JOURNEY INTO WINE SPAIN & PORTUGAL
Journey into Wine introduces the infectious personality and formidable knowledge of French wine expert Isabelle Legeron as she explores the world of wine. Her honest, simple approach affords a valuable insight into what is all too often a rarefied and obscure subject, illuminating us with her own passion for wine. This series Isabelle travels the length of the Duero River through Spain and into Portugal, where the Duero becomes the Douro and spills into the Atlantic Ocean. She explores the life of the river’s wines as well as the history and cultures of the peoples that grace its banks and have toiled with its vines for time immemorial. She discovers a panoply of wines in the company of some of the countries’ most talented winemakers. From world famous appellations to hidden gems of Iberian viticulture, Isabelle journeys into wine through the dazzling, disparate riverscapes that typify the peninsula’s character.
Episode 1
Is Ribera the new Rioja? Boasting some of Spain’s most iconic winemakers and home to the country’s most expensive bottle of wine, Isabelle sets off to explore a region that looks set to rival Rioja as Spain’s number one wine producing area. Along the way she unearths the history of Old Castille, puts her nose to the test in a blind tasting of Tempranillos and meets the man who made one of Spain’s most famous wines.
To find out more about wineries featured in the episode, check out the following websites:
Vega Sicilia - www.vega-sicilia.com
Mauro – www.bodegasmauro.com
Tinto Pesquera - www.grupopesquera.com
Dominio de Pingus - www.pingus.es
Cillar de Silos - www.cillardesilos.es
Episode 2
In this episode Isabelle finishes up her travels in Ribera with a visit to one of Spain’s new generation of wine producers who writes music, lives for music and happens to make wine on the side. She then heads down river to the very heart of modern Spain, where the country as we know it today was born. This is the land of bulls, blood, wine and passions extreme. What Isabelle discovers are two of the country’s most exciting, up-and-coming wine regions, one known for reds, the other whites. On her way she meets a woman who, against all the odds (and heat), is producing Pinot Noir, a priest who can’t stomach sickly sweet sacramental wine and a winemaker who serenades his slumbering wines by playing them the violin.
To find out more about wineries featured in the episode, check out the following websites:
Neo Winery, aka Bodegas Conde - www.bodegasconde.com
Monasterio San Pedro de Cardeña - www.cardena.org
Alta Pavina – www.altapavina.es
Liberalia - www.liberalia.es
Bodegas Fariña - www.bodegasfarina.com
Ossian Vides y Vinos - email: ismaelnieva@terra.es
Dos Victorias - www.dosvictorias.com
Episode 3
After having flowed for more than 500km from its source in the Soria hills, quenching the thirst of arid, central Spain, the Duero becomes the Douro as it crosses the border into Portugal and its identity changes dramatically. In this episode, Isabelle investigates the different wines born of this one Iberian river either side of a manmade frontier. She finishes off her time in Spain with a visit to a French winemaker who swapped Bordeaux for Spain’s plateau and explores Portugal’s New Douro from the heights of the valley’s cliff top Quintas that are home to the country’s rising stars of wine.
To find out more about wineries featured in the episode, check out the following websites:
Belondrade y Lurton – www.belondradeylurton.com
Quinta da Franqueira – www.quintadafranqueira.com
Niepoort – www.niepoort-vinhos.com
Quinta do crasto – www.quintadocrasto.pt
Quinta Vale Dona Maria – www.valedonamaria.com
Quinta do Vallado – www.quintadovallado.com
Quinta Vale Meao – l.o@quintadovalemeao.pt
Episode 4
Although an area now making exceptional table wines, the Douro Valley is best known, the world over, as the home of Port. What is the secret behind this tipple, which is made from the same grapes as a normal table wine but tastes so completely different? In this episode Isabelle sets out to decipher Port: its history and what it means in a modern context. She follows a grape from vine to glass, stomps her fare share during the foot treading of harvest and learns a thing or two about the art of blending that can make or break a Port wine.
To find out more about wineries featured in the episode, check out the following websites:
The Fladgate Partnership – www.fladgatepartnership.com
Quinta Vale Dona Maria – www.valedonamaria.com
Symington Family Estates – www.symington.com
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