return back down prior to reaching the summit because of the, shall we say, lack of a handy hillside WC. I returned to the bus fully with the intent of a second attempt to reach the summit. Upon exiting the bus I heard Kathy, who was the only other person besides the driver there, talking to someone just out of view. It turned out Raul Perez who had been sent down the hill in his 4 wheel drive Mercedes SUV to fetch the injured traveler and, as it turned out, me as well.

To say the drive up was uneventful would be accurate because nothing actually happened other than going up the road. Of course, in reality, comparisons to the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland were appropriate with one small exception…with the “Indy’ ride, you know it’s Disney so you don’t actually fear for your life. We’re sure hard core vineyardist that he is, Raul knew every inch of the vineyard and the, ahem, ‘road’ up the hillside. But there was still a little angst as we flew up the dirt road taking some pretty sharp turns probably faster than recommended speed. Still, there was no extra charge for the thrill ride. At the top the red and white from that particular area were assessed and we all turned to descend with the exception of Kathy who Raul offered to usher back down the hill. When he got to the bottom, Raul simply decided that, since we were all going to the same place from here, he would just escort his charge to the next venue himself and arrive a little ahead of the bus. So I watched as he, my wife, and a mini-Joselito ham that I had seen in the back seat, disappeared around a turn.

Our boat to the vineyards of Ribiera Sacra

The drive to the Sil River was another hour or so on mountain roads in strikingly beautiful countryside that was atypical of anything I had seen previous in Spain. We ultimately arrived at a marina on the Sil River where we were instructed to board a boat. The vineyards here in the Ribiera Sacra DO are dauntingly steep…Germany steep…Cornas steep. Some of them are only accessible by boat, some need to be scaled using ladders.

The vineyards of Ribiera Sacra

The visuals were stunning, even difficult to fathom. It all seemed surreal but that was only the setup. In the boat as we cruised leisurely down the river were any array of tapas, all home made by the mother of one of Raul’s friends, who also presented his wines. We also tasted through the whole lineup of Raul’s extremely limited, benchmark efforts including ‘Sketch’, Prieto Pecudo, El Pecado and Muti. (as an aside, if you saw the recent issue of Wine Advocate, these all got crazy-big scores) with among other things some sensational meats, barnacles, and some of the best tortilla we had tasted…all floating down the river on a picture perfect sunny day. The whole thing was pretty idyllic.

For those of you not familiar with Raul Perez, he is one of those ‘no fear’ types that will try anything if he thinks it will make better wine. There are no lengths to which he will not go if he believes it might work. Later in the day in a warmish building we tasted a number of experiments that didn’t work including varietals that were quite atypical for Spain (where on earth did he get a Riesling?). He was unafraid to show them and admitted as he poured them he didn’t think it all worked out very well.

A classic example that will illustrate the Raul Perez story is the Sketch, a 100% Albariño from Raixas Bias. He makes 100 cases only and the 2007, the ‘cuvee’ we drank on the boat, just got a 95 in the recent Wine Advocate. It was unlike anything we had tasted before. He ferments the wine in special egg shaped barrels which, according to Raul, allow the lees to circulate through the barrel on their own according to the flow of gravity, though he also employs battonage (lees stirring) during its twelve months in barrel. When it is bottled, it is then loaded into large basket (unlabeled and unfoiled mind you) and lowered into the sea to precisely 30 meters of depth for a period of 60 days.
When asked about the process, his response was that deeper than 30 meters did not produce the desired effect because the pressure level was not advantageous. Too much salt got into the wine because of the increased water pressure, whereas just the right amount of salinity occurred at 30 meters. How did he come up with this? We’re not sure we could even explain it or fully understand it, but to say he marches to a different drummer does this man justice. We’re not even sure he is hearing instruments we even know. But the wines truly are unlike anything we have ever experienced and , yes, they are really good. They are also very expensive, hugely labor intensive, and made in ridiculously small quantities (A Trabe-30 3-packs for the US, Sketch-40 6packs for the country, El Pecado-16 3packs…you get the picture). The fact that the press even reviews wines made in this kind of quantity is arguably unconscionable yet they are unique to the wine world so people should know about them, shouldn’t they?

Tags: Bierzo, Raixas Bias, Raul Perez, Ribiera Sacra, Spain
Posted in Travel | No Comments » by Steve

3rd

July

2009

A TASTING, A CAR, AND A TRIP NORTH

Parador de Torredesilos, Site of the portfolio tasting

Taking a night off indeed proved to be refreshing and we were in fine shape when it was time for what amounted to a traditional trade tasting in a separate facility alongside the main hotel. There were probably 60 wines laid out for the event including our first look this trip at the wines of Barahonda, Bellum and Piñol, wineries that have been off and on players since we first started with the Olé portfolio some 4 years earlier. Other notable items on the table were another assortment of wines from Vinos Sin-Ley poured by the extremely mobile David Sampedro who had made the trip from the Ribera, or Rioja Alavesa (who knows, but the guy obviously gets around). Other things of note were the Godello Papa 2008, increasingly one of our favorite go-to varietals, ValleClaro Rose from Sin-Ley, a striking value called Dacu 2008, a 100% Tempranillo from the Ribera de Guardiana at a silly low price (the group voted it the ‘best value’ of the tasting). Also notable were ‘value’ bottlings (like significantly under $20) from typically pricy locales Priorat (Bodegas la Cartuja) and Toro (Bodegas Cal Blanca).

