A finale in Celler Generi

There always seems to be some winery that I forget to write about when I'm going about my vinoventures. This time, it was Arché Pagès. It was also nearly Celler Generi. Thankfully, as you can see, I've managed not to miss the Generi as I round out my European wine travels for the year.

This cellar was one that I really had no intention of visiting as I had never actually heard about it. It's in a small town called Agullana which I believe is more known for their water than their wine. It's remote and it's not in an area with much wine production; in fact this is the only winery there. In talking to other wine makers though, it was often mentioned that there is this enolog named, Jaume Serra Pagès who seems to make the rounds to a number of wineries in the area. Basically, whatever wine he touches, is nearly guaranteed to be fantastic and it was #1 Fan who mentioned to me that Jaume was doing the enolog work at Generi and that I should go have a taste and see how it is.

As it turns out, the actual winemaker is a fellow named Francesc. He's an older fellow who was actually a civil engineer that started growing wine some 20 years ago as a hobby. Once retiring, he turned to making wine full time, but he just does all the grunt work and have Jaume come in for the finishing touches. Francesc's fields are around the general vicinity of Agullana. And while he has shown that you can indeed grow wines in the area, he has also shown that the staple of Catalonia, Garnatxa, is perhaps not the best choice for the area given that he only grows Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. Given that you can see the French border from his cellar, it would make sense to a large extent that he only grows French varietals.

As to the wine, it did indeed end up being 100% true that the Jaume Touch made all the difference with the wines all being excellent. For some time, Francesc made a low-end, basic wine that he sold for 3€. It is not a work of art, but it is quite good. Even though it is a strong wine, it is a well-balanced and nicely-crafted wine. It's great with food and is a tremendous value as it outshines any other wine you can buy for even twice the cost. Sadly, I don't think it's going to be made anymore given the amount of work vs. the small return on price.

The white that he makes was out when I was there. I assume it must be quite good and at some point, hopefully I'll be able to taste it as Catalan white wines are very interesting wines. There are few of them and as most people prefer red, they are often quite distinct in character to stand out more and attract folks to them. But, I wasn't sobbing over the lack of the white due to the red being tremendous. I didn't happen to know this at the time of purchase since Francesc only make 3,000 bottles a year and he doesn't do tastings. I had to buy his 2004 Reserve untasted at 10€. It sounds silly to say, but that was a large gamble I've rarely ever taken. But, his character was just right. I knew that it was going to be at least a good wine. Turns out that it's an extraordinary wine.

This red is strong, full-bodied and robust, but at the same time wonderfully balanced and smooth. What he has reached with this wine is the boldness that a winery such as Peralada tries to achieve with the smoothness that *lavinyeta constantly achieves. I've never seen two such discordant elements in one wine before that actually work. The only issue is that I have trouble describing it. The body has hints of cinnamon, cloves, blackberry, and this bright crisp element to it as well that I can only really describe as being akin to the sensation of fresh mint, but not like the taste of mint. A lot this comes from the fact that it's a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. I have no idea as to the ratios, but I have a feeling it might be similar to what the English call Claret as the depth must come from 80-90% Cab and the smoothness being from the rest in Merlot. And naturally, it finishes beautifully clean. Of course there are oak overtones to it as well given that it spends (if memory serves) 24 months in French oak. Francesc uses a combination of transport and aging barrels, the later being several millimeters thinner to allow more permeation of the air to give more flavor.

The above is all about the 2004, which I bought two cases of. There is a 2005 vintage as well. It is also quite good, but it lacks just a touch of the depth of the 2004 and currently has a touch stronger vanilla from the oak. Given another year in the bottle, I'm not sure how it will age, but I have a number of bottles still in Spain to see how that works out.

I am a bit sad as I don't think that Francesc has any children who will carry on with the winemaking. He apparently has family in Barcelona, who are more concerned with drinking the wine and not so much with actually making the wine. Time will tell in how this winery goes, but I truly hope it continues as these are wonderfully crafted, small-production wines that if they were being produced in California would not only be impossible to find, but also cost upwards of $100 a bottle.

