Newsletter Autumn 2010

On the dreamy, volcanic vineyards of Mount Etna at 650 meters MSL, brave wine makers are defying the extreme conditions of the region to produce one of the best wines in Italy. 80 years old, the “Prephilloxera La Vigna di Don Peppino” is the result of the passion of a group of wine makers who joined efforts to give life to this award winning wine. It is an expression of a unique terroir and results in an elegant, complex and intoxicating wine, hard to recognize if you are not familiar with the wines produced on Etna.

Thanks to the close cooperation with celebrity winemaker Salvo Foti, this wine is amazing for its balance, harmony and complexity. The vines can only be cultivated manually and the enormous effort exerted by the staff there is well repaid by the wine, even if they produce less than 2,000 bottles. The color of this wine is a pale ruby red, characteristic of the grape varietal Nerello Mascalese, predominant in this wine and difficult to exalt in other regions, a bit like Pinot Noir in Bourgogne. Other grape varietals used in this wine are small quantities of Cappuccio, Alicante and Francisi. On the nose an harmonic combination of violets, cherries, spices, leather, while on the palate a long lasting elegant and harmonic concentration of flavors. Inspiring region and inspiring wine!

Visit the Sicilian wine country on a luxury private tour! For more info on our Etna Wine Tour

Andalucía is one of Spain’s most romantic regions with its gorgeous Moorish architecture, fascinating Jewish heritage, olive groves and white washed pueblos. For wine lovers the country’s most beautiful, historic wine estates are located here in the sleepy towns of Jerez de la Frontera (Sherry) and Montilla Moriles. Then in up and coming areas like Arcos de la Frontera and especially Ronda, passionate wine mavericks are producing stellar dry reds. This tour encompasses the best of the south of Spain for food and wine lovers who like to pamper themselves. You’ll visit some of the most beautiful towns and villages including Seville, Córdoba. Ronda and Málaga. Unique wine tasting experiences will be arranged for you like a Sherry masterclass, Spanish brandy primer, and “be a winemaker for a day”. Don’t worry about driving as you’ll have a professional chauffeur and luxury Mercedes on the tour. Sleep in hand selected small luxury hotels with country character and dine in the region’s best eateries, from hole in the wall tapas bars to Michelin starred destination restaurants.

More info on our private VIP Wine Tasting Tours in Andalusia

More and more, our clients ask us for foodie day excursions as part of their overall vacation/ and as shore excursions for their cruises. So we have created a number of delicious tours that can be enjoyed as a one day experience. This new tour in Italy features olive oil tasting and a chocolate making workshop in western Tuscany. You can be collected in Livorno (cruiseships), Pisa, Florence, or Lucca at your villa or hotel and you’ll get to spend one-on one time with some of Tuscany’s most famous food producers- Poggio Cappiano (olive oil) and Paul de Bondt (chocolate). Enjoy a home cooked lunch at the olive “Frantoio” with all dishes featuring olives or olive oil, showing you how to incorporate into your cooking. And in the afternoon you’ll even have a chance to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. For those looking for a unique food experience and a spin in the sublime Tuscan countryside, this trip could be perfect for you!

More info on our gourmet Olive Oil and Chocolate Tasting Tours in Tuscany

Ireland makes some of the best whiskies in the world and as if castles, bewitching scenery, charming fishing villages and friendly locals weren’t reason enough to tempt you to visit the Emerald Isle, our new Irish whiskey tours might! On this private Mercedes chauffeured tour you’ll visit Dublin, County Cork and Northern Ireland, and visit premium distilleries like Bushmills and Jameson. A whiskey masterclass will be organized just for you and you’ll learn about the fundamental differences between Whiskey, Scotch and Bourbon and taste some rare small batch whiskies. Between swirling whiskey glasses you’ll explore the beautiful countryside, dine at some incredible restaurants such as L’ Ecrivain in Dublin, and pop into some darling Irish pubs

More Info on our private Whiskey Tours in Ireland

Champagne is perhaps the most famous wine appellation in the world and one associated with a sense of occasion, royalty, elegance, luxury and decadence. While other regions make (often traditional method) spumante, bubbly, cava, sparkling wine, etc- only one region can legally call its wines “Champagne”, thanks to the savvy Treaty of Madrid agreement in 1891. There are an array of champagne wine styles from NV (non vintage, a blend of vinified wines from different harvests, probably the most popular style and indeed the “house style” that defines each Champagne winery), cuvée de prestige (top quality blend), Blanc de Blanc (made with all white grapes, chardonnay), Blanc de Noirs (white champagne made with all black grapes, Pinot Noir) and Rosé Champagne. In terms of sweetness, champagnes can be Demi sec (off dry, ie, sweet), Brut (dry) Extra brut (really dry) or Brut natural (really, really dry).