At the end there was what promised to be a breakthrough presentation of Jerez wines from a small house called Bodegas Poniente. Basically they were sherries referred to as essences, the purest expressions of their various disciplines (Amontillado, Oloroso, Palo Cortado, and Pedro Ximenez) developed from a solera dating back to 1820. The production numbers were silly (only 200 bottles of each produced, 75 for the U.S.) and the prices bordered on ‘huh?’…retail would be in the $400+ range per bottle. The leadoff player, the Oloroso, almost had us considering it but the next three, while interesting, weren’t necessarily at the level it would take to make us take that kind of pricing seriously. In plain English, the story was better than the wine.

One has to admire the chutzpah of put out something like this but it brings about a whole discussion that happens in the Wine Exchange all of the time… is rarity alone enough to justify a price? Now while these wines truly were made in a way that can’t be easily replicated, were they really special enough? Some will say yes simply based on the ambiance and the ‘history’. We’ve have poured enough tastings ourselves (well over 1000 by now) to know there are folks out there that will simply respond to the highest priced wine because it’s the highest price wine. It’s a great story, too, one that will impress. But in the glass 3 of the 4 just didn’t hit that higher plane. They are truly rare, yes, but we have had several examples of old Pedro Ximenez that are equal to or better than the Poniente for a lot less.

We talk with vintners all of the time that want to justify what we view as unrealistic prices simply because there isn’t a lot of a particular wine. There’s way too much of that in the wine industry these days, meaning no disrespect to the folks at Poniente who really believe they have something unique and special…and to a point they do (and have you seen Madeira prices lately?…). Granted it’s a lot different for some guy charging $60 for a Syrah from 2 year old vines simply because he only made 60 cases… or is it? The point is that there is no real formula for this sort of thing, so bravado has its place. But whatever happened to earning your stripes? But we are getting tangential…

After the tasting, it was time for us to pick up our car in the next town as we were going to drive to the next locale and then continue on to San Sebastian while the main group made their way back to Madrid. Jose del Villars, who had come to pour again at the tasting (even though it was all the same people who had been in his bodega just the day before) was kind enough o give us a ride to the next town to pick up our reserved rental car at the airport. At the end of the half hour drive, Jose pulled into the airport and basically parked the car at the curb to walk in with us. Being from Orange County, where there are police to move you along after about a minute, and having made many runs to LAX where even slowing down is frowned upon, we couldn’t believe what we were witnessing, but “when in Rome”. In fact the airport was pretty close to deserted at 3 in the afternoon. We walked up to the window for Europcar to get our rental only to be told that, since we weren’t there within a half hour of our reservation, there was no car for us.
He then proceeded to walk away from the window. I t could have been a disaster but we stepped the 2 feet to the Avis next door, which was not available to us online, and got a car with an automatic transmission (Eurocar only has ‘sticks’). In the end it all worked out OK and we got back to the hotel in time to grab some cold but pretty decent paella (we had missed lunch to get the car). We drove on our own to the next venue, the Parador Villafranca de Bierzo.

We had always heard this part of Spain referred to as ‘green Spain’, but it was almost like one of the old cartoons where we went up one side of a mountain where the topography was the semi-arid Southern California desert-esque landscape, and when we came down the other side there was almost immediately noticeably more greenery and trees.

The Parador in Villafranca de Bierzo was a cool old monastery, visually very appealing. But it seemed as if the property hadn’t been updated much since there were monks living here. Hey we like old wood floor and interesting old windows, but there was no air conditioning and the bed was pretty modest. This is the only Parador we stayed at that we would not recommend.

The town itself was pretty interesting. It was on the pilgrim’s route to Santiago de Compostola and had a well preserved Templar castle that was not open to the public. So the story goes, if you didn’t have enough left to get yourself to the main pilgrimage site at Santiago di Compostola, you could get your absolution here.

It would be difficult to describe the events later that evening other than we were at a restaurant that a few folks had been shuttled to via private cars driven by friends of Raul Perez. Raul was late getting to the restaurant and somehow David Sampedro was in Bierzo, too (the guy gets around). We met Raul and the evening should have given a real insight into Perez’ way of doing things as we experienced a curious array of very old whites, current mid-range reds and other older reds that were somehow connected to this process (some were his family’s but it wasn’t always clear to us whether he made them, others were announced merely as curiosities). As the clock hit midnight we’d decided it was time to part and we left with the couple from New York that were the photographers working on shooting the properties for construction of a new website of Olé imports. We managed to make it back with the help of a GPS and 4 pairs of eyes remembering landmarks they had seen. We made it with only one detour (we turned one road too early and got a little lost in the town of Villefranca where we were staying, though that is how we found the Templar castle). The next day was the last of the planned importer trip with a look at the Ribiera Sacra and Bierzo regions.