19 12 2009      0 comments

Tags: catalonia, wine, wine reviews

The Crap Log Crisis

Catalans love shit. Literally, as in it's something to be worshiped. It dates back to their particular pastoral history where shit was seen as a sign of fertility and growth. Farts are cool too, but really, it's the shit that's important above everything else. Obviously, the biggest manifestation of this is the Caganer, of which I might add, the 2009 models are now available for perusal. But another, oft-forgotten individual by outsiders is the Caga Tió.

In a nutshell, he takes the place of Santa Claus in Catalonia (and Valencia) in that he brings gifts. Well, "bring" isn't quite the right word as actually, the verb 'cagar' means 'to crap' and as it is, he actually craps the gifts. These gifts aren't part of some Immaculate Reception though and just as you leave out cookies and milk for Santa, you gotta feed the log before he craps out gifts. Naturally, for the kids to believe in the log that means that the food needs to be eaten, in which case it usually falls on the father to eat up what's left out for the Tió. As this starts on December 8th and goes until around the 25th, this usually results in the father telling the kids after a few days, "Hey, I think the Tió has really, really had his fill of oranges. Trust me. He's done with them for at least the rest of the year and he's really, really full. Maybe just a few bonbons to sweeten him up a little. I think he'd really like some of those." Then once the day comes (and because it's a fucking log) the kids hit him with a stick to get gifts crapped out to them. It's beautiful in a way I just can't describe, like morning dew in a mountain valley catching the first rays of the sun.

The log is in crisis though. Due to the rancid spread of corporate globalization, Santa Claus is taking over in Catalonia. It probably also has to do with all the Xarnegos that have moved in to the area as well and don't want their kids receiving gifts crapped from a log. Regardless, there is an effort to save the Tió called, Jo sóc de Tió which means, "I'm with the Tió". This local group "released" 5,000 Tiós in Barcelona with numbers so that people could tag them on a map and then release them again to spread them around. You can track all of it on that site. You can also follow their Twitter, which apparently if you understand Catalan better than I do, is quite funny. And naturally, to round out the social media onslaught, there is a Facebook Group.

The Tió is still with us, but for how long? We must fight together to save this tradition of a log that craps gifts! It is important to the future of logs crapping gifts everywhere! Because if the Tió falls, then what next, the Caganer, then crema catalana, and then... jamón? It's a dire future without the Tió my friends. Support him now!

11 12 2009      0 comments

Tags: caganer, caga tio, catalonia, crap, traditions

A colorful prison is still a prison

I've found that it's often the case that the more depressing a place is, the more colorfully it is painted. For instance any ward for terminally ill children in a hospital is dizzying array of colors vomited everywhere as if it is some attempt to stave off the inevitable from the minds of these poor kids. It doesn't really work, but I suppose the effort is appreciated.

Figueres is getting a new provincial (same as a state in the US) prison. Nobody is really happy about this and seeing it going up about a kilometer north of my in-laws house isn't the most awesome thing to witness. Of course, people aren't happy because of the fact that a prison is going and all the riffraff that comes along with that, but because there won't be any new jobs at it due to the fact they're transferring all those working at the provincial prison in Girona currently up to this prison. Spaniards worship government jobs. I know, it's strange, but given the current economic situation in the US, I suppose I can understand to a large degree. My mother-in-law actually recommended for me to look in to getting a job at the prison, although I assume that this is before it was made apparent that job creation would be nill at the new institution.

But, in keeping true to the general theme of Catalonia and having everything being heavily design-oriented, the prison has a "look" to it. As you can see below, they've incorporated all this color in to the outside walls to look like some kind of a Legoland prison. It's weird to see it going in. It's also weird hearing the rumors from people around town that the amenities will include: a gym, full television programming, a library, a pool, physical therapy to go along with the internal hospital, and (I kid you not) massage. Undoubtedly a great deal of this is hearsay, as in reality, you can dress it up as much as you want, but a prison is still a prison what what we need the world over are more schools.

