Andalucia

This time last year I was in Spain researching 'Sweet Scent of Success.' It was freezing. There was the first snow in Cordoba they'd had for a long, long time. Just flakes, very pretty, very cold.
It seems a long time ago. A lot has happened since then. Cordoba, Adalucia, is a stunning place. On the Saturday of that week I went to Jerez de la Frontera where the Estevez family is from. Saw the Estevez sherry bodega. I don't think it's the Estevez plantation of my ancestors, but it was a fantastic experience. What stayed with me the most was the sense of humour of the people there and the smell of sherry soaked wood.
Jerez is bonkers. The people are bonkers. Cadiz held its festival that weekend and everywhere people dressed in fancy clothes.
It was a wonderful week. A crazy week with the people, the buildings, the Mezzquita, the train journies,conversations, food, glorious prawns and fino. The best. Plate after plate - glass after glass.
And walking round an art gallery that was almost deserted. One rainy day being chatted up in spanish by a curator in the Architectural Museum. They were certainly bored that day. Green mossy stone.
Winding alleyways. Adandoned scooters. Graffiti. Orange trees. The wide, wide milky coffee river. Strolling, growing to feel at home.

Gallery of Contemporary Art

Over a 1000 works of art including 100 Picasso prints of the famous "Suite Vollard." A collection of Grandfather clocks (80), tapestries, walking sticks, antique bureaux, furniture...

Jose Estevez believed in mixing the old and the new. I think I've told you this, but hey, that was so long ago, you won't mind a snippet of repetition. Old and new in the making of the sherry, old and new in the mix of art and old furniture and with the horses, old and new traditions.

Loved a painting, a red circle and two girls looking at each other. They could have been the same person looking at a different aspect of herself. Very striking. And a massive canvas on the large balcony area that was layered and layered and used collage.

And back downstairs, and because we were only four, Mr. Garcia took us into a side room and brought over bottles of sherries to sample. He said we could have try as much and many as we wanted. He brought over a bowl of olives so it didn't go to our heads having empty stomachs. And he told me about the Estevez family. And then the shop. As I was travelling with only hand luggage on the plane, I couldn't buy a bottle bigger than 10ml, so bought a pack of five and decided we'd have our own sherry tasting back home. Had to chuck out some of my toiletries and the packaging to put them in my designated plastic bag for customs, but they fitted. Just. And the bottles were plastic, so no worries there. Cost 15 Euros and 15 Euros for the tour. Definitely worth it. I'd recommend the private tour rather than a main one. Same price, but we had a fantastic time. And Mr. Garcia took his time. So, so glad I went.

And now. To head into Jerez de la Frontera. The town.

Tools of the Trade

Inside the Art Gallery and Tasting Area

Feel lousy today. Have one of those really annoying, tickly coughs and a rasping sore throat topped off with a head numbing cold. Ache too. And working at the computer is doing my shoulders in, so going to work in long hand downstairs today. I was sorting Leaving Coty, plot wise yesterday downstairs and remembered how much easier it is to do that with the pages in front of you, not on the screen. So, see how it goes, but that is the plan.
So, no written blog today, just a couple of pictures of the Art Gallery and the main tasting area. We sat in a cosy little room off to the side as there were only four of us, plus Signor Garcia. Everything about the tour was great. Anyway, more on that when my head clears. Sorry to whinge.

The Estevez Bodega

The Estevez family

My Great Grandfather, Jose Estevez y Diaz, born Jerez de la Frontera, died at Twyford Abbey, West Twyford, England in 1922, aged seventy six. He was A Wine Shipper. His father was Manuel Estevez Y Calderon, who was a farmer. He married Ann Villademorous, nee Loughlin in 1876. He was 23, she was 20, a widow and daughter of William Henry Loughlin, a master mariner. They were living in the district of Liverpool at the time of the marriage, in Upper Hope Place. This is the woman who hated children and loved her spanish in-laws. She is the mother in Meeting Coty and we see her in Leaving Coty happy in Jerez. As you would be!

Grupo Estevez

The Bodegas Real Tesoro y Valdespino isn't the one my branch of the Estevez family were associated with in the 1800's. I'm beginning to wonder if they actually owned a Bodega, they were certainly wine growers and they came to England setting up the sherry importing business in London and then New York. It was called the Estevez Corporation. Apparently, the name Estevez is more common in Northern Spain and less so in the south. The guide, Signor Garcia (he said his name was really common and I have Garcias in our family tree) spoke spanish and english and said he'd give me any information on the Estevez family that he could. He was great. And funny. He introduced me to the other couple on the privately arranged tour as having come to claim my family fortune. Ha ha. Joker. It relaxed me though so I enjoyed the tour very much.
I'd had to book it by email in advance. On Saturdays, you have to book for a private tour, and say if you want just the sherry part or that plus the stables and art gallery. I booked for the lot! It should have taken an hour and a half approximately but we were there nearly four hours. The other couple, a man, italian, with brilliant spanish and a spanish woman asked loads of questions and were really nice. And then Mr. Garcia kept explaining things to me in english. It was very relaxed and cost the same as a normal tour where there would be many more people. Fifteen euros. And we paid at the end.

So, after Mr. Man's joke, we looked at the clocks and antiques and paintings. I snapped a few photos too, which didn't seem to be a problem. This was in the Main Courtyard, an Andalusian courtyard and then in another room with many family photographs.

So, why not the same Bodega, if it existed, as being my family's? Well, Jose Estevez only bought this Bodega in the 1980's. He died five years ago and four of his seven children work in the business. Incidentally, the name 'Ramon' is important in the family and the children all have this name. Sylvia Ramona is a modern artist living in London. I'll find more information on her. All the rest live in Spain.

Jose was interested in the mix of old and new and this is what makes the Bodega unique. He mixes old and new throughout, in art and antiques (grandfather clocks and Picasso prints and other contemporary artists) in the mix of old traditions and new techniques in the making of the sherry and with the horse training.
That's for starters. More to follow.

Jerez

I need to go to Jerez de la Frontera to visit some Bodegas and to see the fields of vines, feel the sun on my skin and screw up my eyes at the glare off the dry soil. Taste the sherry. Hear the language. See if the town really is divided between the right and left. Walk the streets. Look up at the buildings. Go to a Sunday service in a catholic church in Spain. Hold the rosary beads. I can hold my father's.

And time. I want, no need, to take the time.