This past April, winegrower Andreas Adam and I made a short drive to the village of Leiwen for dinner. Upon leaving the main road, I noticed a building alongside the Mosel river that conjured several memories for me. "Has that hotel and restaurant closed down?” I asked. After all, Andreas was the one who had recommended it to me so many years ago. He lamented that their doors were indeed permanently closed, and over dinner I recounted the following memory.
It seems that despite all of the constant and ubiquitous resources at our disposal for information gathering and communication, we live in a world of disconnection. I can easily know at any time what a celebrity is wearing, what another is promoting or despising. I can tell you the brand of underwear worn by a sports star (ooh-la-la), and a further endless stream of knowledge that provokes curiosity but remains mired in a tar pit of insignificance when it comes to existential questions.
Many of you will remember our former colleague, Marli Hadden, for her winning smile and infectiously positive demeanour. She left Metrovino in 2019 to chase dreams that were still unfolding, embarking upon a nomadic adventure that eventually landed her in Ontario's wine country. In ways it seems as if she just left yesterday, yet it also feels like a hundred years ago.
Who knew that Monastrell could be so elegant?!? And where the hell is Jumilla?!?
I first met the Cerdán brothers of Bodega Cerrón earlier this year at a massive wine fair in Barcelona where prominent wine journalists and sommeliers hovered around their booth like moths to a flame. It was clear that I wasn't about to discover anything under the radar, but I needed to see what the ruckus was all about.