09 12 2009      0 comments

Tags: catalonia, figueres, government, law, the europe

The joys and frustrations of Catalan wine drinking

Take a look at the sign below. It's a wine menu from a wine bar in Barcelona next to church, Santa Maria del Mar. It's an exceedingly popular place that I've never actually been able to visit at it's always full. The setting is quite fantastic, so it's understandable why there are always so many people. It happens that I had never really looked at the wine list though.

They offer tiny glasses, regular glasses, and full bottles. Yeah, you can buy a full bottle for what a glass can cost in San Francisco. Disgusting, isn't it? It also happens that there are only two wines from Catalonia on that list. I don't know about you, but I find that to be rather ridiculous in a region swimming in excellent local wines.

I take this in two ways. The first is that I'm ecstatic that the wines of Catalonia as so hidden and no one knows about them so I can continue to enjoy them by the caseload at what I find to be reasonable prices. But then on the other hand, this is crap. If you actually have something good that is local, why on earth would you serve something that isn't just from another region, but another country?!! It's wasteful to transport things like this and insulting to your fellow countrymen.

Admittedly, there is the cost issue in that Catalan people perceive Catalan wines to be much, much more expensive than a region like Rioja. What you may not know is that in the rest of Spain, Catalans have a reputation for being cheap. Unfortunately these Catalans don't realize that the cheap wines from Rioja are going to rot out your innards. While drinkable, they're poorly made. For a decent wine from Rioja, you actually have to pay more than for a wine of the same quality from Catalonia and really, it's the better wines from Rioja that people are buying because it's only based on perception, not taste. I've been in a constant propaganda campaign with my Catalan father-in-law to actually buy Catalan wines instead of cheap French ones. Because if you want to go really cheap, you can spend 1.50€ a liter for the bulk stuff which is really good and super cheap.

Again, it's a mixed blessing drinking wines that no one knows about or understands. It's just that growing up in a country that has shipped its entire production base off to China, I get a little incensed when someone buys an inferior product solely due to laziness, ignorance, and limited perception. Who knows, someday maybe I'll have have a glass of wine at this wine bar in Barcelona and be able to ask them why they stock more wines from outside Spain than from Catalonia. Undoubtedly they'll tell me because no one asks for them to which I will further mention that it's hard to ask for something that isn't on the list...

07 12 2009      0 comments

Tags: catalonia, wine, wine bars, wine reviews

Going water natural in Agullana

I made a trip up to Agullana, Catalonia specifically for the purposes of buying almighty, delicious wine from an "artisan" winemaker in this little mountain village. This small village/town extremely close to the French border and while very relaxed, is charming as these towns go. Little did I know that the real draw was a water fountain in the center on Carrer del Reng.

One would think that the main point of interest for the locals in a town like this would be a square by the church or by the market, but no, it's the fountain. And this isn't some fancy fountain like you find in the middle of the Sant Felip Neri Square in Barcelona. Nope, it's a pipe sticking out of a wall with a drainage area. It ain't glamorous but it is mighty popular.

On my first trip to the village, I saw a number of people waiting their turn to fill up bottles. With this second trip, it was the same thing. Some Colombian truck driver (who was ahead of me) told me that when he makes deliveries every Wednesday to the village, he fills up a couple of bottles to take home. Then of course there are always the stupid Southern French who somehow found out about this fountain and fill up there, I'm assuming because it's free and they're lame.

Then it was my turn to grab 15L of water au natural. While I was filling up, some local guy in the village pulled up and asked to fill up a .5L bottle just to drink while driving. Of course, while filling up, I got in a chat with some older folks who pulled up and were mulling around while I took my sweet time. This older man told me that across the way, in Cantallops, "Well, there's a much better fountain, but you know, it's quite far and this one is here so I just use this one." Let me emphasize that "far" in this case is about 7km and they did have a car, but hey, that is another village.

Of course after all this, you are probably wondering as to the taste. Awesome. I understand why everyone makes the effort. It's even better than the goat water or any bottled water I've had to date. It's got a buttery, smooth quality to it and is very, very refreshing. This is of course because it isn't pure water. There's stuff in there and I assume that it doesn't kill or douse you lupus given all the old folks in the town who seem to drink it religiously. But, fountains in mountain towns like this are exceedingly common. Don't read this article and think you need to go to Agullana just for the fountain, but when traveling in Europe, take a chance and drink that water from the fountain you see everyone else drinking.

