Sampling Catalonia's Coastal & Mountain Wines

The Catalonia region within Spain's Girona Province has been producing wines since the days of Romans.

I recently drove 2.5 hours up there to spend a night and sample wines from the l'Empordá DO wine appellation, which is split into upper ('Alt Empordà') and lower ('Baix Empordà') regions. These grapes are raked by tramontana winds, which blow in from the Pyrenees mountains (located to the north and northwest), keeping the grapes relatively disease free.

The signature red grapes are Grenache and Carignan (or, in Spanish—Garnacha and Cariñena), while the whites are fundamentally Grenache Blanc and Macabeo. About 60% of production is red wines.

At miraGe Wine Bar, and associated Mas Gusó Restaurant, I also sampled wines from another nearby region known as Terra Alta DO in southwestern Catalonia. Their 100% white Grenache (the grapes is known in Spain as Garnacha Blanca) wine named In(sòl)it Panal is beautiful—tangerine and lime aromas and flavors that are edgy with herbs and menthol in a creamy mouthful. This wine is aged in oak for eight months.

Their InÈdit Blanc wines, also 100% Grenache Blanc, are aged in wood one year. It has aromas of leather and eucalyptus and a sleek oily but chewy mouthful that is spicy beurre blanc and a finish that is crusty, creamy, elegant and eye spinning; it is as well crafted as an Italian Terlaner Pinot Bianco.

Another Free Recipe from The Winemakers' Cooking Companion Cookbook—

The Winemakers' Cooking Companion cookbook has been published! I spent years collecting and assembling these 108 recipes from 18 countries—contributed by winemakers, winery chefs and winery owners. Units are both metric and American, and recipes include several marked as vegetarian or vegan.

A few lively and fun set of book launch events will take place in later summer in my village in southern France—including at La Cantine du Curé wine bar/restaurant when winemakers and chefs cook up a storm of recipes! There will also be an event at the Green Cat art gallery. I'll let you know when these events take place in case you want to visit.

Recipe—

The free recipe below, from The Winemakers' Cooking Companion, is from the Costers del Segre wine region in Catalonia, Spain.

Cookbook In Use!

Below are a few images about the cookbook.

Clockwise from top left:

Post from recipe contributor Olive Hamilton Russell from South Africa's iconic estate; mention of the cookbook and of Vino Voices site from French winemaker and sommelier Emily Seguy; sister's friends Kate and Steve from Capestang peruse the book; sister with book in Gruissan; former classmate Clare Buchanan shows my cookbook in her kitchen and finally—sommelier Marcel Van Baalen and winemaker Benjamin Taillandier and I plan a book launch dinner in Caunes Minervois for mid September. (There will also be another launch event at the Green Cat Gallery in Caunes soon.)

More Free Chapters From The Book Vino Voices: Wine, Work, Travel, Life

I'm continuing to provide all chapters from my book Vino Voices: Wine, Work, Travel, Life for free here during the coming months. Originally written over a decade ago, this book has been revised and is available as an e-book. It is 230 pages long and includes interviews with more than 45 professionals in a dozen countries who work in the world of wine, and explain why they love their work. It includes more than 100 photographs.

Click below to download chapters seven and eight—about an Australian woman who carried on her family's winery after her parents tragically vanished in a small plane accident, and winemaker Summer Bell telling of her daily commute by ferry to Waiheke Island off the coast of New Zealand.

What's Next In Vino Voices—

I'll soon feature:

• How to navigate a French open air market.
• Recipe for Barili Chardonnay Chicken from Spokane, Washington, USA.
• Tasting notes for Burgundian white and red wines from Louis Latour and Bordeaux Saint-Émilion wines from Moulin-Galhaud.
• 'Field blend' wines from Anghiari, Tuscany, Italy.

Thanks for tuning in!

Sign Up—Free Newsletters, Recipes, Videos—

Signing up to this Vino Voices site is free, and there is no obligation. You can unsubscribe anytime. Free weekly newsletters include information about food, wine, travel and books, as well as access to free recipes, video commentaries, and links to over 400 articles I wrote for Forbes during the past decade. You can sign up using the box below and I will send you a copy of my e-book titled Vino Voices: Wine, Work, Travel, Life, which is described above.

Follow me on Instagram at @tjlmullen or at @VinoVoices.