DISQUS

Hmm, funny-- Signore Patti's bare bones El Lagar is in Luján de Cuyo, Mayor Drummond to be exact...maybe 30- 40 minutes from Mendoza center depending on route, traffic & driving style.
Alice, the strictest non-interventionis in Mendoza is Bodega Cecchin. Got Nicolas Joly's stamp of approval & everything. Señor Oscar Alberto just became majority owner in his own import firm & was going to be meeting with distributors in the States about now.

(--greetings from Maipú, ARG!)
About the Camino: one of my enduring inspirations to rededicate
to it is the memory of three Spanish guys I shared the week's 100 mile hike it took to cover the Aragón leg back in '99: two of them worked in finance, one was a civil servant.
For five years or so they took their yearly (two-week?) vacation
together to walk however much of the route they had strength for that year.
Ten years later, I hope I can at least do a week or two out of
Arles...Namaste, Ultreia!

You *might* adjust to this twilight life, grasshopper...tho yr former existence will continue to bite you in the butt at the worst possible time-- think you cd find a cheap fare, make a truce with the Catholic church, & hike part of the Arles leg of el Camino de Santiago with me? I'll be sailing across the Atlantic end of April, hope I'm not denied entry into the EU without a return flight...

Manda carallo! Guess os costeiros de Pontevedra aren't as enduringly pagan as os montanheiros of Ourense...keep up the great work-- too Catholic a family to even mention this tradition!

Damn. I used to flatter mself I was a dancer, never could do anything like that. But I was, y'know, one of those postmodern 'mark & theorize' then do contact improv to meet girls kind of 'Rican...'Illegitimi non carborundum' & all that, mi querida Alicia. You are the literary wine world's designated curmodgeonette. Accept yrself. Love yrself. Seriously. What I tell myself, jaja.

Glad to read Katherine is thriving. Not just a cheesemonger, but a dedicated, perffectionistic 'affineur'!
Futher down on Carrer Dagueria (in 2003) was a little tapas bar showcasing artisanal embotits from Lleida & Québecois beer, as partner Bruno was from Montréal-- any chance they're still there, too? I hope I hope I hope I manage to hop over the pond this year! Salut!

Thanks for this, Alice. I'll say this for California: it does seem to be your best foil & focuses your writing in exciting ways. What's that saying about your enemy being your best teacher?

Russ, what the's logistics looking like?
Anybody car-pooling from the city?
I might be looking to overnight in Calistoga Fri. &/or Saturday otherwise...

Room for one more? I vote for the more strenuous hike!

Thank you Alice. 'Thanks for sharing', & all that-- for letting us in so candidly & wholeheartedly. My own dad remarried one month before turning 90, after mourning my mother for 13 years. It's just to long a story-- he'll be 94 next February 16, going from correcting everybody on dates & names to asking my uncles names in two years-- so now nobody can force him to face things he's never wanted to face. Oy gevalt. Besos y abrazos, DJR

Hi, Russ-- apologies for the late posting: something of an opus, touching on a personal issue. Trust not too 'off-topic':

http://vinomadic.blogspot.com/2008/10/wild-gone...

Thanks, Jefe-- just checked back in & figured yr comment concerned me. I tend to suffer from pretty bad jetlag, & what's happened is, true to form, second-guessing myself & reacting to continuing unfinished biz down here, I've postponed my flight until Saturday the 11th...not sure I can manage the appropiate hike in the rain forest, browsing around to try to compile links to online resources for sharing...

Oof...I fly into SF next Monday the 6th...hate to miss *two* WBW's in a row...argh...we'll see...

Boy, Kaz is 'da loose cannon wid da mostest' here!
If my iMac's Ethernet whatsis wasn't on da fritz due 2 voltage @#$%&¿!!!
I could video comment-- shizdarn.
Oh-- barely missd yr taping today. Even with a four hour time difference. Oof.
I only have questions about trying to sell my private label organic Bonarda from Mendoza anyway...

Hi, Ryan-- I'm sort of peripheral (?) to all this, but if things aren't coming together as fast as they need to for yr preferred dates ( -- tho i?m pretty sure you'll get it done) I had the bright idea post-crush might be areally rally good time-- like a build up to an expat Thanksgiving, as late as 1st or second wkend in November...
I'll have to see if I can get a ticket at all from Puerto Rico on that last week in august...
anyway, all the best... let's see if I can manage to be a part of this somehow...
djr

PS, any chance you have tried Laureano´s wine? (nedless to say, I haven't)
here's a link to his site, in case not--
http://www.serres.net/

I've also had some contact with Joán Gómez Pallarés, as the man is a veritable encyclopedia on grape varieties & subvarieties, & I must say I'm looking forward to meeting him, as well as Gabriella & you!

