{"id":11116,"date":"2023-10-04T11:17:35","date_gmt":"2023-10-04T05:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/?p=11116"},"modified":"2023-10-04T13:01:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T07:31:46","slug":"item_6_938","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/item_6_938\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish Wines and Commercial Office wins hearts in Delhi"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"11116\" class=\"elementor elementor-11116\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4720b6a elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"4720b6a\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-53f09f7\" data-id=\"53f09f7\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-70aab53 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"70aab53\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.15.0 - 20-08-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p>Posted: Wednesday, 04 October 2023 12:08<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ad9e937\" data-id=\"ad9e937\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-cccb2a7\" data-id=\"cccb2a7\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1b4aea3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1b4aea3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fdevelopers.facebook.com%2Fdocs%2Fplugins%2F&#038;width=450&#038;layout&#038;action&#038;size&#038;share=false&#038;height=35&#038;appId\" width=\"450\" height=\"35\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-9669605 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"9669605\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-b62f3ec\" data-id=\"b62f3ec\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c0e78f1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c0e78f1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-12\">\n<h1 class=\"articlepagetitle_heading\">Spanish Wines and Commercial Office wins hearts in Delhi<\/h1>\n<div class=\"articlepageintroline\">October 04: Thanks to the confusing and ad hoc excise policy in Delhi, there has been a virtual draught of wine tasting events in Delhi during this year but the Economic and Commercial Office of Spain had apparently been busy planning a Wine Tasting like they have never done before and after the Castilla La Mancha Wine tasting last year, they raised the bar several notches at the Taste of Spain event held at Instituto Cervantes at Hanuman Road on 15 September, writes Subhash Arora.<\/div>\n<div class=\"articledata\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_lft\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-lft\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_182242-rotated.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11123\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 1px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_182242-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"Bodegas Franco Espa\u00f1olas\" width=\"210\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_182242-224x300.jpg 224w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_182242-766x1024.jpg 766w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_182242-768x1027.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_182242-rotated.jpg 896w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-lft\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bodegas Franco Espa\u00f1olas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Dene wala jab bhee deta, poor chhappar farh ke deta, <\/em>is a line from an old Bollywood song that underlines the fact that when Gods are generous they can be much too generous at times. There have been several Wine Tastings of Substance at the Spanish Ambassador\u2019s residence in the past that had been a phenomenal success but of late, the embassy seemed to be relatively quiet in the wine and food segment. Therefore the invite sent by the Commercial office brought tears of joy to many palates and the attendance was much higher and people arrived on time at 5 PM on this day.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_181409-rotated.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11125 alignright\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 1px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_181409-226x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Taj Corner\" width=\"200\" height=\"265\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_181409-226x300.jpg 226w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_181409-772x1024.jpg 772w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_181409-768x1018.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_181409-rotated.jpg 893w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>The space allocated seemed much more this time, the organization was a lot better (including glasses) management and the enthusiasm of the visiting producers or their reps. What might have added to the \u2018glamour\u2019 this time was the number of wineries from the popular Rioja region and several food stands, not to mention a special food stand in a corner that was catered by the Taj Mahal Hotel.<\/p>\n<p>There were 16 stands\/stations catering to much bigger crowd than the last time when Don Quixote had \u2018visited\u2019 from La Mancha in the form of 6 Bodegas (wineries)- some of them had been excellent wines as the region has really elevated its status though a bit patchy because of its earlier reputation of making quantity and not quality.<\/p>\n<p>A <em>proper<\/em> floor plan had been laid out and the wineries and food stands had been well defined for the 17 participants. <strong>Fincas de<\/strong> <strong>Azabache<\/strong>, an old cooperative established in 1958 was there to welcome you on Stand 1. A traditional Rioja wine producer using Tempranillo, Graciano, Garnacha and Mazuelo (known internationally as Cari\u00f1an), showcased 6 wines and it was a great start to the evening.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bodegas Franco Espa\u00f1olas<\/strong> was another relatively new winery from Logro\u00f1o, the capital of Rioja region, known more for its bull fights in earlier years. Some excellent wines were a treat for the cognoscenti, especially the white Rioja and the Gran Reserva that offered insights to the high quality Rioja wines. Perhaps unknown to most, the winery has participated earlier on at least 2 occasions- I had spoken once to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/dm_118_item_6.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #990000;\">delegation<\/span><\/a> they were a part of and again in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/item_5_422.