Catalonia (Catalunya in Catalan and Cataluña in Spanish) is an autonomous community in the Northeast of Spain. It extends from the historic county (comarca) of Montsia in the South to the border with France in the north. The Mediterranean Sea forms its eastern border and offers 580 km of coastline. The Catalunya D.
O. C. was the first regional D. O.
C. in Spain. Created in 1999, it covers all the scattered vineyards that were not covered by one of the other 11 DOs in the region. The capital of Catalonia is the bustling Barcelona, Spain's second largest city and one of the largest ports on the Mediterranean.
Originally from Bordeaux, Sauvignon, or Sauvignon Blanc, is reputed to be one of the best French grape varieties for white wine. It is a white grape variety, not to be confused with Sauvignon Gris and its pale yellow color, or with Cabernet Sauvignon which produces red wines. Particularly famous thanks to Sancerre, Sauvignon Blanc is cultivated as far as New Zealand, where it produces great wines whose reputation is well established.
white wines from the region of Catalogne go well with generally quite well with dishes of rich fish (salmon, tuna etc), shellfish or poultry such as recipes of smoked salmon pasta gratin, spanish seafood paella or senegalese rice.
For those unfamiliar with the Vino de Pago qualification, it was created in Spain in 2003 to certify singular estates (pagos) as Protected Denominations of Origin. While not a requisite, it’s generally implemented by individual wineries looking to gain protected status for a single vineyard site within their domain. This is the case for Abadía Retuerta which is an estate of 700ha, of which 180ha is planted to vine. While located within the Duero Valley, the site resides within the borders of Sar ...
The Osborn family patriarch – known as d’Arry among friends, family and colleagues – was a popular statesman of the Australian wine trade. He was born on the estate in December 1926, the son of Helena d’Arenberg Osborn and Francis Ernest. The Osborns have tended vines on the South Australia property since 1912, and d’Arry joined the family business at the tender age of 16. Back then, Clydesdale horses did the work currently performed by a tractor and kerosene powered the motors and pumps. He had ...
An electronic dart was tossed at us recently by Decanter reader Tim Frances from Kent. It landed on the screen of our magazine editor Amy Wislocki; Amy lobbed it across the virtual room to me, suggesting a column-length reply. ‘Here’s a poser,’ Tim began. ‘How do your experts grade a wine that they find intellectually well made, but that they truly madly deeply dislike? I’ve tasted wines I can admire dispassionately, but would stab my feet with forks rather than drink them. Must be a conundrum f ...
