Well I never knew that!

You might be surprised that the weather has been generally bloody awful. After all, it is for me late May in South West Europe and I expect thing to get a little bit summery by this time. Do you realise it is only 4 weeks and the nights start drawing in again. Since the last 'Grey' post I have moved to Spain south of Tarragona to get some heat. Well it started well and we got some heat but in the form of the Spanish equivalent of the Mistral wind, called the Tramuntana, and it blew gustily for 4 days non-stop. Trees were blown down, some poor people had their tents smashed and caravan awnings were trashed. I took a walk along the beach and got shot blasted with sand and engulfed in sand dervishes, which is not very pleasant. That gave me some time to investigate what to do next. I was surprised what the travel books told me.

However the weather did pick up and for 2 days the sun came out and it warmed up nicely.

But I will tell you about my first discovery (The second will wait for a further post).

Well we all know about Sparkling Wine and it is usually known by the 'C' word which I won't say for reasons you will find out. Well it turns out that the Spanish equivalent, called Cava, which apparently is made in the same way as 'C' is produced in a region of spain called the Penedes. I never knew that. What I didn't realise that I was in the Penedes region and I didn't know it. So my 'Lonely Planet' guide recommends a vineyard tour so where better than the most famous of all Spanish Cavas:

So its famous. but if you want to know how to pronounce it Google has endless advice....

Enter the coordinates into TomTom and you arrive here!

There is an outrageous series of vehicles connived to look like , well bits of marketing nonsense!

More interesting are the old bits of heroic machinery still retained. Makes you wonder what got thrown away.

The best machinery of its type. Is it the blue coolvan or the mechanical screw press?

Gawd knows what the PC crowd these days would make of this. Little red riding boy.......no, no I am not going anywhere in that direction

Another fine bronze in the foyer, looking all pissed and silly. Is it a he or a she? and is that a knee?
Hey, a fabulous piece of sculpture....

But here we go, down into the depths. All the time there is a pervading smell of alcohol and wine. But under the fine edifice building there are endless depths and darkness. It is interesting to note that what nature produces on earth in the wind, rain and glorious sunshine Man captures and creates something more but in darkness, stillness and coolness of these caves in the earth.

Well it must be the good stuff! the barrels are painted blue!

But the regular stuff, wine set down for maturation sleeps quietly alongside, waiting.

Simple stock management...we all understand that!

I'm not going to explain the production process, you can look that up for yourself. But  in days of yore it meant  squillions of bottles stacked up by hand in dark holes in the ground, just like this.
In present day accountancy methods, this is, by having your stock tied up like this, commercial suicide.

But the whole operation is a professional success. We were a small group of English speaking visitors and our guide could not have been better. Ines (please forgive the lack of acute accent) was our guide. We were treated to a tour of enthusiasm, vitality and professionalism that was a delight and involving for everybody. The questions raised during the tour and afterwards were answered with honesty and sincerity, the debate about the wines and products was thoughtful and considered, and a genuine mutual respect was greatly appreciated.

We had a small discussion about the use of 'C' instead of Cava, especially at the recent F1 GP in Barcelona. Maybe sometime in the future.

Meanwhile, we can just contemplate that whilst we go about our busy lives, dashing about, flying all over the world, charging up and down motorways, down below, in the cool depths, the wine is developing year on year.
Just what were you doing in 1982, hmm, let me think.....

But we were having a little chat Ines and me. After a while she said she had something special to show me, just me she said, come along, this way,....well I was up for that!
Here we are, the biggest fermentation tanks you've ever seen, 65000 litres each!

Nice one,  I am particularly looking forward to the Malvasia 2001 I bought in the factory shop, along with other Cavas of the drier kind.

Ps,

On the same guided tour were a party of 4 American visitors. I didn't out of politeness, ask names and details but I explained at the time I did work for General Motors for many years. 

Hello! hope you enjoyed your holiday in Europe.

In the souvenir shop afterwards I heard  'if you want it, you carry it' homily.  Brilliant!

End of post