Ennio DiNino, General Manager Barcelona Greenwich
Our trip was filled with delicious food day after day and just when you thought it couldn’t get better, it did. Dinner at Casa Montana was my favorite experience for a few reasons; there’s a long history with our Spain Trip and visiting Casa Montana. Their food is the epitome of simplicity but well thought out, there is a lot of love and attention that goes into their preparation and it shows. The Brandade of Bacalao was incredible and oddly familiar. Chef Mike has been recreating the same dish on our menu in Greenwich ever since his trip last year. I didn’t put two and two together until being at Casa Montana.
Gretchen ordered us an exquisite bottle from Ribiera Del Duero, the Vega Sicilia Valbuena Tinto 5 Ano 2004. Anything that Gretchen is excited about, I get excited about. She never steered us wrong and this time was no different. Sweet cherries and red berries followed by licorice and subtle tobacco danced in our mouths. The finish was long, thinking about it now, I can still taste it. It was probably my favorite wine on the trip.
There were so many great memories on this trip; it’s very hard to nail one specific memory. The tour of Jorge Ordoñez’s vineyard and wine tasting was great, our host Alicia and the lunch we had with her was fun and so hospitable, but once again I’d have to say dinner. Our group really had a fantastic time service was impeccable and inviting, food was delicious from our first dish to the last chocolate truffle, and the drinks paired well with everything. It wasn’t a dinner amongst work colleagues; it was dinner with our extended family.
My entire trip is something that I’ve been talking about to our guests in Greenwich. The Bacalao is something I like to talk about because it’s on our menu. I brought back some Lomo Iberico that we had on the menu the first few days, that sold out pretty quickly. Something that I will never forget is the view from Jorge Ordoñez’s vineyard. The slope was extremely steep and the vines were incredibly old but the view of the Mediterranean and Malaga from atop a mountain was breathtaking. We could see Africa from where we were standing. It was one of the most peaceful places that we visited, that’s probably why we chose to act out yoga poses in our group shot on the mountain.
