Wine, Spain and an Extraterrestrial. A humorous cocktail.
“Wine you say? I’ve heard of Ribena before, but this is so sweet, so rich! Why have we, Puffs from planet Plansicatiscmea never heard of this before?”
I looked at the Puff before me, I should have felt alarmed by an extraterrestrial arriving, out of the blue, in my back yard. But the one eyed orange creature before me didn’t look threatening at all, rather like an enlarged stuffed toy that my daughter loves collecting. However, to play safe, I thought I’d offer it some local wine and if the Puff didn’t like it, I’d at least try and get it so tipsy, that it would pass out by tea time, leaving me free to call for help.
“You’ve arrived in Montilla, Spain.” I said. The Puffs eyes bulged as I spoke and I hoped I hadn’t said something offensive in “Plansicatiscmea” tongue. “It’s a wine town,” I explained. “Montilla- Moriles is a Spanish DO for wines located in the southern part of the province of Cordova (Andalusia, Spain). It’s bounded by the river Genil to the east, by the river Guadajoz to the west, by the river Guadalquivir to the north, and south the Subbetic mountain range.” I paused here, I wasn’t sure if the Puff’s eye was starting to glaze because I was bombarding it with geographical information, or if the three glasses of Pedro Ximenez had anything to do with it.
“This region” I continued slowly “produces mainly sweet dessert wines, using similar techniques to those used for the production of sherry, which involves allowing a “veil” of flor yeast to form on the surface of the must in the casks and ageing the wine in soleras.”
I now offered the Puff a dry Fino. I was aware that I was doing the tasting the wrong way around, (you should start with the dry wines first and then work your way towards the sweet wines) but in my initial nervy haste I’d handed it the first bottle I had handy. (It was a relief it hadn’t been the washing up liquid). We have one of the oldest wineries in the whole of Spain in Montilla, Bodegas Alvear, founded in 1729. I thought I’d impress the Puff with historic facts and figures too. Wines that have been given 100 Robert Parker points.
Before I knew it the Puff jumped up, quite an achievement considering the wine it had ingested. “I will be back for more” it croaked as it swayed towards it’s space shuttle.
“You shouldn’t drink and drive.” I called out as it flew off, concerned not only for the possibility of an airborne accident but because there was also a good chance of the Puff, in it’s dizzy sate, driving off course and having to circle the galaxy a couple of times before finding it’s planet again. But at least it seemed the Puff had been impressed. Time to stock up with more Montilla- Moriles wine I mused to myself. Thank goodness for Spanish wine!
For more information about wines in Spain, or fantastic wine tours in Spain, check out: https://winetourismspain.com/
6 May, 2017 @ 11:32
What’s up, I read your blog like every week. Your writing style is witty, keep it up!
4 May, 2017 @ 2:33
Saved as a favorite, I like your website!