If you weren’t already in the know, TAPAS are more than delicious little treats you savor with a glass of Iberian wine.  TAPAS is also the name of the Tempranillo, Advocates, Producers and Amigos Society, co-founded in 2006 by no one other than Jeff Stai, owner of Twisted Oak Winery, author of El Bloggo Torcido, and now acting Vice President of TAPAS.

How did we find out about TAPAS? A few years back, Ryan conducted a podcast interview with Jeff not only about Twisted Oak winery, but also about his, at the time, brand new venture. Being enormous fans of the preservation of native Iberian grapes, we love the idea of TAPAS, and even more so, the joining of like-minded folks who are passionate about working together as a team.

So imagine our excitement a few weeks ago when we received an invitation through the Open Wine Consortium for “the most extensive tasting of domestically produced Iberian varietal wines ever offered in America”. On August 8th and 9th, TAPAS is hosting a two day tasting at COPIA (American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts) in Napa Valley featuring wines made from Tempranillo, Albariño, Garnacha, Graciano, Mourvedre, the Tourigas, Verdejo and Bastardo; and produced not in Iberia, but in Arizona, California, Oregon, Texas and Washington. It is an incredible opportunity for anyone who is a Spanish or Portuguese wine lover, which I hope is all of you, to taste a wide range of Iberian grapes expressing a very unique terroir.

But rather than just give you the skinny directly from the invitation, I thought it might be fun to pin down the big guy himself to ask him a few questions about both his organization and the …

When will I learn?! When will I put my foot down and say, “No honey, I am not a human guinea pig. I will not eat, nor drink something just because the fine people of La Rioja like it. And yes, I do love you, and I do appreciate your fine moral standards to try everything once, but love shouldn’t translate to my eating fried pig ears!” I say this having ingested one big, slimy, hairy and juicy bite of a pig’s ear last Friday night after thoroughly enjoying a round of perfectly sauteed mushrooms! The thought of it still makes my stomach churn in disgust; praying that one day, the image will disappear from my mind.

This isn’t the first time I’ve caved in after seeing Ryan’s eyes light up in fire, furious that I would succumb to my psychological fears. An open mind for me, means that I respect other people’s choices, as long as they don’t hurt themselves or others. Ryan, on the other hand, is fiery and passionate, a major reason why I adore him. No matter how grotesque a beverage or food item might be, he’ll happily take on the challenge, eager to research what others find appealing in the experience. And if those around him crave his respect, they best approach life like they were participating in Survivor, consuming anything that is even remotely edible. He’s not masochistic, requiring you to finish it if you don’t enjoy it, but he does ask that you try everything, once.

And against all logic, I’ll continue to follow his lead! I love his ridiculously high standards that he asks of not only himself, but others. I love his passion …

Editor’s Note: Janelle Norman from Tapas Talk, graces our presence again with her recommendation of a popular wine bar right in the heart of Madrid.

Nestled in the maze of streets within the neighborhood of La Latina is your destination for delicious Tapas, good wine and great atmosphere, the street of Cava Baja. Since the 16th century, this street, which had been the moat outside the medieval city walls, has been a place to meet friends and taste food, both local and from the outer reaches of Spain. During Madrid’s first boom of growth, thanks to Philip II’s establishing Madrid as capital in 1561, the city saw its population triple in a short amount of time. Cava Baja became a street lined with restaurants and posadas, or inns. It is said that this was a popular meeting point for newcomers who wanted to hear the news and gossip from their home towns. Today the street is home to some popular castizos, typical madrileño, restaurants such as the (more expensive) Posada de la Villa and Casa Lucio and is also home to Galician, Navarran and Basque oriented establishments.

However, we are going to explore a taberna called Tempranillo. Appropriately named after Spain’s famous noble grape variety, Tempranillo, this bar is focused exclusively on wine. They serve over a hundred different wines, and as their wine list written in chalk on the wall proudly states, “solo vinos españoles”, only Spanish wines. It’s the perfect stop if you would like to experience a wide variety of indigenous Spanish grape varietals and Spanish wine regions other than Rioja and Ribera del Duero, which can be found just about anywhere. At Tempranillo, you can explore wines from Madrid, Toro, Priorat, Bierzo, …

 

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Today we talk with Steven Ventrello of Parador Cellars, and the guys (Jeff Stai and Scott Klann) over at Twisted Oak winery, about their wines made with Iberian varietals. Great show and it was a lot of fun talking to both of them about their motivations behind making wine with grapes such as Tempranillo in the terroir of California!

Links:
Parador Cellars - Their Wines

Twisted Oak Winery - Their wines - Their Blog

TAPAS - Tempranillo Advocates Producers and Amigos Society

Search here for tasting notes on Twisted Oak wines