Mas Estela winery tour

To find where "ambrosia" the food/drink of the gods comes from a visit to Mas Estela is needed. Not only do they produce wines which get the highest ratings (Parker 93 points etc) but the location of the winery is sublime. Tucked in a valley within the Cap de Creus natural park and only 3 kms from the Meditteranean sea with it's moderating influence and near the charming village of Selva de Mar make this a highly desirable place to get to know. Access is not easy and this is not a place to turn up to uninvited as it is family run by Didier and Nuria and their sons who are always busy but very welcoming when organised in advance. Nuria showed us around and speaks English as well as Catalan, Spanish and French so some way to communicate their exceptional story will be found. They came here in 1988 and bought a large ruin with some 20ha of valley and scrub land with steep slopes on either side. They had the vision to believe that the place was ideal for planting vines but first they needed somewhere to live. Didier is an architect and extremely practical man and he not only designed a new house from the ruins of the old but proceeded to build most of it himself as well as the Bodega afterwards which stands next door. Nuria took us on a tour of the vineyard and as we climbed up the sides of the hill we saw all the work that has gone into clearing, leveling and planting the terraces with varieties like syrah, monastrell and garnatxa gris to complement the garnatxa and cariñena and muscat they already have. The other important point to note is that this is an organic vineyard, and also they apply the biodynamic principles which look at the cycles of the moon to interact with the soil or when to work on the vines or add natural fertilizer. This means that the environment is not polluted by any type of chemical and as such the whole variety and diversity of organic, insect and wildlife is preserved and encouraged creating a truly healthy environment. During this time of the year with all the wild flowers, fennel, wild asparagus and flowering yellow broome walking here is a real pleasure. The soil on the slopes is poor and made up mainly of brown slate which means that the young plants need to work hard and put down deep roots to look for any moisture they can. Eventually the roots could go down 5-6 metres and that is when you will really get the mineral flavours so much appreciated by wine lovers. The only animal that is not welcome, at least not in the vineyard, is the wild boar which roam these mountains and that can strip entire rows in hours when the grapes are ripe and ready for harvesting. The next part of the visit is a little more technical: where the grapes come in to the Bodega, how they are destemmed and crushed into grape juice which is cooled to 8ºC from the 24ºC or so when they arrive to stop any fermentation, the filtering and then storing in the stainless steel tanks where they will undergo the first controlled fermentation to convert all the sugar to alcohol. All this is thirsty work and when we are led down into the storage cellar where there are over 200 oak barrels with their precious content slowly maturing we are given glasses and the tasting begins with the Mas Estela white wine. This is a blend of Garnatxa gris (white grenache) and Muscat with its flowery aromas. From here we move on to the first red, Quindals 05, a mix of mainly red Garnatxa and a small amount of both Syrah and Cariñena and up to 12 months in oak.This is a fruity wine with lots of body and just screams out for foods like the local cheeses and sausage with "pa amb tomaquet"soaked in olive oil-a meal in itself. Then comes the Mas Estela 01 which is more elegant and complex with notes of the wild herbs we saw and smelled on our walk around the vines earlier. From here we were told to bring our glasses since we were going to taste direct from the tanks the 06 Quindals and Mas Estela. They were truly delicious and even though the Mas Estela red will now spend about 18 months in french oak to add body and complexity this wine will be great when it finally is released. The tasting finished off (and us) with a visit to the oldest part of the house and the cellars carved out of the rock below the main house (the old ruins) where the 500 litre casks of sweet garnatxa and moscatel reside. Here they operate a solera system which means that the wines we are tasting are nearly 20 yrs old and are light, tangy and wonderful. As you might imagine when we emerged into the light we were all feeling pretty good but in need of adding some food to the alcohol. So after saying our farewells to a fabulous tour by Nuria with even a guest appearance by Didier and their model like son Didac, we headed down the road 3 kms to Port de la Selva and had lunch sitting outside with another bottle of the white wine we had first tried a few hours before while evaluating the pros and cons of setting up a bodega and starting an adventure that has still not finished at Mas Estela!

