DISQUS

I love these kind of crazy things! Surely you'd have to get involved if you went?

It looks like the humans would get more injured than the horses. Thousands(if not tens of thousands) of horses are killed at horse racing and rodeo events every year. That is more concerning to me than this festival.

That sea kittens thing is a classic, surely someone is taking the piss?

Good tips. I always seem to spend half my time in the car when I'm Spain, there is always great scenery where ever you go and the distances are so short (compared to Australia anyway). However, armed road blocks are a bit off putting! (are these common? I seem to run into at least one every trip)

A couple of tips for those of us who normally drive on the other side of the road: keep your eye on that white line and the driver should always be on the inside lane...

So, where are the cheap hire cars at?

It's funny, I'd rather have an honest grumpy person serve me than a false smile person, but that has changed as I get older I think. However, there is also the Aussie habbit of being a smart arse, which usually gets people smiling too. So perhaps I just like the honesty in Spain? Not sure.

The aussie/brit thing is an issue at times(i.e. you colonials should be serving my beer, not drinking it!), but for the most part it's just that London is gloomy and a massive city and Melbourne is smaller and generally sunny so people adjust their attitudes accordingly. There

Great tips. I love the last one, so very true and one of the things I love about Spain.I agree on the bread thing, it seems to be bread on the table at home and on a plate at restaurants from my experience. Slurping the milk from your cereal bowl seems to be a no no as well (I still do it away)

I always hear that Spanish people don't give good service and don't smile, I've not had that problem more in Spain than anywhere else than other places. I find London very bad on this front...Maybe its my Aussie accent (both in Spanish and English!)

Rock'n

Ad-Free is the way to be :) Honestly, for the amount of money they bring in, most ad services are too much work and clutter up the site. They also tend to dristract from creating good content, to creating ad worthy content.

Congrats on 3 years too, you guys have done so much in just 3 years...

These started showing up in the Spanish delis in Melbourne about a year ago and they seem to be everywhere now, even replacing the dark anchovies in many a Ceasar salad. I love them, a half bottle of manzanilla and a plate of these are magic as a snack after work. And they're so cheap, about $5 for 250 grams.

Pitty about the Albariño de Fefiñanes, its a very good wine.

I had a look at this earlier in the week and loved it. 95 on my scale, so I guess I'm more in line with Gabriella there. Have you tried their 05 VP?

I'm insanely jealous, sounds like a great night!

I think fairly much the same thing, but instead of having a third catergory, I divide the modern category. So I have Established, for producers who have done their experimenting for their main wines and now produce in a house style most years (eg Roda), and Experimental, those who are still establishing a style or continually try new things each vintage. The main reason for this is that 10 years ago what are modern wines now, were the experimentals then. Of course there are some that stay in this inovation stage all of the time.

If you do like you guys did last week and walk around a heap of bodegas in Rioja, you will see these small fermenters all over the place that are being used to try new styles and blends. One of the more exciting areas seems to be white Rioja, either reworking old styles with the traditional grapes or some thing new with French verities. For example, the last time I went to Palacios Remondo in Alfaro there were 5 or 6 small fermenters in use to develop Placet, their new white Rioja. The direction was unclear at the time, but they have since released a very popular and modern wine made from Viura.

Thanks for the great write up. Cheers,

Dave W

Hi Gabriella,

No problem, as you know nothing in politics is straight forward! It was a big issue (always has been in Aussie politics), but it was all wrapped up in moving away from what was seen to be a Government that followed US Bush administration far too closely (i.e. re-implimenting workers rights, pay and conditions that the previous government had styled on various US ideas, removing troops from Iraq, no action on climate change, welfare and medical reform that was moving too far etc etc).

Signing the treating is one thing, actually doing something seem to be another, there has been very little done to date which is disapointing.

Sounds like a great conference, I'm supprised by the number of aussies in attendance.

I think Richard Smart might be over simplifying a little with the people power argument. There were also big issues like Industrial relations, bringing the troops back from Iraq and moving away from an ultra conservative, business focus government to something a bit more moderate and focused on average Australians. I'm not saying he's wrong, but it wasn't the primary platform of the new government but one of a few issues that separated the two main parties.

We are still to set a target for reduced emissions, no extra money is being spent on R&D or 'green' programs but its early days for the new Government, so heres hoping they do something in the right direction.

Ryan - if I make it over to Spain later in the year I'll bring my other bottle and we can see if its any good...

I'm a 1975 kid as well, and I've a had a lot of average stuff from that year so far. 75 Ports are quite good at the moment if they've had good storage. If you want something Spanish (and can find it), 75 Unico is magic. Here is my note from last year:

Level still in the neck, a bit of label damage but nothing too bad. A good punt I thought at the time. Turns out I was right. The cork came out in one piece, in really good nick actually. I'd left the bottle standing up for a day and opened it a couple of hours before drinking.

A deep purple core with light red and orange around the edges. The nose is a monster with all the aromas you would expect, ripe plums, light cherry, earth, leather and an anise/licorice combo. And then some that you wouldn't some ripe apple and wild flowers. For a 32 year old wine its still very intense, but open and ready for business. From the start the tannins have lovely texture that is pure velvet and the structure of the wine is amazing, layers of flavour framed by great tannins and perfect balance. As soon as it hit my mouth, I wanted to drink it very slowly and savour it. Plums, black currents, ripe cherry, a bit of dark chocolate are just a few of the flavours on the palate. Mind blowing wine, drink it by itself. I don't think anything could make it better. Only the 70 is better for my tastes. Time to drink up? Pffftt not going on this bottle. It will do another 10 years standing on its head (or side). 99 Pts.

Yes, residual sugar post primary fermentation, not dosage. Its interesting that in Champagne you can have up to 6g/l for a Brut-Naturale/Zero Dosage, but I'm not sure if they get that level of ripeness on a regular basis.

As with most things in wine, its a personal preference thing, so 'better' is not really the right concept. Personally, I prefer a focused razor sharp sparkling to a broader more worked style, so Brut Nature is right up my alley. But then againl, Seco or Semi-Seco can be quite good with a nice bit of cake.

I actually perfer the Brut Nature style, but generally the ones that work have a very small amount of sugar (i think they can have up to 2g per litre? with 2-8 for Brut?). With the Raventos reserva level wines, I will prefer the brut nature every time in a blind line up. The Juve y Camps Gran Reserva de Familia Brut Nature is in a similar boat, it also has just a drop of sugar. But your right, in General Brut Nature wines are over the top in terms of acid and the balance is way off.

Did you try the Gran Reserva de la Finca? Its become my benchmark for top end Cava....

Love the new look. I've been working on a new look for Tinto y Blanco based on Grid Focus too, its great to build on and customise. Looks like you beat me too it :)

Hi guys,

I get a number of weird ones, but my favorate is "tiger raises pigs" when wacked into google. I'm the number 2 item :)