Letter from Haro 7: Of Legacies and Logistics
Cristina Forner of Marqués de Cáceres (left)
and Rafael Vivanco of Bodegas Dinastía Vivanco
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
12:00 pm
On the road to Cenicero
Our post-interview tasting with Miguel Angel de Gregorio of Finca Allende in Briones was all too truncated. “It’s a shame you can’t stay,” De Gregorio told us as we said our goodbyes in the tower after having only tasted the Allende Blanco, “Because the wines will only keep getting better.” I believe him.
I love the work I’m doing here, but sometimes I wish I were traveling with the sommeliers, at an easier pace, with much more comprehensive tastings, and time to take notes. In a perfect world, we’d have three weeks to do our work here instead of one. I’ll have to remind myself to catch up with the sommeliers, who are coming here tomorrow—the first group ever in this newly renovated space—to get their impressions and tasting notes of Allende and enjoy the wines vicariously through them.
The weather here is absolutely stunning and our pace is intense. We are racing across the A-68 towards Cenicero, where we’ll try to coordinate interviews with the sommeliers at Finca Valpiedra. Then it’s back across the valley again to Briones for an interview with Rafael Vivanco of Bodegas Dinastía Vivanco and El Museo de la Cultura de Vino, over lunch if there’s time, and then back to Cenicero for a sit-down with Cristina Forner of Marqués de Cáceres, before heading out to Bodegas Bretón’s old-vines Garnacha vineyard, Pagos del Camino near the town of Navarette. We had originally scheduled a visit with David Moreno in Badarán this afternoon, but there is no way that’s possible. I am hoping for a reschedule, as Jon and I agree that we need to have tape of Moreno singing; it’s just too key an image.