Ryan,
I don't know how I'm going to schedule all i want to do this year. I'm still holding on to the possiblity of putting my name on a barrel of 2008, say, Bonarda, before I quit Mendoza. Even if that doesn't work, I believe I'm developing some relationships for the longer term.
I celebrate my 25th graduation anniversary from NYU this year, & I hope to contribute a half-case of Italian wine i couldn't get sent to Puerto Rico towards an informal gathering of NY based wine bloggists-- let's see who turns up on short notice!
As for Spain, I've had some contact with Laureano Serrés in Terra Alta about making the wines I'd like to vinify as natural as I can bear to risk it-- he offered to be 'on call' for support, so I was planning to return the good will trying to make myself useful around crush in Catalunya...but of course, as long as I'm looking at being around 'las Espanyas' as Harvest gears up, i hope i can lend you a hand in whatever logistics & language issues I can be halfway efficient at. Onward & upward--

un abrazo, David J

I had an artisanal Bonarda from Catamarca I just posted on & Andrés the journailist & sommelier keep harping on its being 'varietally incorrect'.
I think 'terroir', when understood with broad correction (ouch) is a positive context for discussing variations in varietal character & expression as related to geoclimactic circumstance.
Whether we enjoy these variations or not (my case with Santa Lucia Pinots, for example) should not be a pretext or excuse for dismissing the results out of hand.

Thanks for the good wishes. I just posted on my first asado. & guess what-- found & tried some local fuet!
News at eleven!

Ryan & Gabriella,

Saludos desde Mendoza. I envy you so, it's parched heat here & I miss game & bolets season, all of the Fall...
finally managed a posting...maybe, if all goes well, I can be back North & across th pond for next November & help celebrate a Catalan San Guibin!!

all the best, djr

Oh, the seafood was mostly from cans, I'm afraid-- 'en escabeche' --your basic oil & vinegar & spice marinade.
What they *did* make from scratch, & I'm sorry I avoided it for the longest time, is jamón!
On that note, i'd usually add some sardines or smoked fish to my somewhat macrobiotic millet- or bean-based- stews-- 'lentejas estofadas'...
i discovered real, earthy, salty celery that Fall... & squash that was slightly sweeter than what we get here in Puerto Rico but not quite Butternut or Acorn-- big squashes!
Later in Barcelona I discovered Catalanes cure & smoke duck magret into something like ham, & I wish somebody would import that-- duck fat is rich, but certainly lighter than pork...& of course, Gallegos are not big on mushrooms, where Catalanes love them. Getting all misty-eyed & drooly-mouthed here...

I meant 'Ferreira', of course-- -inha being a diminutive suffix used as 'term of endearment--
like, tía Carmiña/Carminha...

My Abuelo Ramón, Great-Aunt Carmiña & Great-Uncle Joaquín from Galicia (La Guardia, nor far from El Rosal & its Albariños) always had Port for aperitivo-- often a Ferreirinha, Ruby or Tawny I forget-- along with peanuts, olives, 'Zamburiñas' (cockles?) & octopus...
My last visit to Galicia was in '96 & I ended up having Port with the stews I cooked for myself in the now-demolished old house because that was the only thing left in the cellar apart from some Jumilla Rosés...

Gracias de nuevo-- you guys have raised the bar-- visual aids
are way cool and help give both participants & audience a great sense of context, & potential impact! A no-brainer, in retrospect, but it took your two very focused brains to come up with the one practical app that brought multiple pertinent factors together
economically & aesthetiacally-- did I thank you yet??

...I should call myself a handle I thought up when it was more topically appropiate-- but it may be so again!-- 'Luddite with a laptop'...& thankful that blogspot is teaching me some basic html, baby step by baby step...
Thanks unutterably much for your patience,
(I guess building a narrative by installments may just hep build up readership--
a kind of cultural 'brand allegiance' in these totalizing markets, late capitalist social factory times!
...latest update (--but stay tuned!)--

http://vinomadic.blogspot.com/2007/10/wine-blog...

again, thanks for all your work & for being such gracious virtual hosts--
great ('muy aprovechados'?) American students & assimilators of Catalan ʼseny'!

--djr