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #990000;\">2010 at Shangri-La<\/span><\/a>. It\u2019s a pity that like at IPL, some of the best cricketers are ignored in the auctions for no apparent reasons. I was so glad that I had visited the winery on my first-ever visit to Rioja in around 2004-05. I was also happy I was able to taste (only) a few of the wines they showcased.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also Read : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/item_5_422.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #990000;\">Spaniards Plan India Wine and Food Presence <\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_183931-rotated.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11124 alignleft\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 1px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_183931-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"Bodega GIL\" width=\"210\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_183931-224x300.jpg 224w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_183931-766x1024.jpg 766w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_183931-768x1026.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_183931-rotated.jpg 892w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a>Bodegas del Saz<\/strong> was a family winery-this time from La Mancha that offered good prices for the wines. The 95-year old winery had an interesting Chardonnay and a couple of non- traditional grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot. Bodegas GIL was yet another centurion winery from the Jumilla region. One could taste the collective efforts of 9 siblings of the family who have taken the wines to another level, with really chic labels. Arindo was a lovely white from DO Rueda, made from Verdejo grapes.&nbsp; Similarly, it was the DO Monsant wine that I liked- it was the Spanish equivalent of GSM wines from France- with Cari\u00f1an, Syrah and Garnacha offering a perfect example of Spanish wines.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_180715-rotated.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-11126\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 1px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_180715-226x300.jpg\" alt=\"Bodega Lan\" width=\"226\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_180715-226x300.jpg 226w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_180715-771x1024.jpg 771w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_180715-768x1019.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230915_180715-rotated.jpg 886w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 226px) 100vw, 226px\" \/><\/a>Bodegas LAN<\/strong> is another well-respected winery from Rioja, I had visited on my first trip. They have good wines but they did not send their own rep and the Spanish Office manning the stand had unfortunately, no emotional connect with the wine or the history of the winery. <em>Lan a Mano<\/em> was a typical Rioja wine with 87% Tempranillo with the balance being Graciano and Mazuelo. I tasted all the wines and found them well up to the mark- Riojan mark.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bodegas Camino Alto<\/strong> was yet another winery from Rioja that impressed me. Unfortunately, due to shortage of time, I could not taste all their wines; their Sauvignon Blanc was interesting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bodegas Luz\u00f3n<\/strong> was a winery from DO Jumilla that was impressive. The 180-year old winery makes grapes from the autochthonous grapes- Monastrell that needs some getting used to its unique taste. But those who have had many wines from the grape, simply love this wine- this was a great opportunity to taste Monastrell in all its glory.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bodegas San Valero (BSV)<\/strong> specializes in D O Cari\u00f1ena and manages grapes from 500 growers with a surface area of 4,000 hAs.&nbsp; <strong>Bodegas Baigorri<\/strong> was another participant from Rioja. <strong>Bodegas San Antonio Abad<\/strong> was from the La Mancha region and had some interesting looking bottles but I could not spend time with them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also Read : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/dm_118_item_6.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #990000;\"> Spanish delegation from La Rioja &amp; Navarra visits India<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rest were all food stalls of sorts with the pistachio stand <strong>Pistacyl<\/strong>, Almond products stand <strong>El Almendro<\/strong> and the very popular <strong>La Prudencia<\/strong> stand with Iberian ham, the pride of Spain. Since I don\u2019t eat meat now, it could not unfortunately seduce me; neither did the Taj Stand because it had too many people milling around and the time being too short had to be devoted to wine tasting.<\/p>\n<p>Kudos to the Spanish Commercial office for bringing such diversified wines; one hopes there would be some positive response from the importers. The office needs to build its leadership in organizing more such events in future- it might help expand the wine market for Spanish wines though Delhi has not much scope till more pragmatic wine policy is in place.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Subhash Arora <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"articledata\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Posted: Wednesday, 04 October 2023 12:08 Spanish Wines and Commercial Office wins hearts in Delhi October 04: Thanks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[405,403,402,404],"class_list":["post-11116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wine-food-feature","tag-castilla-la-mancha","tag-commercial-office","tag-spanish-wines","tag-wins-hearts-in-delhi"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","slider-bg":"","card-grid":"","card-list":"","morenews-featured":"","morenews-large":"","morenews-medium":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/category\/wine-food-feature\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Wine &amp; Food Feature<\/a>","tag_info":"Wine &amp; Food Feature","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11116"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11151,"href":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11116\/revisions\/11151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indianwineacademy.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}