You might be asking as to whether I'll bring any of this water back as a sample. The very definitive answer is no. Water weight in my luggage would take the place of potential wine weight and you can only guess where my loyalties lie in that decision.

02 12 2009      0 comments

Tags: better buying, catalonia, water

The post-harvest *lavinyeta visit

I seem to be hitting up *lavinyeta about twice a year these days to check in and see how things are going. After my first visit in 2007, things have grown a great deal. From something like six hectares they had in production two years ago, they are up to 24 now out of a potential 40. As I noted in my second visit, this has changed the structure of the Heus Negre and Llavors a good deal with these other vines now able to be used. It also bodes well for Josep and company as his wines have grown in popularity a great deal. The 2006 Puntiapart was the official wine for a very important EU cultural festival which naturally made not only the 06 vintage sell out, but also the first bottling of the 2007 vintage. Not bad for a 12€ wine, which is considered highly-priced in a country where 3€ buys you a great wine. Oh yeah, the label of the 2007 Llavors won a design award for its weather report/newsprint label that was quite cool.

This visit saw a lot of tasting from the stainless tanks as there remains a great deal of bottling to do for Josep in the coming weeks. Naturally, everything was solid, although I found the initial wines for the Heus Blanc to be a bit tart for my tastes. The bottled version mellows out considerably and makes for the solid white that it has been in years past.

This trip, I took my brother in-law with me who is rather new to the whole wine tasting thing, but growing to appreciate it. At first he wasn't too sure about tasting directly from the tanks given that that is how one gets bulk wine in these parts and it is not a method for drinking high quality wines. He expressed further doubts when we moved through the wines to a side by side comparison of four different Garnatxas that were going in to the Llavors and Puntiapart. Surely the differences would be minimal? Was it really worth the time to taste all these different fields of wine even though they're the same grape? I mean, two of the tanks are from the same field albeit one from a lower field terrace than the other.

From my experience in the Dingač region of Pelješac in Croatia, I learned that just the slightest change in angle of a field makes a considerable difference to the end result of the grapes. Suffice to say, my brother in-law was really surprised. Out of all of these, the most interesting where the two tanks that were from the same field at different terrace levels. The sun is the same, but the earth is just slightly different for the two and it resulted in one with a strong body and little nose and the other with all the nose, richer finish, but little body. For a winemaker like Josep, this must be heavenly to mix those two and get something golden in the end.

The end result of this trip is that I vote for the Llavors at the moment as an immediate purchase. At 7€ it's a screaming deal and is a luscious 'gift to the world' as I told an abashed Josep. The body is strong but smooth. There are slight chocolate undertones to it. The fruit stays back while letting their flavors trickle out slowly with drinking. It's a reserved, yet strong wine that I assume is best had now or in a year or two is for some reason you feel like aging it. Great with a meal or great on its own.

Don't get me wrong though as the Puntiapart is still the better of the two wines, but at 12€ it's a bit more costly. If you can afford it in large amounts, go for it. It's much more complex wine overall and is something that I assume will age well with the body get more pronounced in a year or so. I appreciate the fact that Josep could cash in on the fame of this wine at the moment and pump out the next vintage for people to buy, but he doesn't and is holding back the amounts that require more aging. Really, you can't go wrong with anything out of lavinyeta including the forthcoming sweet wine that is yet to be bottled for consumption despite the photo below.

Such a difference two years have made from only being able to find lavinyeta wines at his parent's meat shops around the area to now having them available anywhere, including the United States soon as they now have an importer for the East Coast of the country.