Tags: Parador Villafranca de Bierzo, Raul Perez, Spain
Posted in Travel | No Comments » by Steve

30th

June

2009

RUEDA Y TORO

Today’s first stop was Rueda, white wine country, and the Bodega Hermano del Villar (del Villar Brothers). This rather sizeable estate of 247 acres of vines spans an elevated, gently rolling plateau at an attitude of 2400 feet. Continental climate here with great variation between day and night temperatures which keeps the vines fresh and helps the grapes preserve the all important acidity that give this wine the necessary verve. The vineyard is covered in small round ‘river stones’ that visually look like vineyards we have seen in Saint Julien in Bordeaux, and the subsoil is a mixture of line and clay which helps retain moisture in this sometimes arid, breezy spot. Most Ruedas we have tasted over the years were pretty simple, utilitarian juice, but lately there has been a real move throughout Spain to upgrade the quality of the whites through lower yields, better vineyard management and vinification techniques such as battonage (lees stirring). The vines here average over 30 years, impressive for a property this size and they further work on quality by taking the unusual step of harvesting at night when it’s cooler. This apparently serves to further reduce oxidation.

We started with the obligatory vineyard tour, interesting in this case because the distinct appearance really is unique among all the vineyards we saw on this trip. We were not familiar with Hermanos del Villar wines so this particular discovery may bear some fruit. We then went back to the winery, which is located in the town of Rueda, and saw the stainless steel fermentation tanks in the efficient winery area, then on to what was a tasting/hospitality room fashioned around an old Roman wine press.

Ancient Roman Wine Press

The varietals grown here are Viura, Verdejo, and Sauvignon Blanc, but the Oro de Castilla, made of 100% Verdejo was the star of the show. If it tastes as good when it arrives and hits the right price point, it will likely be a major feature, something we haven’t said much thus far on this trip.

Of course in Spain, one does not sit around and merely drink, so along came a jamon, complete with a jamoncero, and some bread and olive oil they produce on the estate, which provided a pretty striking companion to these refreshing whites. As we were waiting for the caterers to arrive with lunch we walked about three blocks and were shown, quietly tucked away in a non descript building you could only get to by passing through another building, what turned out to be what might be described as a junior, junior, junior Davis, a wine lab that had dozens of various studies and experiments going. It was apparently where all the local vintners came to get work done and the full time enologist there was conducting some of the labs own studies as well. There were tanks, beakers, and all manner of containers with varying identifying markings.

Lunch in the cave.

Back to the winery for lunch in what was the “deepest cellar in all of Rueda” or some such. One had to feel a little sorry for the ladies that worked for the caterers who basically had to haul the plates, glasses, and food up and down the 58 or 59 steps to the cellar (yes I counted them but forgot to write it down). Baccalau (salt cod), a big time staple throughout the Iberian Peninsula, and some other tasty things were served with more white wine, it was a pretty good day so far. Back up the stairs, and a little later on we were off to Toro and Bodegas Matarredonda.

As happens sometimes on these trips, someone can kind of hit a wall, and that happened about the time we arrived in the Matarredonda vineyard, the Bodgea founded in 2000 by Alfonso Sanz Rojo. The 60 acre vineyard contained lots of old vines ranging from 70 to 140 years old and, on the surface, we were remembering a first visit to Toro in 2000 where I walked among the old vines for a project that pretty much put Toro on the international wine stage, Numanthia. Was this going to be another such discovery? The prior vintages had some pretty serious scores ranging from 91 to 94 point from Wine Advocate.

Patrick Mata of Ole with Winemaker Rosa Zarza of Matarredonda

In all fairness, it was warm, it was windy, and about the last thing we felt like doing at the moment was walking around a dusty vineyard. Seeing the vineyard and the old vines is of value, don’t get us wrong. But there comes a point where it becomes a little silly. After all, are you going to gain more knowledge if you look at the vines longer? We would have quietly gone back onto the bus at that point, but the bus was gone. Maybe our mood wasn’t right, but when the vineyard walk was over and we finally tasted the two Toros, the impression was of a wine with some persistent hard acids. We reserved final judgement until later (we tasted both the 2005s and the 2004s when we returned and really didn’t change our mind). After going to the modern, clean winery set on a small hillock and having a few bites of Tortilla, we bowed out for the evening hoping that an early night to bed might do wonders for the psyche.

Sr. Rojo was a gracious host and all, but this had to rank as one of the disappointments of the trip. This would have been a great story…new winery, old vines, scores, attractive winemaker. But the wine didn’t perform to our expectations in the glass so it won’t happen here (at winex), although it will probably happen somewhere. A point we make over and over is that it’s all about the juice. Trips are fine, going out to dinner, there are all kinds of events that can happen to put a positive spin on somebody’s impression of a wine. It takes a lot of discipline to focus on what you are tasting and close out everything else. But it’s important because you can’t deliver the ambiance to your customers. The wine has to pass muster all by itself. Ah well, early to bed…

Tags: Bodega Hermano del Villar, Bodegas Matarredonda, Rueda, Spain, Toro
Posted in Travel | No Comments » by Steve

27th

June

2009

2nd day in Ribera del Duero

Today the first stop was Torremoron, in our minds a very successful little cooperative located in the town of Quintanamanvirgo (population 106).Bodegas Torremoron has been running since 1957 and has 300 members that control some 500 acres of vineyards. You don’t have to be a math whiz to figure out that it’s a lot of folks with small parcels of land. Naturally, for openers, we walked the vineyards…up a dirt road, across row of small hills and down the other side. Here we saw some of the more memorable things of the trip. The first was some really old vines, some reaching up to 120 years of age. These plots have been here for a long time and generations of families have farmed these lands.

