Dear Readers,

A dedication to perfection is why we’re headed to Spain. Tim Gardner and I are headed back on a last minute whim to make sure our new white blend and Spanish Vines ‘09 Tempranillo are 100% perfect. Because the trip was so last minute, my champion father was not able make it but he’ll be back in July with Mom- more on the July trip later.

The bottom line of why we’re headed to Spain is what we call the ‘gut check.’ “Is the wine perfect?,” we ask ourselves every time we make a decision and if we don’t have that 100% confidence of our goal of perfection, we go back to Spain to make sure we get there.

You see, on the last trip to Spain we were finalizing the ’09 Tempranillo from Spanish Vines and the white blend for our new brand, both through our blind tasting method. Once we were back in the US we were sent samples from the chosen wineries. We re-tasted and knew we were close, but the samples were not ideal. Given the sensitivity of time in launching the new brand, and releasing the latest vintage of our Spanish Vines Tempranillo, we had to get back to Spain immediately to make sure the wines get bottled.

As I write, we just arrived to Madrid and are awaiting Javier to pick us up at the Atocha train station in Madrid’s city center to drive to Ribera del Jucar to work with the winery we’ve selected to source the ’09 Tempranillo. Tonight we’re having dinner with Bernardo, the wine maker of our Crianza ’06 from Spanish Vines, and tomorrow we’re headed to a new winery we may start working with in the DO of Toro. On Thursday we’ll be headed to Campo de Borja to finalize the new white before its launch in July (wondering what new product we’re launching? Stay tuned!). Finishing the trip we’ll be spending some time with a new winery in Priorat that we’re about to begin working with shortly. A lot to accomplish in just 4 days, no?

I’ll keep you guys updated via twitter on how the tastings and winery visits go over the next few days. In the meantime, make sure you’re checking our Facebook page frequently to not only see what’s happening on this trip in Spain but also to see the pictures from our last trip to Spain…almost two months ago, wow.

Finally, I leave you with a nice and easy comfort dessert, popular all over Spain as well as other European countries: Rice Pudding (from www.tienda.com):

Rice Pudding (Pudin de Arroz)

Ingredients:

3 – 3/4 cups cooked white rice

2 – 1/2 cups fine sugar

6 tbsp butter

6 cups milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

5 eggs, beaten

3 tbsp Spanish brandy

Dash of salt

Preparation:

In a large saucepan, heat the milk, rice and butter over medium heat for 5 minutes, taking care not to over boil.

In a small bowl, mix the eggs, sugar and salt until smooth. Add the brandy and the egg mixture to rice and mix well until thickened. Transfer the mixture to a baking pan and place pan inside a larger pan containing about 1 inch of water. Bake at 350 F for about 1 hour or until done.

Remove pan from the water and allow to cool. Chill at least one hour before serving. Serve in individual dessert bowls. Raisins or other dried fruit can be added for flavor.

Entender es Disfrutar,

Josh