30 11 2009      0 comments

Tags: catalonia, garnatxa, wine, wine reviews

The approach of a people

Every other day, I've been trying to go on a run around the castle above my in-laws house. Unfortunately my knee has been giving me problems lately, so I haven't been running as much as I'd like. This period of idle exercise time has made for an idle mind and there was something that was pissing me off every time I'd go for a run which was the graffiti that some bored kids had decided to spray on the back of a power substation tower. Naturally, it was pretty weak graffiti as it was painted by pretty weak hoodlums. In theory it wasn't that big of a deal, but it was getting to me as it had been there for a long time.

I went down to a general store on the Rambla, bought a can of cheap white paint, went up the hill and painted over it. All told it took about 20 minutes of my time and a couple of Euros of my money. No one saw me paint over it and no big deal was made of it. I did it because it bothered me and because no one else was doing anything about it. I did it because despite my split nationalities, I grew up as an American and my grounding in all things practical lies with the can-do attitude of the US.

This is an element of the US that I like a great deal. By and large, it's missing in many Europeans countries. It's obvious why as all of us in the US are descended from those who came to the country with this spirit in mind. There is a downside to this way of doing things though in that can-do leads to a head down, self-centered manner of thinking that is concerned about the individual first and everything else second. It doesn't have to, but it is often the case. When it gets out of hand (and up until the recent economic meltdown, this attitude had gotten so out of hand) it was rending at the foundation of the country. One can only hope that in that strife, there is progress and advancement; not just dead-end polemics.

As way of an alternate example, Spain is a great deal different than the US. Beyond canonization of the pig, this is a socialist country. Yes, for an American that brings up all kinds of allusions to the Red Scare, but socialism is an absolute necessity. It's just a shame it has been forever tainted in American English by shortsighted individuals half a century ago and now as a very thinly-veiled racial insult towards Obama. But Spain looks after its people. If those in power don't, they are quickly not in power. People don't tolerate a malfunctioning government. They expect that if they're ill, the state is there for them or when they're unable to work, again, the state is there. Education is free because it is for the society. This is sorely reminded of when seeing that my former university in California is now $10,000 USD a year to attend when it was 25% of that a when I graduated nine years ago.

The society like the one in Spain seems ideal. But much as how the can-do individualism of the US can too far in one direction, so can the faith in the state. People get complacent. They stop fighting for what they get and those who are power hungry slowly erode away all that was gained. So you end up with some American-Croat with a can of paint going nuts on cleaning up the neighborhood because not only is the local government not cleaning it up, no one is even calling anyone to come clean it up.

Every two or three days I make a run for croissants (and occasional xuixo, god those are good...) and I pass the Rambla in Figueres. There, beneath the shade of the trees in the lingering breaths of summer in an atypical November sit the old men discussing the latest construction projects and the old women talking about how bad their son's wives are. I watch it and realize that as important as I think painting out some minor graffiti is, if in Spain there exists Death's Waiting Room, then help me find a number so that I may sit on a Rambla bench and wait my turn when I grow old.

26 11 2009      0 comments

Tags: catalonia, spain, the europe, us america

A slow, gradual worship is fine, Figueres

While meandering around the internet, I came across the Wikitravel page for Figueres, where I happen to be at the moment. For some odd reason (I'm assuming the American background) I always feel compelled to update, correct, or add to Wikipedia articles. This is especially the case on Wikitravel articles as I often find things in there that are so ridiculously incorrect, racist, ignorant, or just spamful that it drives me nuts.

The page for Figueres only had one spammy link and it was okay overall. But, the page was really out of date, a lot of the code was quite broken and the article on this small, nice town was really focused on the Dalí Theater in town. Admittedly, it's the largest reason why people visit the town. Kind of a double edged sword in that it brings in a lot of foot traffic, but they're often the most dreaded of tourist: the beach tourist.

That all being what it may, I've spent a lot time in this town and I know that there is a good deal more to it than all things Dalí. I realize that most people don't really give a rat's ass, but at the same time, for the minority that may, I wanted it to be known. It also gave me a chance to really dig in to editing a Wikipedia article in detail which was good practice, since it is quite different from regular HTML as well as liable to get "edited" by those with their own agenda.