A 120 year old vine, Steve and Kathy (less than 100 years)

As we came down the hillside and back onto a different dirt road that took us back toward the town, we noticed a number of small old structures and doorways that literally led into the hillside. The explanation of the various buildings was, effectively, they were work sheds that had been built over the years and used by various families for various reasons in the growing/winemaking process. As to the earth structures along the roadside, we were told there were the individual bodegas of the families.

For centuries individual families had stored their own wines in these caves dug down into the limestone substrata. Some of them went down 20-30 steps where the earth kept things naturally ‘temperature controlled. Steve, who is roughly the size of an NFL lineman didn’t make the trek down because the passage ways were built for folks a lot smaller.

Kathy went down and as 7-8 people (which is all that went down at a time and we suspect had the fire marshal of Quintanamanvirgo been there, the number would probably have been reduced to pairs) crowded in the small spaces at the bottom of the stairs, she tripped over a barrel in the dark cellar and slightly injured her knee (she was OK but that fact will play into something else later).

Then it was lunch time, which was quite a treat (Spaniards do know how to eat so long as you aren’t concerned about vegetable intake…hard to imagine what a vegan would consume in this part of Spain. Steve had seen this process once before, Kathy here for the first time had not. It all started with a big pile of grapevine cuttings which were set ablaze (again no fire marshal within sight).

Step1: Burn...Step 2: Spread....Step3: Grill

After the pile had burned to basically smoldering embers, the Torremoron folks produced racks of lamb chops and sausages that were then placed over the ‘coals’ and barbecued. We don’t suggest trying this at home but it is quite a process and the results are pretty delicioso. From that point some folks napped, others hiked to other vineyards, and a few, perhaps fearing that their blood alcohol levels were in danger of dipping, made their way to what may have been the town’s only bar roughly 50 yards from where the bus was parked. We popped into the for a visit to the WC (no, really) and a shot of coffee (which cost like $1) and couldn’t help but notice that there were 20-25 locals in the room in the middle of the day on a weekday, more folks that we had seen total outside in the entire town not counting the folks from Torremoron.

After a spell, the entire scattered herd made it back to the bus and it was off to Vizcarra. As to the wine, the 2006 Torremoron had been a wine of the month for us and a ‘90’ from Wine Advocate. We’ll reserve comment on the 2007 and 2008 that we tasted until they arrive, only saying that the 2008 might ultimately turn out OK. We’ll see. The people were gracious as could be, however, genuine salt of the earth/tied to the land types. They had great raw materials in their old Tempranillo vines but the process, while quite fastidious, was pretty low-tech.

JC Vizcarra's brand spankin' new winery...

Everything was state of the art and we had ham, tortilla, etc at a long table set up among the tanks where we tasted the new wines from Vizcarra. Vizcarra, located in the town of Mambrilla and sitting at just under 3000’ elevation, is a winery that we had done very well with this year. Their Ines and Celia bottlings are spectacular ‘super-reserves’ and the 2006 JC Vizcarra is a notable value at $18.99 with an Advocate ‘92’.Check out the Vizcarras at winex.com. So we were interested in seeing how he did in the more difficult 2007 vintage. Vizcarra is the opposite of Torremoron.He had all of the bells and whistles. The sparkling winery had the look of something recently completed (there was still a little construction debris outside). Everything was gravity flow including a huge elevated bracket arm (they called an Obi I believe) that could transport a tank of wine to any spot in the winery (thus preventing the need for pumping, which gravity flow guys don’t want to do because they feel it beats the wine up too much). Steve had seen this only once before at another Ribera facility, Abadia Retuerta, nearly nine years ago.

We had the opportunity to try a 1999 version of the Torralvo single vineyard which was sweet fruited by comparison and packed with spicy plum and berry fruit. with notes of coffee. Nicely put together and certainly pleasing though I can’t help but think the breeding isn’t there to support a $70+ price point. The 2006 Torralvo showed more layers abd grip, rich and sweet, persistent and somehow classier. Not as easy going front to back as the Perfil we had the night before at Mibal and, as a consumer, for roughly $20 per bottle less, I’d buy the Perfil. The Celia and Ines are made in silly small quantities (220 and 380 cases respectively) and fall into that dangerous category of being priced really high because they are so rare. They are very good wines, certainly the equals of the high scoring (Wine Advocate 95 and 93 respectively) 2005s, and we wouldn’t bet against them in a blind showdown against some big gun Bordeaucx of equal stature. But he marketplace is full of icon-priced Spanish wine with very short reputations. Many of them are great but, as a buyer, I’m not sure how many of these kinds of things we need to have on hand these days.

We slept that night at the beautiful Parador Tordesillas where Olé was going to hold a small portfolio tasting in one of the conference rooms the next day.