Can Xapa -chocolate making at it's finest

Can Xapa is a very well kept secret since it is well hidden in the old part of Bordils, a town that most people pass through on their way from Girona to the Costa Brava without even noticing. If you do venture into the old part of town however there are several surprises in store, one of which is the beautiful church and the other which is Can Xapa. The pastry and chocolate making here has been passed down through the generations to the current owners Esteve Fabregas and his wife but there is an issue of what will happen when they retire since they have no children and it does require many years aprenticeship. I was given a tour around the medieval fortified farmhouse which has been the shop and workplace for hundreds of years, all beautifully restored with old materials but not easy to combine the modern equipment needed with low ceilings and narrow corridors. The day I visited they were preparing one of the standard ingredients in many of their famous recipes-roasted almonds covered in caramel and sugar. This base configuration will turn into slabs of dark chocolate, individual decorated chocolates, catanies and other delicacies. The catanies are sugar coated almonds which are then rolled in cacao powder and are very typical in Catalonia and given as a gift. The process is to use local almonds, which have more oil and hence flavour, than foreign varieties and roast them in the oven. Meanwhile it is time to get the caramel prepared in the special heated bowl into which the roasted almonds are added. Once thoroughly mixed the sticky almonds are poured onto a bed of sugar and mixed so that the sugar granules stick to the caramel and this means that we now have individual almonds covered in sugar which can be handled easily. The next process depends on what the ultimate product will be but in the case of catanies each sugar coated almond is further rolled in cacao powder to take on the traditional colour. It is a wonderful place to wander around admiring the cakes, chocolates of many types as well as the savoury dishes they also prepare for taking away. So, the next time you pass through Bordils, make a short detour and you will not be sorry!

Rupit -medieval town

Coming from Girona or Barcelona it is an easy and fun drive to Rupit and will take about an hour. The main approach is via Santa Coloma de Farners or Anglès heading to Olot in the comarca of La Selva. At Val d'en Bas you turn towards Vic and a few kms along the main road there is a sign for Rupit. After climbing out of the valley at the top of the escarpment are signs to El Far which means lighthouse and gets it's name from the white limestone cliffs which were visible to fishermen from the distant Costa Brava. There are some nice walks along the cliffs and a restaurant serving typical local fare and busy on weekends. Continuing into Rupit itself and parking in the free car park just outside of town since the streets are too narrow for traffic there are various signs with tourist information such as walks, bike rides, hotels and restaurants in the area. Taking a walk into town across a wobbly pedestrian bridge over a river gorge is fun and sets one up for exploring the restored medieval streets. Other than restaurants and hotels it's fun to look in the various shops selling local cured sausages and several types of cheese made from cows, sheep or goat and aged for different periods. You can always ask for a sample before buying if you are not sure whether the stronger flavours of the older cheeses are for your palate. Another option is to buy some bread and cheese, ham and tomatoes and head down to the river where there are several picnic tables set up under overhanging rocks and it is always cool and shady here even in the hot summer months. There is lots of good exploring to do in the surrounding countryside with old churches, country restaurants and of course El Far which is a couple hours walk away. The vistas of wooded hills and small villages and farms below in the valleys are one of peace and tranquility and take you back in time.

Susqueda Dam and the serious water shortage

This is a perfect day trip from either Girona or Barcelona and offers a combination of unspoilt countryside with the old medieval town of Rupit or the market town of Angles nearby. The first side trip from the main Angles to Olot road is up to the Susqueda dam, a dam built in the 50's to supply water to Girona, the Costa Brava and Barcelona. The lack of rain during the last years has made water an increasingly important issue, with restrictions being threatened for all of the communities mentioned above in the short term unless some pretty major rainfalls occur this spring. The road borders the river that flows from the dam to the River Ter in the valley below but as the dam is barely releasing any water the river is pretty meagre. Once you arrive at the dam itself and head out along the walkway it becomes very clear how much water is missing, the latest count puts Susqueda at only 22% of capacity and it is a sad sight seeing the shortfall from the exposed sides of the surrounding hills. Water restrictions appear almost inevitable and have set Girona against Barcelona as the former do not see any reason to be cut off first for water they consider theirs. Barcelona has seen the writing on the wall and is already bringing in barge fulls of water from the Rhone in France at what can only be an outrageous cost to the tax payer. This situation and the political consequences are likely to get worse before it gets better and with the global warming predictions as well how it will end remains to be seen but everyone needs to do their bit and save as much water as possible.

Girona Airport Info

Ryanair, Spanair and other airlines have established a base at Girona Airport where you can now fly to over 60 destinations all over Europe. There are ground transfers by bus, minibus, shuttle and taxi into Girona town, Barcelona and the Costa Brava from here. For more information on transfers by van or car with driver email: gironablog@gmail.com or call 0034 607 262 102