Read the full profile on the Champagne Wine Region

We dined at the wonderful Michelin starred restaurant at Vila Joya this past August and want to tell you all about it! Translating as “House of Joy” or “Jewellery Box” it is certainly a gem, hidden in the generally garish Algarve coast in Southern Portugal. Vila Joya is an enchanting boutique hotel (only 20 rooms, 8 of which are fa-bu-lous suites) with oriental spa and gastronomic eatery, set in a historic Moorish style mansion directly overlooking the sea. While beaches cannot be private in Portugal, their gorgeous beach is almost exclusively for hotel guests as the access is through their property. Vila Joya´s restaurant is equally impressive for lunch (as you sit outside amid cypresses agaves and palm trees with a sea breeze and views over the bobbing yachts) and for dinner (the dining room manages to be elegant and very cozy at the same time).

Austrian Chef Dieter Koschina is renowned in Portugal for being the only restaurant in the country to earn (and keep) 2 coveted stars. We did a shortened tasting menu at lunch and shared an array of dishes including his mythical baby lamb and spaghetti with outrageously huge, juicy carabineros. Their sommelier Arnaud Vallet recommended we taste the Quinta do Francês, the hottest new winery in Algarve (not a region traditionally known for premium wines) and wow! Absolutely delicious red (appellation "DOP Lagoa" and IGP Algarve) made with Aragonês (Tempranillo), Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Trincadeira. Tremendous. We are including Vila Joya in our new gourmet tours of the Algarve, ask us for details on this and our new Portuguese Wine Masterclasses in their beautiful slate and stone wine cellar.

Designed to become an icon, the chic Yeatman Hotel, positioned right overlooking the breathtaking hillside of the Douro River is an exclusive gateway to the wine cellars of Oporto (Vilanova de Gaia, whose wine lodges are located only steps away) and the vineyards of the Douro Valley. The Yeatman is a luxury 5 star hotel, with 82 rooms and suites, each one theme decorated and personalized by a winery. The gastronomic restaurant run by award-winning Chef Ricardo Costa is a special place where you have the opportunity to try the best Portuguese dishes and match them with wines from the extremely impressive wine menu.

Other services include a vinotherapy Caudelie Spa with ten therapy rooms, gym facilities with hammam, sauna, Roman baths, and tepidarium; outdoor panoramic infinity pool, and indoor pool. The Yeatman will soon be a reference not only for the beautiful structure of its building, the beautiful gardens surrounding the hotel and the originality if the rooms’ decoration, but also for its cellar and wine list, restaurant and Spa. They hold wine dinners every Thursday night, with guided tastings and other regular wine events. As if you needed another reason to visit the fascinating wine lodges of Oporto, the Yeatman has become a destination onto itself. Recommended and included in our luxury wine tours of Northern Portugal.

Originally from the Americas, zucchini (or courgette, calabacín, etc depending on the country), is a delicious, and sexy veggie cultivated all over the world now. It´s basically a cucumber shaped squash and is generally forest green, although there are some yellow varieties. The word “zucchini” is commonly used in the United States, Australia, Italy (1 zucchina, 2 zucchine) and Germany and comes from the Italian “zucchini”, little squash. The term “Courgette” is used in France, the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa and comes from the French courgette, “little courge”, meaning little squash as well. Zucchini is a very versatile vegetable generally cooked (not served raw) and can be baked, steamed, grilled, boiled or fried. The beautiful zucchini flowers are commonly used in Italy and Mexico, and can be stuffed with ricotta cheese, thrown into omelets, tossed into pasta, etc. It is low in calories and rich in folates, Vitamin A and potassium. If you want to experiment with a few recipes you just have to choose from which country’s culinary tradition you want to take your inspiration. Salmon zucchini quiche or ratatouille from the French? Sausage zucchini boats or zucchini tart from the Italians? Baked zucchini with mint from the Greeks or tortilla with zucchini from the Spanish?

With the autumn days getting shorter and the temperature cooler, there is nothing better than putting on a warm, wooly jumper, plopping into a cozy armchair, and sipping a legendary cocktail like the Old Fashioned while enjoying the company of an old friend or of your favorite book. The Old Fashioned is one of the oldest if not the absolute oldest cocktail ever, it has even been registered at the “Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book” in 1931, ascribed to Colonel James E. Pepper. As the original cocktail wasn’t meant to be fruity, please respect this old friend and don’t prepare it like the barmen of the prohibition period, when they had to add some fruit to disguise the bad taste of cheap whisky. If you really can’t fight the urge, you can add lemon peel, a slice of lemon and a maraschino cherry, just don’t tell anyone...

Recipe:

• 4 cl. Rye Whisky (also Bourbon will do)
• 3 Dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 Sugar cube
• Club Soda

Preparation

Place the sugar cube soaked with angostura at the bottom of your tumbler and fill it with ice. Add rye or bourbon, top it up with soda and stir.

If you would like us to customize a luxury private tour for you in France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal or Spain, contact us and we will prepare a tailored itinerary just for you. Let us show you our favorite gourmet corners in Europe!

Cellar Tastings S.L.
Address: C/ Zurbano 45, 1st Floor,
28010 Madrid, Spain
Spain Headquarters Tel: +34 91 143 6553
Calling from USA (310) 496-8061

Email: info@cellartours.com
Web: www.CellarTours.com
Blog: www.CellarTours.com/blog

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CELLAR TASTINGS S.L. is a Fully Licensed and Bonded Tour Operator and Travel Agency, and a proud member of ASTA and the IACP.