We realize we haven’t put a lot of tasting notes into these. Actually it is not our custom to share our opinion with suppliers, the competition, et’ al., so we don’t usually say much. But this time we’ll run through our notes just to let you see the process. The 2008 Vizcarra, their entry level ‘joven’ (young wine) was the first one done 100% gravity fed in the new facility. This seemed like it needed to pick up some flesh and length but it is very young and may yet do so. Tasting the 2007s didn’t take long because Juan Carlos Vizcarra decided that he didn’t like the reserve lots for Ines or Celia, or the single vineyard Torralvo well enough to bottle them separately (and charge $75-125 prices for them). So he put all of it into the JC Vizcarra bottling that will sell for around $20. It was one of the better examples of the vintage we tasted, not surprisingly, and it will be interesting to see how it fares against other similarly priced items when it gets here later this year. It was pretty front loaded with cranberry and spice notes and an almost, as the French call it, crunchy nature to the fruit. If the edges round out a little it will be a good drink but timing will be important. (As a post script, we came back and bought more of the 2006 JC Vizcarra which was surprisingly still available…a bird in the hand and all).

Something in a fixer-upper?

The little bodegas definitely oozed with history. Thinking about all of the folks who had gone up and down these stairs over the course of hundreds of years, how much the world had changed over time yet this spot was still pretty bucolic. Some of the ‘structures’ were built using large cut stone blocks. A few had carvings on them and it was explained that some the locals had borrowed these stones from Roman structures that were in the area.

Tags: JC Vizcarra, Ribera del Duero, Spain, Torremoron
Posted in Travel | No Comments » by Steve

23rd

June

2009

Ribera del Duero-Day 1

Day four took us on another long bus drive (2.5 hours) from Rioja toRibera del Duero. The program began as something of a continuation of the day before. Oh yeah, different venue, this time Bodegas Diaz Bayo in the northern part of the Ribera known as Fuentelcésped. This particular property was owned by a Snr. Diaz Bayo, a grower with ten generations of history in the region who was also the mayor of the nearby town. His winemaker, who conducted the tour of what appeared to be a fairly new facility (the hotel/wine tourism center next to the winery was not quite finished) was none other than our guide for the better part of the previous day, the irrepressible David Sampedro.

He is the winemaker of Nuestro (Spanish for ‘ours’), the Ribera del Duero from Diaz Bayo. wines. They apparently had just finished building an ultra modern winery. Everything moves around the winery via gravity flow. There were three sets of fermentation vats, cement (which David admits is his preference because it aerates more than stainless and imparts no flavor which oak does). There was also a bank of three stainless tanks down the center of the wnery and three wood uprights (Allier we were told) on the opposite wall.

Something we saw here that we had never seen before in our travels was a large commercial refrigerator in a shed right off the vineyard. The reasoning was shockingly practical. A lot of folks have employed various schemes to get the grapes into the winery in what they feel is optimum condition. At Diaz Baco, they harvest everything in small crates like a lot of quality oriented wineries do, the idea being minimizing the bruising and breaking of the skins under the weight of the other grapes. But here David is concerned about getting everything into the fermenters at the same temperature rather than having the kinds of pockets of varied temperature you might experience during harvest time. To accomplish this, they merely stack the luggers (crates) in the cooler overnight so everything arrives into the winery the next morning at a consistent and cool temperature.

Vines and grain aren't usually neighbors

There was another unusual observation we made while touring the some of the vineyards in Avanda del Duero. There were patches of vines interspersed with plots growing grain. In most wine growing areas we’ve ever been to, vines thrive in soils that are nutrient poor, not at all where one would attempt to grow crops. Watering regimens and needs are rather different as well. Apparently the reasoning was strictly economic as the growers found the the quick cash crops like wheat provides come in handy.

Lunch that day was one of those special moments, roasted pig at la Ermita de la Nava located next to a church built centuries prior. It was a great old building in the vineyards with a tremendous sort of hunting lodge/farmhouse kind of feel. Some pig, some lamb, some ham (of course) and the well made, moderately priced Nuestra Ribera 2006 made quite a pleasant combination.

Mmmm, pork...

The evening stop Bodegas Hornillos Ballesteros who produce the Mibal wines. This is another case of long time resident growers creating a label, in this case in a truly garage type setting. In this case Miguel Hornillos and Javier Ballesteros (winemaker) are the long time friends who started the label. Also an integral part of the team is Cristina, Miguel’s sister and Javier’s fiancee. Though it was arguably the most modest of the wineries we visited, it was the one that probably had been our biggest seller from the Olé portfolio as far as the wine goes. Small boutique garage type wineries are pretty unusual in this area. We were here to taste the 2008 barrels, 2007 Mibal and 2006 Seleccion, as well as their top of the line bottling Perfil (the 2005) which we had not seen before. A trip to the vineyard followed plenty of wine and plenty of food in the cellar (tight quarters but very accommodating) and we were sufficiently prepared for a good night’s sleep at the beautiful Hotel Conventos las Claras in the shadow of the Penafiel Castle.

