Sipping in Spain

Czech wines are 'exotic' at the big festival 
 

A bastion of fortified wine on offer at Spain's spectacular Vinoble festival in Jerez.

Some say it’s the very best wine fair of all. Every two years, in a walled bastion within a medieval enclave, importers and journalists and Masters of Wine from more than 30 countries come to see, to taste — and especially to do business. 

Vinoble is the world’s only major exhibition of “noble” wines, meaning fortified, dessert and natural sweet wines. The sixth edition of this laid-back event just wrapped up in, as always, Jerez de la Frontera, part of Spain’s southern province of Cádiz.

Specialized tasting laboratories and seminars were held throughout the four days of the fair, several inside a cool mosque — an irony not lost on the hosts.  

Many of the stands were outside, in the beautifully arranged Arabian gardens, redolent with heady floral scents and the serene sound of fountains splashing everywhere. Even in the heat of the day, strolling through the grounds was refreshing — though wisely, the show shut down for a siesta between 2 and 5 each afternoon. 

More than 400 wineries were present, gathered from all six wine-producing continents. Aside from the expected producers, one could sample products from Canada, Hungary, India, Mexico and Uruguay. The Czech Republic was conspicuously absent, although the Spanish organizers provided a free stand, sommelier staff and simultaneous translation for me to conduct a tutored tasting of the bottles I brought from a handful of this country’s top sweet-wine producers: Sonberk, Vinselekt-Michlovský, Radomil Baloun and Vinařský dvůr-Jan Stávek.

During each of the four days, these tastings generated a great amount of interest from the public, eager to find out if there really is anything other than beer in this outpost of the wine world.  Three Masters of Wine all paid compliments to the samples on offer, as did renowned sherry expert Julian Jeffs. The Spanish media conducted several interviews as well.

According to the daily La Voz, we were, along with India, the most exotic exhibitors.  

Winery of the month: Metroflora, Milotice