You can view the article before I started with it here which was last touched nine months ago. As you can see, someone dumped a lot of HTML in to the page, which is a no-no in WikiLand. The photos were also just kinda plunked in there. The Eat section didn't really mention anything that was specific to Figueres (really, Chinese food in Catalonia?) A great number of sections had absolutely no content, including how on earth to actually get to Figueres in detail.

After seeing all this, I went apeshit and added in just about everything I know from the town and a lot of my photos. You can see the currently finished product, here. I think it's a lot more appealing and hopefully others will as well. Yes, there still is a lot on Dalí, but there is information on other things as well, such as the castle, the Rambla, restaurants that are actually Catalan, and a number of local shops. Naturally, I expanded the hell out of the wine section, since that's really quite good stuff around here.

At this point, most people would see any future edits to this page to be disastrous. I did indeed spend about two days working on this, but as for edits, I welcome them. The beauty of Wikipedia is that it drags people in. Someone might see this and go, "What? He didn't list that restaurant?" and then go and add it. It might also call others to create another language translation of the page since there is more of a source to start with. Basically, having information calls for more information to be added and so I hope that this page will expand even more than it has already.

Now, I'm just waiting to see how much of this gets ripped off by a Lonely Planet author or one of the rest of their ilk. This information is based on months of being in the town. For those authors, they would probably spend at most 2-3 days here and pick up what they felt was adequate, which in reality, isn't. So, be wary if the Figueres section suddenly gets a large expansion in the next LP or Rough Guide for Catalonia/Spain. You know where it came from!

25 11 2009      0 comments

Tags: catalonia, crowdsourcing, figueres, wikipedia

Mas Oller and the Baix of Empordà

Any discussion about Mas Oller in Baix Empordà first needs to start with a bit of a Catalan lesson. You actually pronounce 'oller' like 'uhl-yay' and 'baix' is similar to, but not exactly like 'bash' in English. Just some of the joys of the language, which has complexities to it that are easier than, yet similar to French, while considerably more difficult than Spanish because yes, Catalan is not a dialect of Spanish, but its own language.

Linguistics aside, Mas Oller is one of the new wineries to spring up in the DO Empordà region. It's rather ironic that there are all these new wineries given that wine has been grown in the region for the last 2,600 years, first brought in by those saintly Greeks. I wasn't aware of it when I went for a tasting, but apparently this year was the very first release. They planted the 12 hectares of vines on this old estate back in 2000 and this was when they felt the fruit had enough flavor to properly produce the wines, which says something as you get decent production after five years and they could have started a good deal earlier.

Located near the small town of Torrent, the vicinity where Mas Oller is located has not been historically known for producing wines as Baix Empordà in general was a great deal more fertile than Alt Empordà. So the land was used primarily for farming other crops such as wheat, corn, and other general vegetables. In fact the owner of the estate, Carlos Esteva was actually making wine over in the much more well-known region of Penedès before starting up the Mas Oller winery.

I found the wines favorable overall and we tasted a great variety, starting with those that are bottled now in the first year of release and then moving to the tanks to taste what is yet to come. First on the list was the 2008 Blau ('blue' in English.) It's a mix of Syrah and Garnatxa. Obviously this leads to a wine deep in color. It's initially soft on the palate but gets a bit more bold with air and remains quite fruit forward all along. I would probably best equate it to being like a $25-30 Zinfandel from Napa, although this wine is 8€.

Next was the 2008 Pur. It's a blend of Cabernet, Syrah, and Garnatxa that spends two months in French oak. The bouquet is quite plush in the mouth initially and the wine is rather bold overall. In fact, there's an element to this wine that was somewhat present in the Blau, but is really present in this wine that pisses me off, which I call the Factor de Pijoficacion (yuppie-fying). This wine is overtly strong. It is not subtle and it costs 12€. This is rather expensive in Spain (think $50 in the US) and the wine is targeted at those with no taste for wine who want to act they have a taste by spending a lot. It's a trend that is extremely present in the wines of Perelada (which I hate nearly all that they make) and I blame them a great deal for influencing other winemakers in Empordà. Needless to say, I am not a fan of this vintage, especially at this price, and it takes a lot for me to say that about a Catalan wine.