Hotel Conventos de las Claras

Tags: Ribera del Duero, Spain
Posted in Travel | No Comments » by Steve

22nd

June

2009

SUNDAY, RAINY SUNDAY…

David Sampedro in his Cortijo Vineyard

Still in Rioja Alavesa, we met up and coming winemaker David Sampedro, winemaker for several projects including a few of his own, thoughas we said no longer part of the Exopto winery. He has a number of interesting personal highlights, the most curious the fact that he is one of about 150 souls on something one might refer to as a list of Basque enemies of the state. Apparently his stance on a unified Spain was not to the liking of some of the locals and, in fact, he had spent a period of time under the protection of the Spanish government we are told. He was assigned bodyguards to guard him against Basque terrorists and the government only relented when David signed some sort of document relieving them of responsibility. Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.

The plan for the afternoon was to have a picnic at the Basque “Stonehedge” and, of course, taste the wine in the vineyard. There are three stones, large, heavy, and clearly not from the area perched, in an unnatural manner with no logical explanation as to how they got there. Local legend has it that a witch was buried there. Good stuff.

The first thing we did with David was take the bus up into the foehn and see first hand how different it was up on top of the mountains than it was down below. We noticed as we increased elevation, the hillsides got greener and vines ceased to be in view at all. From the hilltop we could pretty much see most of Rioja, and he pointed out the various climate elements and visible topographical aspects that made each of the three different Riojas unique. Being from Alavesa, though, that was his central theme.

Afterwards we came down the mountain and headed for the vineyard. However Mother Nature was growing increasingly more stern as time passed. As we arrived at the vineyard site, there was a catering truck (of a fashion) and the beginnings of a tapas table being set up as the bus pulled up. As we disembarked, however, it started to rain. There was some discussion among the group leaders as to whether or not it was raining hard enough to interfere with the all-important tasting in the vineyard. But as the discussion proceeded the deluge resolved the argument convincingly.

Fronton anyone?

Always on their toes, the group headed to an athletic venue in David’s home town (village) of Elvillar. The proceeding was moved to the town’s fronton court. Did we mention David was also the mayor of Elvillar? Fronton is the game we know as Jai Alai and it apparently orginated with the Basques. It is similar to handball but played with a leather glove rather than the racquets seen in other versions. While it poured outside, sometimes deafeningly accentuated by the tin roof, we tasted David’s new Bodegas Phi wines and were treated to a fabulous array of rustically styled Basque tapas. Occasionally some of the local children would peer into the windows of the court and try and engage in a conversation with us. Probably don’t see a lot of tour busses here in Elvillar we’d gather. As dusk settled and the rain eased, we hopped back to the bus and up the hill to walk

David’s Cortijo vineyards with an amazing view back to his hometown of Elvillar. This picture show’s David’s organic vineyard and his neighbor’s traditionaly farmed vineyard. Can you tell which is which?

David organic vineyard on the right, on the left...somebody else's.

Back on the bus and off to yet another Fronton Court in another town where we tasted David’s Cortijo wines and Calma from Bodegas Don Sancho Londoño and his wines of Bodegas Indiano (Brozal Blanco and El Brozal).The Cortijo wines have a simple cottage on the label which is an inside jab at French Chateaus with very impressive edifices on their labels. We spent the evening eating and drinking at the Fronton Court. The brave tried their (bare) hands at Fronton while the rest of us engaged in a friendly tapas creating competition, dividing into teams and completing the assignments from the catering chef of the event.

View of Elvillar from Cortijo Vineyard

Our particular tapa assignment involved two things we, even as people who cook a bit and been to many types of restaurants, had never worked with or eaten before… horse meat and ‘bronzed’ nuts. The horse meat was lean and a little pungent in this preparation but picked up nicely by an oil based dressing and chopped garlic flowers.

The ‘bronzed’ nuts looked exactly like nuts that had been sprayed with metallic paint which was visually distinct in the presentation though, sorry to admit, with all of the commotion, we didn’t really get any insight into the ‘bronzing’. We didn’t really pick up the distinct flavor of the bronzing with all of the other ingredients in the mix..

While it was all very cultural immersion and interesting, however, e never lost sight of what we re there to do which was critically evaluate the wines of the portfolio. On this day, again seeing primarily 2007s in cold, noisy, drafty venues with food and handballs whizzing around, we didn’t find much to discuss from a buying perspective. It was certainly a very full day and quite interesting from an experience perspective. That night we stayed in Laguardia, having been treated to a bit of a lightening show on the drive.

Tags: david sampedro, Elvillar, fronton, Spain
Posted in Travel | No Comments » by Steve

20th

June

2009

RIOJA ALAVESA IN THE RAIN…

This day tasted everyone’s wardrobe alittle bit as we were basically told to pack for moderate weather and cool nights. It was in fact pretty chilly and rained sporadically throughout the day. The new Mike Scioscia style Angel pullover I got for my birthday was quite welcome today. It was on this mornings drive that the bus driver Jose Maria told us that there was a serious hail storm the night before in Rioja Baja. The deluge included 18 inches of golf ball sized hail that pretty much trashed the vintage for that part of Rioja, stripping the vines of tender leaves and, most important buds that would flower and then become grapes. Much of the area will likely have no crop.

