Well, it's just not a vacation until Joe gets sick. Nine out of ten trips he ends up with sinus-something that puts him down for a day or two. So, yep, we've been hanging around the house for the last two days. Not entirely a bad thing; I cooked (I made a fantastic parmesan risotto with sauteed chicken, onions, garlic, and padron peppers), we napped, watched a movie - it was kinda nice just chillin'.
Joe needed to rest because today (Tuesday) Rosa picked us up and took us to her home town of Montilla, about 30 minutes from Cordoba. We visited an olive mill and a sherry winery - both, some of the best in Spain.
What do you know about olives? Good on Mexican food? Nice in a martini? Olive Oil is healthy? All true, but here's more:
- Spain produces more than 57% of the world's olive oil...not Italy, not Greece, Spain.
- How old are olive trees? Some say olive trees have been around for as many as 5,000 years. (We saw a tree today that was 100 years old.)
- How many different kinds of olives are there? The more than 800 million olive trees on earth produce no fewer than 500 different varieties.
- How do you get black/ripe olives? They are the same as the green olives, just ripened. (Green olives are unripe.)
- Can I eat olives right off the tree? You can, but I wouldn't recommend it. The olives that end up on your table are picked, cleaned, and brined/marinated (which ages and softens them). Olives for olive oil are picked, ground up/milled, then the oil is separated, filtered twice, and bottled.
We drove to Juan Colin just outside Montilla for a tour of the grove and mill. And then a tasting!
This part of Andalusia looks quite a bit like Tuscany.
Here is the mill
Beautiful tasting room, but also a museum of older methods of pressing olives into oil
Nice view
Grindstone, turned by an ox or a donkey
Pressed vertically by hand
Larger conical stones (more surface area hitting the olives, turned by pulleys
They've won some awards.
We tried two varieties: the left - lighter, velvety, almost floral, and the right - intense, rich, and peppery. The blue glasses are used in olive oil competition so the judges cannot see the color or clarity of the oil - a blind taste test. You put about a teaspoon of oil in the glass, replace the lid, then cup the glass in your palm and slowly turn it to warm the oil. You tip the glass around a bit to help open up the oil. You take the lid off and inhale first - taking in all the luscious aromas. Then taste...letting the oil coat your tongue before swallowing. The darker one on the right left a long, long, long pepper trail down my throat; it was delicious.
We then sampled the oil on bread - just to get a taste of it with food...still liked the darker one. I'd soooo add it to a little butter and cook a steak in it!
Time to head to the winery: Lagar Blanco. Now, we've had several opportunities to drink sherry on this trip, and I've enjoyed them all. Lagar Blanco is hands down the best we've had. The quality shines through; there is passion in these wines.
We were fortunate that Miguel Cruz, the owner/vintner showed up and gave us a complete lesson on making sherry in Andalusia. He is the quintessential expert on sherry and used to consult for other wineries in the region before deciding to create his own product.
Rosa y Miguel
So many barrels - all American Oak, all aging what will be very good sherry.
1) Cuestablanca - young white wine, 2) Fino - dry, almost mineral-y, 3) Olorosa - caramelly and lightly sweet, 4) Palo Cortado - a blend and very mysterious and complex, 5) Amontillado - I liked this one MUCH better than the one in Jerez, and 6) Pedro Ximenez - perfectly balanced and delicious
We're starting to feel the crunch of time as our trip ends on Saturday - where did the time go? No plans for tomorrow, but likely we'll head to Seville on Thursday. For now, it's time for a siesta!
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