A busy week in utiel-requena! a bloggers conference, primum bobal and an awards ceremony.
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Last April a number of bloggers from across Spain met in the HQ of DO Utiel-Requena, the Bodega Redonda which also houses the museum, to participate in a tasting of wines from the area. Following on from the success of this event the controlling body has invited fourteen bloggers to spend a whole weekend in the newly refurbished Paraje San Jose hotel to participate in a conference. The aim is to give the participants a deeper insight into this rapidly improving wine area, a greater understanding of the wines, ( in particular the local grape variety Bobal) ,gastronomy and enoturism and of course in return receive much publicity in the way of published articles! No bad thing either, DO Utiel-Requena has embraced the modern age of social networks, has its own blog and Facebook pages and regularly updates bloggers with information normally reserved for press releases.
The lucky invitees, amongst which I am fortunately included, write blogs on wine and food across Spain and between us have more than 12,000 `followers´on Facebook, and around a million `hits´on our collective blogs ( modestly mine is only in the thousands).
Following a welcome by the DO´s current President, José Luis Robredo the weekend will include plenary sessions , led by Danny Esposito, winemaker of immense repute at Dominio de la Vega and his own vineyard, Pagos de Molino, followed by a tasting of Bobal wines. Later we will visit the old caves under the old town of Requena, have lunch in Utiel, visit the Bodega Redonda for a work shop on the different scents which make up a wines bouquet, and enjoy a further tasting of wines from the Bodegas supporting the event. The day will end with a visit to Las Pilillas to see the archeological site where some of the earliest wine-making on the peninsular began around 2500 years BC and which itself is very likely now to become a UNESCO Heritage site, followed by a barbecue of the regions famous sausages!
[caption id="attachment_964" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Some of Requena´s famous sausages!"]
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Sunday will be dedicated to visits to the participating bodegas followed by lunch in the hotel before the session finishes.
For the record my fellow bloggers and their sites are:
Héctor Parra of conmucha gula.com
Álvaro Cerrada of yalocatayo.com
Hervé Gómez of enogourmet.com
Miguel Ángel Martin of enocata.com
Sara Garcia Nuño of deuvasavino.blogspot.com
Ma Ángeles Sánchez of cocinasinmiego.blogspot.com
Juan Manuel Gozalvo of expertoenvinos.com
Ana Gilet of cocinaconpoco.com
Pepa Maqueda of pepacooks.com
Francisco Becerra of lazyblog.com
Javier Prats of vinosdebobal.com
Carmelo Prieto of lacocinadeaficionado.com
Cova Morales of comoju.blogspot.com
All of which should provide rich material for blogs over the next week or so!
[caption id="attachment_962" align="alignright" width="198" caption="Primum Bobal."]
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For those who can make it the night before the Asociacion Primum Bobal are providing a tasting of Primum wines for members and supporters and a tasting of cheeses and other gourmet produce in the Los Cubillos restaurant, also in the old centre of Requena next to the ancient Muslim-era castle.
Primum Bobal will also be one of four special award winners at the Annual Awards Ceremony of the Premios de Vinos de Utiel-Requena on 30 June. Primum Bobal have won their award for their support for the local grape variety Bobal and their promotion of quality wines using the variety.
Also winning prizes are José Pénín , whose annual guide to the wines of Spain is a `must buy´and who is one of the most influential wine journalists in Spain.
Bruno Murciano is a young Sumiller from Caudete de las Fuentes, one of the towns which make up the DO. `Best Sumiller in Spain 2008´, and as sumiller at the Ritz in London for four years he has introduced quality wines from the Region onto the wine-list at this prestigious London Hotel.
Finally the Wine school in Requena which has just had it´s centenary year and which has produced a crop of excellent winemakers is recognised as a centre of excellence and for it´s work on investigating and improving winemaking.
The awards ceremony will be held at the Bodega Redonda at 7.30pm.