Tom Puyaubert of Exopto

Our first stop was Exopto Cellar, one of the stops I was most looking forward to because this particular Rioja producer had become one of my go-tos at home for its high quality and relatively modest fare, under $30 in our place. This was an interesting stop because it was a little bit like some of the ‘sheds wineries’ in California. The winery was in an industrial park type of setting with several of the partitions containing wine operations. What was different about this place was that part of the expense was underwritten by the Spanish government. That sort of thing doesn’t happen here in the U.S. of A..

Frenchman Tom Puyaubert, general manager of barrel maker Demptos in Spain, former rugby player, and part owner of Exopto met the group. This part of the Alavesa is one of the cooler areas (as in termperature) of Rioja, giving the grapes more structure and longer hang time.

The view of the Siera Cantabrias fro the front of the business park was absolutely stunning on this day and the meteorological occurrences served to demonstrate how the climate in this part of the region was mediated by a phenomenon called the foehn effect. Cooler continental air blows over the top of the Cantabrias from the north and hits the warmer currents coming up from the south. The cooler moist air cools things off for the vineyards but the rain doesn’t get past the mountains. It all works most of the time, although 2007 proved to be maybe a little too cool.. We tasted some 2008 barrels (not bad but we’ll see) and the 2007, which was kind of edgy. The acids were a little firm and the fruit was pretty subdued on this occasion, so for now it’s not on our hit list.

The 'foehn' effect

We left the winery and headed to a little hilltop town where Tom’s mother presented a lovely lunch a light handed, French styled bites at a quaint little bed and breakfast that was owned by someone who had his own wine made for him by Tom. The skies threatened but held and we exited this pleasant respite to visit David Sampedro, who will be a recurring character from here on. David is one of the rising stars in this part of Spain and quite a character. Patrick Mata told us not to mention n that we had just left Exopto as David and Tom were not necessarily on friendly terms (David had been part of Exopto until recently, a mutual split I am sure). The second part of the day was like a day unto itself. We’ll cover that next time.

Tags: Exopto, foehn effect, Spain
Posted in Travel | 2 Comments » by Steve

18th

June

2009

THE BASQUE COUNTRY-PART ONE…’The Smuggler’

Navarra, part of the Basque region, definitely has a bit of a different flavor than other part of Spain and today’s visit, basically our only wine stop of the day, is at Bodegas Magana. The story of Juan Magana, who runs the estate with his son Diego, is the stuff wine legends are made of. Juan came to the region in the 70’s with the idea of creating an estate that made unique wines in this area of nutrient poor, arid, but mineral rich soils. The difference is that their model was French, not Spanish. In other words, it was their belief that Merlot and Cabernet would produce great wine here. There were only two problems. There wasn’t any Merlot to be had around these parts, and, oh yeah, it wasn’t strictly legal either. So Juan set about to find some Merlot in the place he thought would be the best, Pomerol, and scored himself what is referred to as the “Petrus clone #181 Merlot” at a nursery in Bordeaux.

The Petrus #181 'foreign' Merlot

The short story is that, since there would be border stops on the main thoroughfare, Juan arranged to smuggle in the vine cuttings through the Pyranees Mountains. He would graft the vines, develop the cuttings, and then head out on another journey over the mountains to do it again. He actually built quite a business selling his cuttings from this “super Tempranillo” Merlot to other parts of Spain as well as Cabernet, Malbec and Sauvignon Blanc. Eventually, when the D.O. was looking for new clones to admit some years later, they came to Juan ‘the Nurseryman’ Magaña to ask his advice. He told them the true story and now everything is above board and Magaña has a stellar reputation.

The Maganas, Jauan and Diego, were very gracious and before we went to taste in the vineyard (are you getting a theme yet) they provided a very unusual lunch…locally grown vegetables. I have told people traveling to Spain that I never saw much of anything that looked like a vegatable, except tomatoes, the last time I went. So to have fresh local onions, radishes, lettuce, etc, was a treat. Of course there was some lamb after that, this is Spain after all, and a showing of some of the older vintages of Magana as well as their current value wines. The 1982, a generally good year in Spain, was impressive at age 27. Unfortunately, the current releases didn’t do a lot for us stylistically. They tasted like pretty good Bordeaux overall at the upper end, but cost about the same, so our interest was definitely mediated. If your are in Spain, these wines are distinct stylistically vis a vis other wines there. But in a market like California, where there are plenty of real Bordeaux, there aren’t as many opportunities to recommend this. They do seem to age well though.

270-jamon-at-magana In the end, there was the first of many jamons Iberico, the cured hams traditional in Spain. Having been in the meat business some three decades ago and pretty handy with a knife, I assisted in slicing as there was no jamoncero (a server who specializes in slicing up a the jamons). A little bit more red wine and off on the bus to the small town of Tudela.

