Malaga quite justifiably has the image of high rise hotels and apartment buildings, lager, bingo and fish and chips. It has however the unexpected redeeming feature of its charming old town complete with Roman amphitheatre, castle, Alcazar and variety of excellent tapas bars and restaurants.
We came across an orange tree that had last year’s oranges, this year’s oranges and sublimely scented blossom that heralds those for next year.
We arrived back in Rota to find Carnaval in full swing. Carnaval involves processions with elaborate themed floats, music, humour, fun and a lot more and the involvement of the community as a whole. The Spanish really do take Carnaval seriously in a very lighthearted atmosphere and it appears that everybody participates. It is the time for families to let their hair down together totally without the UK traits of drunkenness, trouble and the incessant rattling of charity tins. 
Good friends also yachting out here, Angie and Jack, were kind enough to drive us to El Puerto de la Santa Maria for the day. We visited the ‘Osborne’ Sherry Bodegas. Sherry making is extremely interesting. And somewhat complicated. We could certainly not encompass all the nuances of its production in one visit but we did learn that there are only three different Sherries, Fino (dry pale), Oloroso (dry or medium) and Pedro Ximenez (sweet or cream) although these can appear in a multitude of brands from varying Bodegas. The dry wines are made with the Palomino grape and the sweet wines with the Pedro Ximenez grape.
All are made in the same way with the three tier Solera system with the newly pressed wine in barrels at the top being mixed with older wine in the intermediate and bottom barrels. Only 40% of wine in each of the tiers is transferred to the barrels below. Fino wine ferments for 3 to 5 years and is formed under a layer of what amounts to the grape skin mould called the ‘flor’, which prevents its oxidization and keeps the wine at around 14% alcohol. The Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez oxidise and stay in the barrels longer and do not form a ‘flor’ and so obtain their redder colour and greater alcohol content – 17% and 20% respectively. There is no ‘vintage’ Sherry as the age of the bottled wine is indeterminate. Because of the 40% mixing rule, the bottom barrel from which the wine to be bottled is drawn, may contain new wine and old wine of any age, even a modicum of that which is as old as the Bodegas itself, around 200 years! It is all much more complicated than this of course. Interestingly however the barrels are stored in high vaulted rooms with open windows all year round. The temperature must be in the range 10ºC to 20ºC and the humidity above 50%. Humidity in the Jerez triangle is always above 50% and covering the floors with water – an old Arab trick - controls the high summer temperatures.
The tasting after the tour was exemplary. We were invited to sup as much as we wished not only of the sherry placed on the table but also of other varieties including brandy, which is distilled from Sherry. We could have been there all day until carried out unconscious! Did we?
Good friends also yachting out here, Angie and Jack, were kind enough to drive us to El Puerto de la Santa Maria for the day. We visited the ‘Osborne’ Sherry Bodegas. Sherry making is extremely interesting. And somewhat complicated. We could certainly not encompass all the nuances of its production in one visit but we did learn that there are only three different Sherries, Fino (dry pale), Oloroso (dry or medium) and Pedro Ximenez (sweet or cream) although these can appear in a multitude of brands from varying Bodegas. The dry wines are made with the Palomino grape and the sweet wines with the Pedro Ximenez grape.
All are made in the same way with the three tier Solera system with the newly pressed wine in barrels at the top being mixed with older wine in the intermediate and bottom barrels. Only 40% of wine in each of the tiers is transferred to the barrels below. Fino wine ferments for 3 to 5 years and is formed under a layer of what amounts to the grape skin mould called the ‘flor’, which prevents its oxidization and keeps the wine at around 14% alcohol. The Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez oxidise and stay in the barrels longer and do not form a ‘flor’ and so obtain their redder colour and greater alcohol content – 17% and 20% respectively. There is no ‘vintage’ Sherry as the age of the bottled wine is indeterminate. Because of the 40% mixing rule, the bottom barrel from which the wine to be bottled is drawn, may contain new wine and old wine of any age, even a modicum of that which is as old as the Bodegas itself, around 200 years! It is all much more complicated than this of course. Interestingly however the barrels are stored in high vaulted rooms with open windows all year round. The temperature must be in the range 10ºC to 20ºC and the humidity above 50%. Humidity in the Jerez triangle is always above 50% and covering the floors with water – an old Arab trick - controls the high summer temperatures.
The tasting after the tour was exemplary. We were invited to sup as much as we wished not only of the sherry placed on the table but also of other varieties including brandy, which is distilled from Sherry. We could have been there all day until carried out unconscious! Did we?
Suffice it to say that we eventually made our way to Romerijo’s seafood restaurant where one purchases from a counter a selection from an enormous array of fish and shellfish freshly boiled or fried. This is served in paper cones that one takes to a table where a waiter provides napkins and a large waste bucket for the shells and takes ones order for bread and drinks. We had large boiled prawns, smaller fried prawns, fried squid, fried roe and fried anchovies. It was delicious particularly when washed down with a bottle of wine.
It is now only a few weeks until we set sail for the Mediterranean and we have been attending to our programme of maintenance, cleaning and painting anything that doesn’t move (oiling teak actually). Neal has been fitting new toys bought out from the UK including an SSB Radio receiver that interfaces with the laptop to provide weather pictures like those you see on telly with all the lines. The closer they are the more it’ll blow!
Those of you within range of BBC Radio Solent may have heard Miggy’s dulcet tones on Monday the 5th of March. Her next broadcast is scheduled for the 25th of April at which time we should be in the Balearics.
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