Añada tasting 2008

Barcelona's beautiful Casa Fuster Hotel

Once a year the Rias Baixas circus moves to different locations around Spain. The object, to introduce the new vintage (añada) to both the press and selected trade customers. To be honest I am not sure exactly how many Bodegas from our denomination show off their wine at the tasting, but it is certainly the vast majority, making for a fairly sizeable selection.

This year we re-located to Barcelona, which of course, is a great place to visit for whatever reason, so we need no excuse. The precise location was the Casa Fuster, a small, five-star luxury
hotel situated in the very heart of the city. Not only is this hotel honoured by the presence of our denomination tasting, but it also boasts a jazz bar that producer Woody Allen visits every year to show off his talent on the clarinet and/or saxophone (but not necessarily at the same time!)

At the tasting itself we are not actually allowed to pour our own wine for visitors, or even to stand behind the table (please don't ask me why), we simply mingle with the crowd and take the opportunity to taste as many other Albariños as possible (which for me at least is my main motivation for attending). It is always interesting to find out exactly where we stand in the hierarchy of quality, and I do my very best to revive my old 'buyers hat' and be as objective as possible in my judgement. With hand on heart I can tell you that in 2008 my opinion is that we rate amongst the very best - and certainly within the top five or six......

Since returning I have started to save up so that I may visit the Casa Fuster again - not saving in order to stay the night, but merely saving enough to pay for a beer in their bar!