That evening a group of us walked the town of Tudela with Patrick and followed him to a local tapas place about four blocks from the hotel. It was our first experience with just regular Spaniards in a tapas bar on a Saturday night. Nice array of selections, many fried and then warmed in a microwave, and a very limited wine selection. Hey it wasn’t Madrid, but the vibe was lively, the food was tasty and it was a good time. We walked back to the hotel around midnight through a fair sized plaza which was still quite full of people, including lots of children playing despite what to us was a rather late hour. Clearly from the crowd, that was how it was done and we weren’t in Orange County any more where the streets roll up at 10PM in most places. Tomorrow, Rioja…

Tags: Basque Country, Navarra, Spain
Posted in Travel | No Comments » by Steve

16th

June

2009

DAY ONE-PART 2

(above) the tasting table, Olga with Patrick (below)

After leaving Jeromin the bus proceeded to one of the vineyards of a winery I had not yet seen on the West Coast, Licinia, the name coming from the original Roman name of the town of Morata southeast of Madrid. This winery is a newer incarnation devised by viticuluralist/entrepreneurs Victor and Jose Ramon Lissarrague. Essentially for this project, so the story goes, the brothers contacted the leading professor of agronomy in Spain and he, in turn, was asked to suggest someone that could over see the project. He evidently chose former student Olga Fernandez and the rest, as they say, is history.

The bus arrived at the first of what was apparently four properties of the bodega that we were going to visit in succession. The philosophy of this winery is to farm organically and produce wines that are reflective of this specific microclimate. The completely stealth winery, in an unmarked industrial building village, has the full package of modern winery hardware including two sorting tables. The grapes are harvested by hand in small 8-kilo crate to reduce bruising of the grapes during picking. The estate consists of 67 acres divided among four separate varietal plantings, Tempranillo, Syrah, Cabernet, and Merlot.

Arriving at the first vineyard, the Tempranillo if memory serves, we are introduced to Victor and Olga who proceed to explain the vision of Bodegas Licinia. Tables are set up with glassware and the barrel sample of the 2008 is tasted…in the vineyard. Back on the bus and off to the next stop, the Merlot vineyard where the process is repeated. Not sure if anyone else noticed it was pretty warm out there (30°C…about 91 degrees Farenheit).
We wondered how the people who had just gotten of a trans-Atlantic plane flight were doing but the show must go on. Finally after the third repetition of the exercise it occurred to one of the group leaders that maybe another 30-40 minutes in the sun wasn’t the best idea and the group stopped by the winery for water and coffee, and to see the equipment of course.

Unfazed however, our fearless group leader then took us to Syrah vineyard to complete the process. This time, everyone walked out into the vineyard, little was said, the wine was poured and tasted and everyone marched back to the bus. The process had been planned a certain way, and darn it, it was going to be completed. Tasting components in succession and trying to gain an impression of a wine is no easy task. Having walked in four different vineyards which were somewhat but not radically different and tasted four different barrel samples of four different varietals about a half hour to an hour apart, it would be hard to give you our thoughts about the wine. The Licinia people are very committed and enthusiastic and clearly excel at the technical end. The vineyards were trellised differently, all the bells and whistles were available to the viticultural and winemaking team and the hardware was pretty serious. But to say this wine was going to translate into a $50+ wine in two years when it hit the market is difficult to say.

Castillo Casasola, the name of this unique spot

But the end of the work portion of the day was probably something of a relief to the folks that had traveled that day. Interestingly enough, from the vineyard, however, was probably the most impressive sight of the day…the dinner venue. Perched on the edge of a granite ledge, some 800-900 feet above the floor of the valley, was what could be best described as a hacienda that was probably from at least the 19th Century built within the confines of a 13th Century castle.

The bus could not traverse the narrow road up to the property so we were all shuttled to the spot by cars driven by the local who then fixed a traditional Spanish soup dish with meats after a ‘cocktail hour’ of the bottled 96 Licinia and tapas. This amazing spot was occasionally rented to Hollywood types we were told but it is hard to imagine how you would ever find it if someone didn’t take you there. One of the more remarkable spots I have ever visited.

The view from the top.

Some food, wine, water, and a trip down the mountain to the bus where we made our way to the Parador Alcala de Henares, and ultra modern hotel facility, part of which was just completed, built on the front of a magnificent 17th century building, the ancient Dominican Collegiate-Convent of Santo Tomas de Aquino. It was a long day for us and had to be really long for the folks who just arrived.

As to Licinia, we liked the 2006 a lot, but the question was again the price. Given the economy, the sudden deluge of upper end Spanish wines hitting the market in the U.S., and the fact that this wine is pretty unknown, so much depends on where a wine is positioned pricewise. All the information we could get from the importer was the ‘projected retail price’ ($55) which at this price level could vary quite a bit depending on the various markups (or lack threreof) in the supply chain. It’s a decision for another day. Tomorrow it’s off to Navarra.

Tags: Spain
Posted in Travel | No Comments » by Steve

Posts Tagged ‘Spain’

DONOSTIA OR BUST

HILLS, RIVERS, AND WILD WINES

A TASTING, A CAR, AND A TRIP NORTH

RUEDA Y TORO

2nd day in Ribera del Duero

Ribera del Duero-Day 1

SUNDAY, RAINY SUNDAY…

RIOJA ALAVESA IN THE RAIN…

THE BASQUE COUNTRY-PART ONE…’The Smuggler’

DAY ONE-PART 2

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