- An exploration of wines from volcanic countries, saw winemakers from Greece, Spain and Portugal coming together to consider the unique characteristics and qualities of wines from volcanic soils
- Ferran Centelles hosted a conversation with storyteller Gabriel Garcia de Oro about triggering emotions to engage the customer when selling wine
- Mohamed Benabdallah, sommelier of Extebarri** turned the focus on the aligoté grape and outlined its place in the Bourgogne wine hierarchy
- In the first Vinomio session of the 2025 programme, Alberto Segade, sommelier of Kadeau** (Copenhagen) and Rafa Peña of Gresca (Barcelona) delivered a fascinating session explaining how to pair food with natural wines
- Henrietta Lovell (UK), The Rare Tea Lady, returned to The Wine Edition Wines from Spain to talk about non-alcoholic pairings, specifically the world of teas
- Renowned Helsinki sommelier, Samuil Angelov, shared a fascinating presentation of the burgeoning Finnish wine culture
Madrid, Monday 27 January 2025. The first day of The Wine Edition Wines from Spain gathered wine enthusiasts and experts to debate, learn and share lessons in wine and wine making through the lens of gastronomy.
This fifth edition of the international wine congress, hosted by Madrid Fusión Alimentos de España, the most significant gastronomy congress in the world, promises a programme that goes beyond wine, reflecting a world where diners are interested in a broader selection of beverages, including fermentations, teas and other non-alcoholic options. The busy programme includes roundtables, tastings, presentations and educational and inspirational sessions.
For the first session of the day, Volcanic Wines, gathered winemakers from Greece, Spain and Portugal in a Top Tasting. Wine critic Pilar Cavero was joined by some of the world’s most important producers of volcanic wines: Jonatan García Lima from Suertes del Marqués, Tenerife; Angeliki Karakosta, Hatzidaki, Santorini; and Antonio Maçanita, Azores.
The three shared insights on the unique characteristics and qualities of wines produced in volcanic environments, while considering the challenges particular to growing vines in windy conditions near the sea and what these conditions do to the resulting wine.
The terrain means that producing the wine is not easily mechanised. “It is 100% manual winemaking; it is harder and more physical. We don’t have the machines to do the work and this changes everything,” said Maçanita. “Everything is slower but also more interesting.”
There was also time to consider producing wine at a time of climate change. “This is a huge challenge for the future and how we produce wine,” said Karakosta. “Currently we work with fewer grapes, which we can, but in the future, we need to see what the planet gives us.”
In a Theory Session on Brand building and storytelling, Ferran Centelles, former sommelier of elBulli asked storyteller Gabriel Garcia de Oro for help in assisting sommeliers to connect with the diner in a restaurant. “We have 30 seconds to sell a wine, but we often just pass on information rather than connect with the diner,” he said.
“The diner is not interested in all that information, so we don’t connect and we don’t seduce.”
Garcia de Oro shared insights to help sommeliers. “You tell a story that emotes and you trigger engagement. Once the customer is engaged with a story you have their attention and if you are enthusiasm it transmits.”
Returning to The Wine Edition Wines of Spain for the fifth consecutive year, Mohamed Benabdallah, sommelier of Extebarri** (Spain), number two on the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants took the audience through a selection of outstanding wines from Bourgogne made with the aligoté grape, less well known than Chardonnay, which as Benabdallah said is “unstoppable”.
The Top Tasting included several wines from micro wineries, a trend that Benabdallah highlighted in his talk, as he mentioned smaller productions set up by young people and newcomers to the profession.
The first Vinomio session of the three-day programme, called Pairing with natural wines, saw Alberto Segade, sommelier of Kadeau** in Copenhagen come together with Rafa Peña from Gresca in Barcelona. The two focused on pairing a selection of rose and light red natural wines with dishes from Gresca.
Natural wines can often be divisive and misunderstood and, according to Segade, it is an error to call them natural wines. “People get scared when they hear it, but we have to remember it is all wine – some are badly made and some are well made. What we can say about these wines is that they tend to look after the environment and they respect traditions.”
Segade and Peña shared a selection of rose and light red wines, “These wines sometimes get lost and we often think that lighter wines need to go with light dishes, but they go really well with heavier dishes,” said Peña who had chosen peas with cod tripe, beetroot salad with pistachio oil, a prawn and bone marrow rice and grilled sweetbreads to accompany the wines.
Next, Henrietta Lovell, the Rare Tea Lady, an expert in carefully curated teas who has worked with top restaurants around the world including Noma and Momofuku turned the attention to the growing trend for non-alcoholic beverage options. In her presentation Non-alcoholic pairings she shared her experiences working with small tea farmers around the world on one hand and high end restaurants on the other. She shared a selection of four teas, while outlining the notes on each of the beverages.
Lovell outlined her drive to persuade chefs to embrace these carefully curated high quality teas, supporting the small farmers and businesses while opening up a new world of teas to customers. She made a plea for supporting the small teamakers that she works with, in order to achieve a sustainable future for them and for the world. This, she implored, is done by spreading knowledge and showing diners the potential of tea as an alternative to wine. “The problem is not supply, it is demand,” she concluded.
Closing off day one with a surprising and insightful session, Finland’s foremost sommelier Samuil Angelov, CEO of Muru Dining in Helsinki, shared a Theory Session called Discovering Finnish Culture and Drinks. Angelov presented a selection of berry wines from Finland as he outlined the burgeoning wine and food culture of his country.
He explained the production and process behind the wines, made with lingonberries, strawberries, cloudberries and blueberries, as he talked about the central part of nature and the outdoors for Finnish people.
Their vineyard, he said, is the forest. “The forest is at the heart of everything in Finland. We hunt, we fish, we use it for food and drink and just for being in nature. It is absolutely central to us.”
Away from the main auditorium, on day one of The Wine edition Wines from Spain, the Discovery Zone saw a vast range of tastings and presentations, from a run-through the wines of the volcanic island of Tenerife to a pairing session delivered by Finca La Capilla and Madrid restaurant Varra, as well as presentations of the wines from Spanish regions Castilla y León and Aragón.
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