News of NorthWestIberiaWineTours
The River Miño/Minho has long attracted gourmands from all over Spain, mainly during the first quarter of the year for sea lamprey and elvers which are on their annual ‘run’ upstream at this time. One other migratory species that shows up on the gourmand’s radar is the Allis Shad (Alosa Alosa). The Allis Shad and…
With a name that’s guaranteed to raise a titter among Galician and Portuguese speakers, Fai un Sol de Carallo 2013 is the latest high end D.O. Ribeiro to seduce punctilious palates across the Atlantic, achieving an impressive 93 points in Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. Galicia, in Spain’s verdant misty north west is definitely not the…
Pazo is the Galician word for palace. Most of them were built from the 16th to the 19th centuries as the grand country residences of aristocrats. These potentates employed servants to farm their land, rear their livestock and tend their vineyards while they tended to the affairs of state. The presence of a private chapel…
Chicharrones, roxóns, roxós, roxois, rinxóns or rinchóns, all different names for the same thing depending on the area, are the fatty, lower quality cuts of pork cut into chunks and gently boiled down till you get a shredded sort of texture. They are a typical and much loved tapa in the northern part of Galicia.…
Goose barnacles, a type of crustacean, are an expensive delicacy in Spain. Depending on the season, Christmas say, prices can seem exhorbitant. People have been known to pay upwards of 250€ per kilo just to complete the long-as-your-arm list of shellfish starters at a Galician Christmas Eve family feast. The percebeiro, or goose barnacle gatherer,…
