In a series of blogs, Jeremy, Simon and Jenny are looking back at their highlights of 2024.
Read Jenny’s best moments of 2024
Vertical tasting Cheval des Andes, Mendoza, Argentina.
A really special highlight at the end of our wine tour in Argentina was a vertical wine tasting at Cheval des Andes, Mendoza. Cheval des Andes is the result of the union of Château Cheval Blanc, St Emilion, Bordeaux, and Terrazas de los Andes, Mendoza. It was fascinating to observe classical Bordeaux savoir-faire within an Argentine context. Years ago Malbec was widely cultivated in Bordeaux and was brought to Argentina in the mid 19th century. At the end of the 19th century Malbec was to be decimated by the Phylloxera plague in Bordeaux leaving the only remaining ungrafted Malbec vines to still exist only in Argentina. It was very interesting to see how the predominantly Malbec Bordeaux style blend of Cheval des Andes has changed throughout the years and to note the vintage variation due to high temperatures and rain from El Niño.
Villa Romana del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily.
Amongst the many food and wine highlights of Sicily, the Roman Mosaics at the Villa Romana del Casale are certainly the best kept secret. Located in a part of Sicily that relatively few go to see, in the centre of the island, the Mosaics were a lovely and contemplative visit after a fine lunch at the Feudo Principe di Butera winery. The 4th Century AD Villa was a latifundium (a huge agricultural estate) and expansive palace, decorated throughout with the most varied and extensive mosaics that remain in situ. The 3,500m2 of floors covered with mosaics are in an excellent state of preservation due to a landslide that covered the Villa until it was rediscovered in the 1960s. I first visited the Mosaics 20 years ago and have returned many times, never ceasing to be amazed by their intricacy. The mosaic of the Great Hunt still takes my breath away for the sheer length (60 metres long), detail and depiction of exotic and wild animals such as panthers, antelopes, lions, elephants and boars being loaded onto ships at Carthage. Had the mosaic artists ever seen these animals themselves or did they have to create them from memory or from descriptions from others?
Mastinell Cava Hotel, Villafranca del Penedes, Catalunya, Spain.
After a week tasting our way through the best wines and gastronomy in Catalunya we ended our trip at the Mastinell Cava Hotel in Villafranca del Penedes in the heart of Cava country. Cava is stored “en rima” during the secondary bottle fermentation, where bottles are stacked horizontally, one bottle lying against the other. The walls in the wine cellars are stacked sky high with bottles undergoing the all important traditional method sparkling wine process where the base wine is turned from still to sparkling . The Hotel has taken its inspiration from these towering stacks of bottles and has a rippling roof with circular windows designed to imitate the way the cava bottles are placed one on top of the other. We enjoyed dinner at the Hotel’s restaurant accompanied by their own sparkling wines. Certainly after a few glasses of Cava, going to sleep in my room felt like being inside a Cava bottle full of bubbles!