The last bottled wine we tasted was the namesake Mas Oller 2005. This wine made up for everything I was hating in the Pur. It's a blend of Cabernet and Garnatxa that spends a year in French oak. The result is lovingly smooth and delicate. Light berry hints are balanced with vanilla from the time in the oak. The finish is just clean enough to sweep everything away, but leave a lovely, lingering note of the wine. A very well-constructed vintage. For some reason, this top of the line wine was priced at 6€. My brother in-law and I bought out everything that they had remaining. I guess they were clearing it out for the new vintage and we were happy to help them with this process.

From the barrels, we tasted the Mar, a white that's fresh and tropical in nature, but definitely needs to be chilled to 12C for enjoyment. Then there is their Rosé or Rosat, the Aquare-lo (meaning 'watercolor') which is an enjoyably clean and light Rosé. I don't typically like these wines, but this one fell in to the category I enjoy, which is to cleanse the palate and act as a refresher wine.

Lastly we sampled a sweet Malvasia, which is the first time I've a) had this wine in Catalonia and b) had it as a sweet. In a word, it's awesome and I can't wait for it to be bottled. It's like drinking honey and almonds. It's not quite as clean in the finish as I prefer a sweet to be, but given the flavors it leaves behind, I can forgive it.

This was an interesting first tasting of this winery's first year of releases. I'm curious to see which direction they head with the next if it will be moving towards more of this Pijo crap that seems to be what a lot of Spain is producing these days and targeting towards the export market. As long as they don't mess with the Mas Oller, I will be a happy camper/customer.

22 11 2009      0 comments

Tags: catalonia, emporda, wine, wine reviews

CD's and corks yes, but yard trimmings, no?

It was at the end of last summer that I saw these receptacles and was applauding the local government of Figueres for allowing people the ability to recycle CD's, corks, light bulbs, and a whole slew of other odd, but regularly consumed items. I'm now beginning to think that these receptacles all just dump in to a single trash can at the bottom of the stand though.

What makes me wonder that is the fact that I was getting a bit too much internet and decided to help out my in-laws by trimming up the bushes in their front yard. They appreciated the work. I appreciated the fact that I will no longer hit my head on the low fig tree branches when chasing the Puppy Terror. Naturally, this all seemed well and good until I went to actually dispose of the trimmings and other green waste.

I asked my mother in law to kindly direct me to the proper bin as a number of them are green. She told that there wasn't one. Oh, in that case, I'll load it in the car (somehow) and take it one nearby. No, there aren't any in that there are none. In the whole town. As far as she has searched. What? How can a town that lets you recycle your mobile phone on the street not have bins for completely, of the earth, compostable material? They just don't, that's how.

So naturally, what does one do with this waste? Toss it in the trash? Oh no, that's no good as they'll refuse to pick up the trash bin. So, you end up doing what you the rest of the neighborhood does and you either bag it heavily to hide it in the trash or you dump it by the side of the trash for... I don't know what to happen, some kind of fire I suppose. Naturally, you end up with a pile like you see below. You also end up with me, in one of my less grand moments, sneaking out with my mother in-law at midnight with a handtruck and five massive black plastic bags of yard trimmings to throw in the damned trash to go to the landfill!

I have to say that this is one instance where California beats Spain's ass. Yeah, I know Spain, you can wave that jamón leg back in our faces while taunting the fact that you only allow 27 of them to be exported to the US a year, but still, no green recycling? I mean, I know San Francisco is progressive in general (except when it comes to picking non-insane mayors) and our goal of no waste by 2020 seems crazy, but come on, tree and bush stuff as about as recyclable as you can get. And every major city in the state has this in place. This is all insane as when I looked in the waste bin the next morning, all I saw were covertly dropped bags of green waste that others had dumped 'a chorizo'. Ah, is that what it is? Your recycling programs are so efficient that you actually have no real waste and if we didn't sneak in green waste disguised as actual waste, there would be nothing to pick up? Because if it isn't, shake off the sangría and wake up to green waste!

21 11 2009      0 comments

Tags: catalonia, figueres, recycling, the europe