It’s no secret that Chelsea and I have been known to plan our trips around food. Putting yourself at someone else’s dinner table is an amazing way to gain perspective into another culture on many different levels. The answers to my queries about tradition, pride, family, eating, agriculture, environment, and style begin to reveal themselves after a few moments at a local cantina, a family’s dinner table, a cider house, an agriturismo, or a pintxos bar.
When I saw the cover story of this month’s Wine Spectator
on the Rioja I couldn’t help but get excited and think back to our amazing tour of Spain’s Basque country and the Rioja region, and how much I learned about Spanish food, wine, and culture. But just as this issue of Wine Spectator focuses on the wine, food, and architecture of the Rioja, I too will remember Spain for the same reasons but more. My true thoughts are that Spain is an amazing place with centuries of tradition not only behind it but front, center, and right next to symbols of the future.
Architecture is, of course, an obvious symbol of modernity. The photo above captures this juxtaposition. It’s taken from under the canopy of the hotel at the Marques de Riscal winery and shows the ultramodern architecture of Frank Gehry and the ancient church tower of a cathedral in the old town of El Ciego.
The Ysios winery is another example of this breathtaking architecture and surroundings.
In the middle of the dry, brown valley is this wave of steel, wood, and water by Santiago Calatrava. This ultramodern winery is just a short drive from the ancient walled city of Laguardia.
So, besides eye candy, what are some of the ideals that can be gleened from studying Spain’s conscious effort to spend so much cash to make such a huge statement and present itself in such a modern way? I suppose it’s a way of saying, “Here we are!”
Another ideal is that the traditions of the past must be preserved and respected in order to move forward. After all, both Gehry’s and Calatrava’s structures are built for wineries. These wineries, Marques de Riscal and Ysios, are producing wine, a drink that has been made from grapes for centuries. It was the tradition of winemaking that has been the lifeblood of the people and sustained these regions and has carried them into the twenty-first century.
So why the grandeur? When Chelsea and I were outside of Ysios taking video, a German couple that we had seen previously at Marques de Riscal approached me, and the man said, “Ah, you are an architectural tourist as well?” My answer to him was both yes and no. In his case, he and his wife, minimal archticture fanatics and photographers, traveled to this region of Spain just to admire the architecture of a couple of superstars and to document it. To them, the fabulous food and wine came as a bonus. Perhaps when they go back to Germany they will buy Rioja to drink at home and will think of the great time they had in Spain. In my case, I was in the region to admire the food and wine, and the architecture came as a bonus.
Ironically, the popular architecture and food of Spain have more in common than most people think. Led by super chefs such as Ferran Adria of El Bulli and Andoni Aduriz of Mugaritz, the world is also looking at Spain as leading the way in molecular gastronomy and ultramodern cookery. Just as these modern wineries are producing wines from a local agricultural product, these restaurants also rely upon local and traditional agricultural to create their dishes–some in familiar ways and others in not so familiar ways. But the same traditional flavors that our grandparents tasted and that we tasted as children or associate with special occasions are still there.
Bridge in Bilbao, Basque country
edible stones at Mugaritz, Basque country
Museo de la Cultura del Vino, Rioja
Local cheese plate, Francis Paniego, Rioja
Idiazabal gnocchi, Mugaritz, Basque country
I HAD to respond to this for so many reasons although I feel I do need to be careful, given what I do and where I live. That said, as the Head Sommelier of above-mentioned Mugaritz, I feel I should add my unsolicited $0.02. I don’t believe that the modern architecture of wineries in Spain (or anywhere else, for that matter), have anything to do with the state of gastronomy. I cannot speak for Ferran, though he ALWAYS talks about the need to learn, know and understand the history of food – on an international level. I can, however, loosely speak for Andoni. He is the reason I came here. He is the reason that I moved to a country whose wines, I believe, are misunderstood by both consumer and those who make them. A lot of what we do has much fewer bells and whistles as other places in the world. Andoni tries to convey sensations, with a very strong nod to his Basque roots. We will always, always, always be a Basque restaurant, run by Basque people.
I do believe that wineries that spend so much money on the architect are missing the point about making wine. We are also talking about wineries that make hundreds of thousands of cases. Is there anything wrong with that? In general, no. it’s just not my thing. When looking to the future, one must never forget about the past. The same past that helped build the way – directly or indirectly – for one to build a present and a future. But the future does not have to be about gadgets on the table nor flashy architecture. We are forgetting about simplicity and humility and, overall, the connection with nature. In this sense wine and food are very much related. I can assure you that just about any large winery – made by any architect, located in any country – has put little thought into nature. Is this me being a wannabe hippie? No. Wine is a living beverage. Period. The minute we dress it up in fancy packaging and flashy wineries, generally speaking, the life is gone.
I could go on and on and on about “modernization” and “globalization” in the context of wine and winemaking. And wine drinking. But I will save that for my own blog one day.
[...] Spain: Looking Forward While Embracing the Past [...]
you control the costs, know the costs…
in advance, and pay only for results. this allows you to spend your resources fine-tuning your products, your web site, and the ads that work. you can then bring in more qualified visitors and convert more visitors into customers, quickly and easily….