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Wednesday, June 07, 2006
A Pressing Day in Tenerife
When it comes to Tenerife wines, I only ever get to see that from the very start of the process to the harvest and the end product. Both important enough. What I don't see is the process between the picking and the drinking thereof.
Arnoldo at Imakinaria, a blog in Venezuela, has an account of a trip to Tenerife which fills the gap. He begins that, "Everything in Tenerife reminds me of Venezuela. Areperas (restaurants selling arepas a Venezuelan "fast-food") everywhere, Caracas Avenue, Venezuela Street, companies with Venezuelan names. A friend said that in his estimation, at least one person in every family emigrated to Venezuela at one time." This is true, my landlady has lived in Venezuela, as have many of the people I know locally, which is the reason that my local supermarket carries a few Venezuelan specialities.
His account contains numerous photos, starting with one of the Guanche statues in Candelaria, a typical view of the north of the island (with its deep valleys with steep sides), someone picking higos picos (prickly pears) with special tongs - so you don't get the spines in your fingers; a couple of examples of colonial architecture and the famous Drago tree at Icod.
Then Arnoldo visits the cousin of his mother-in-law in the south of Tenerife and there follows a series of photos which demonstrate the process of treading and pressing the grapes (mostly white ones) to obtain the mosto (must).
After this is put into the barrels, he says, "all that remains is to wait three months until the wine is ready." Yeah, the waiting is the hardest part!
Like every other similar task, whether it is carried out by family or a group of neighbours, of course, it is followed by a meal - in this case, they all tuck in to costillas y piñas de maíz y papas con mojo canario - pork ribs with corncobs, poatoes and coriander sauce. You can find the recipe here.
Whilst photos are not the same as living it, this lovely account gives you a feel for the atmosphere, the culture and the way things are done here.
The account of Arnoldo's visit to Tenerife
