Hola Rioja

So, at last in September SOH and I eventually made our way to Northern Spain to go and meet Roberto from Bodegas Santalba and find out where the utterly gorgeous Rioja that we sell comes from. 

We have been so lucky in our jobs as publicans to go to various suppliers of both food and drink and look at the process - Champagne in particular (twice) - but this was a much awaited visit and already postponed once from earlier in the year. 

The first part of our road trip was the Brittany ferries crossing from Plymouth, and I have to say that we were both VERY pleasantly surprised. Not by the bunk beds it has to be said, but by the general high standards on the ferry, the food and drink and entertainment!! Excellent and probably something we will repeat again. 








Arrival at Santander after about 22 hours was slightly delayed, but we made a  fairly fast escape from the boat and onto the road to Brinas.  

A sweet little village in the province of La Rioja. Now SOH does NOT like travelling with a sat nav - he finds it hard enough with me! But only a couple of wrong turns and a little bit of colourful language from both of us, found us in this delightful village and a hotel set right near to the river. 

The following day we did a little sightseeing, before going out with Roberto and enjoying his hospitality in his home town of Haro. Haro is known for its fine red wine and every year the Haro Wine Festival is held where locals hold a wine battle!!! 

The little bar we went to offered the most exquisite tapas and authentically local too - hence I ate a Pigs Ear - absolutely NOT like the type we sell for the dogs in the Vic!! 

But the following day was an absolute highlight for us. We've sold Roberto's wine for about 8 years, when he came to the Vic and talked to us about his wines.  Since then he's been to Salcombe for a visit with his wife and family, and we keep in regular contact on social media. So going to see the grapes and the winery itself was just super. 

Santalba is a family run operation and you feel that from the off when Roberto told us about his Father Santiago starting the business in 1964. In fact the name of the winery is a fusion of the first name and surname of him; Santiago Ijalba. 

I always find it fascinating to see the grapes that will be used in the making of the wines or Champagnes, and to see this here at Santalba was no less special. Roberto explained that the time we were there was absolutely crucial as to not wanting too much rain otherwise it may affect the harvest. The care that Bodegas Santalba take in monitoring and selecting their grapes certainly show in the finished product. Their grapes are also harvested manually!! 


He explained to us that the geographical location in the heart of the Rioja Alto  with it's climate and it's soil have all contributed to giving the regions wines their unmistakeable character. 

We had an absolutely brilliant tour with Roberto (who is an exceptionally busy man - spending a lot of time abroad) and the winery was far bigger than we expected it to be.  SOH was in his element as he's a bit off a wine buff and has a genuine thirst for knowledge when it comes to all things to do with our business. 

Then of course came the tasting!  My favourite part of the tour of course! Now, of course to taste professionally, you taste, swill and spit into a spittoon - nope! Not for us, we embraced the tasting with gusto and I can honestly say that it was a very pleasurable hour or two.  



Roberto very generously gave us a gift of wine and meats and we spent a few shillings on a dozen or so of his very best wines to bring home with us1  





This was all followed by a delightful lunch in Sajazarra a hill top setting where the heavens opened, and I mean truly opened,  and there was a little fretting by Roberto that it would not be as heavy back at the the Bodegas............. 

I'm pleased to say that it wasn't and the grapes have just started to be harvested in the last couple of days  

So all in all a delightful couple of days and we felt very privileged that our friend Roberto took so much time out of his busy schedule to be with us. 

Following on from that we went to Santiago de Compostela where we had a very pleasurable couple of days before driving back to Santander. 

We made lots of memories and felt even more enthusiastic about the Rioja Ermita Crianza that we are so happy to recommend and to sell. 

Till the next time

Much love

Liz x

MasterChef - Brilliant!

 A quick post just to tell you all about our amazing meal at the Treby Arms - a relatively small and unassuming pub outside of Plymouth in a place called Sparkwell.

What makes this place so special?? The fact that the Chef Patron is Anton Piotrowski who was the (joint) Masterchef Winner 2012!!

We've always been avid watcher's of this programme, with growing admiration as the contestants get further and further into the competition, but for us there was always something about Anton's food that we liked right from the very beginning! I do actually think the Judges were weak to split the title - it should have been only Anton - but that's just my thoughts.

Anyway - cut a long story short we were incredibly lucky to secure a booking for us last week, and what an amazing Dinner we had.

We went for the Masterchef Tasting Menu containing 10 (yes, TEN!) courses and it was the most amazing food I've tasted in ages!!
Its really hard to choose overall favourites from the menu, but suffice to say that the Pidgeon Wellington, Scallops with Vinegar Crumble and the Duck were A-MAZ-ING!!

The puds were out of this world and the Chocolate Soil with Popping Candy was incredible. But the Banana Pud with the Salted Caramel filled Chocolate tube will remain a hard pud to beat!!

It was also nice to see that St Austell Brewery supply the wines to them, and we had a bottle of superb Ermita Reserva Rioja from Bodegas Santalba - you may remember that we met Roberto from the Winery last year when he came over and we did some wine tasting with him. Made it even more special by having that great wine with our meal.  

It was also really interesting to hear from Anton & Clare just what it had been like for them winning something as prestigious as Masterchef - the whole excitement and great things that are happening to their business as well as the new challenges. They were a delightful couple, supported by great staff and we look forward to going back later on this year. Both Tim and I wish them great success for their future.

There are times...........

There are times when being a pub landlady drives me flipping nuts!!! Just this week we've had the Hobbit House boiler break down and a new one installed only for that to break down the following day. The pub boiler is on a temporary mend as we await parts for that. A water bill for £4k more than it should be as there's a leak - Lord only knows where, because a succession of workmen have failed to locate it yet..... etc, etc, etc and yet, there are other times like yesterday when this job is just perfect!!

In the picture above you can see my SOH (looking awfully intelligent - don't you think) with James Fineman from St Austell Brewery wine division and the gorgeous dark haired gentleman opposite them is Roberta Perez from Bodegas Santalba,   http://santalba.com/vinos/?acc=vinos&fam=6&idv=14&idc=8

They were here for James to talk through with Tim about changing some of our wines - although both men congratulated SOH on his excellent choice of existing wines and then also to introduce us to Roberto's wines. The company is run by him and his Father and the wines are not only gorgeous but totally organic as well. We tasted about 5 from the Ermita range and we were particularly taken by the Tinto, but also the Crianza and the Reserva - I think we shall be stocking the Crianza and hopefully the Rose when it comes to St Austell - maybe a couple of bottles of the Reserva for our own collection!!

It was a thoroughly enjoyable lunchtime and as usual I learnt so much about the product from Roberto who's enthusiasm and passion just shone through in everything he talked about!  Roberto kindly gave us a bottle of the Rose as a gift and we shall enjoy drinking that at some stage this weekend I'm sure.   

It's been a strange old week - markedly quiet from Monday and it looks like the closure of Salcombe Harbour Hotel (for renovation work) will hit the town hard this winter - and yet we have lots and lots of bookings for the weekend in both the Hobbit House and the Restaurant - so all may not be so gloomy after all.

Seven weeks to Christmas and a couple of bookings in the diary for parties - in particular the big Town Bash for fishermen etc - and as for New Year? Well, we have just 3 tables to spare - so if you're thinking of coming to us for New Year, you're going to have to book fast!!! The Old Gaffers are going to be entertaining us that night so I have a feeling it's going to be a terrific end to a terrific year................