Travel: emporda

COTES DU A9 ROUSSILLON SERRA DE L’ALBERA N AP7 A7 ALT 1 EMPORDA 5 6 2 3 Llançà L’Escala 4 ALT SERRA DE RODESCap de Creus BAIX EMPORDA A7 EMPORDA 7 National Park Sea Mediterranean Cadaqués Palamós Castelló Figueres d’Empuries Roses

Aïguamolis Empordà vineyards wetlands Golf de 1 Vinyes deis Aspres Roses 2 Vinyes d’Olivardots 3 Marti Fabra 0 5 10 15 4 Roig Parais AP7 kilometres 5 Hugas de Batlle 6 Terra Remota To Girona and 7 Mas Estela Estate Baix Empordà L’Escala

My perfect day in Empordà

A route winding through vineyards, olive groves and umbrella pines with the Albera mountain range as backdrop and out to the coast via Cadaqués to L’Escala. Tastings at Terra Remota and Mas Estela and visit to the Dalí Museum must be pre-booked. Morning

Photographs:Olimpio Fantuz/SIME/ 4Corners Images; Didier Zylberyng/Alamy. Maps:Maggie Nelson Start the day at Terra Remota (www. terraremota.com), a huge, new, organic winery between and Sant Above: the whitewashed fishing village of Cadaqués, Climent Sescebes created by French Bay of The Decanter travel guide to Biscay made famous by Catalan artist Salvador Dalí, is a must-see couple Marc and Emma Bournazeau. Port Lligat PYRANEES during your travels in the Empordà region For another day, note their picnic lunch

Emporda option (€38 for two), before continuing next-door Port Lligat. Enjoy a creative east on the country road to Llançà. tapas lunch at Compartir*. Madrid Catalonia extensive network of terraces and dry stone walls Then head south along the winding Empordà, that still indent the steep hillsides of the coast road to just short of Port de la Afternoon

PORTUGAL magnificent Cap de Creus National Park. Selva and take a right up to La Selva de Take a 15-minute stroll to Port Lligat to Mediterranean Sea Then came phylloxera, which arrived from Mar. Press on through the village and the Dalí House-Museum*. Return to southern France in the 1870s and laid waste to up a cement track into a wild valley Cadaqués and drive back inland to Fact file The wines of the historic region flanked by the shimmering Mediterranean and these northern Catalan vineyards. It was a disaster criss-crossed with hiking trails – Sant Castelló d’Empúries and across the Region DO Empordà dominated by the , which rise to the north, from which (at least in terms of quantity) Empordà Pere de Rodes is just over the top. At Aïguamolls wetlands to L’Escala to Planted area 1,826ha of Empordà are bubbling with life is equally distinctive whichever route you choose. never recovered: of the 40,000 hectares of vines the end of the track is the lovely Mas check in at Hostal d’Empuriés*. Time Grape varieties Carinyena, and Mediterranean character Vines have been laboriously cultivated here planted then, the figure is now less than 2,000ha. Estela (www.masestela.com) where for an evening swim in the bay or spa. and Garnatxa, plus once again thanks to young since the Greeks arrived on the coast at Empúries in Nuria and Diego Soto-Dalmau and Tempranillo, Cabernet the sixth century BC and established their Where it all began son Didac, established here since Evening/overnight Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, winemakers in northern settlement Palaia Polis. The Romans followed, Quantity certainly suffered, but quality is a 1989, will show you their range of Either dine in-house in Restaurant La Picapoll, Macabeu, Catalonia, as Sue Style discovers expanding and building upon the Greek city (the different story. By the 1990s a few bodegas, led organic and biodynamic wines. Teresita or go round to El Roser 2* in Moscatell, Chardonnay, site is a must on any Empordà itinerary, see p97) by the pioneering Castillo Perelada (www. L’Escala – a 15-minute walk or a Sauvignon Blanc and and exporting their wines throughout the empire. castilloperelada.com), were beginning to grasp the Lunch five-minute drive. In summer you Gewurztraminer IT HARDLY MATTERS which way you approach the Later, in medieval times, it fell to the monasteries, potential for improvement, but it’s in the past Return to the coast road and can take the Carrilet tourist train, Production 65,000 Empordà region of Catalonia: whether it’s via including that of the wildly beautiful Sant Pere de decade that things have really taken off. Rafel make your way across the rugged which stops by the entrance to hectolitres (60% red, 17% Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France and Rodes perched high above the sea, to continue the Sabadí, sommelier at Restaurant El Roser 2 in Cap de Creus peninsula to the the Empúries Museum. rosé, 19% white, 4% sweet) across the border through which countless wine-growing tradition. L’Escala (see box, p97), describes Empordà today as whitewashed fishing village of Main soil types sand, Republican refugees streamed at the end of the Empordà’s golden age of viticulture began in the ‘en plena efervescencia’ – bubbling with life. Cadaqués, made famous by For details of places marked with slate, decomposed granite Civil War, or from , which lies a little over 1760s and continued for a century. Ample evidence A bunch of young, highly motivated winemakers, Salvador Dalí, who settled in an asterisk (*), see p97 one hour’s drive to the south. The landscape, of this viticultural richness can be found in the fresh from their oenology studies, are busy ➢

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Your Empordà address book Compartir, Cadaqués Stylish, top-quality, excellent-value sharing plates from an ex-El Bulli team. There’s a patio fringed by orange trees, cool dining rooms, attentive service and a wine list with input from former El Bulli sommelier Ferran Centelles. www.compartircadaques.com activities Arrels del Ví, Sant Martí Hotel Wine Spa & Golf d’Empúries Meet the top wine growers of DO Empordà, HOTELS taste their wines and buy at ex-cellar prices Can Xiquet at this annual, open-air wine fair organised Five chic, modern rooms with vineyard by local resident Dominic Abernethy in the views. The restaurant serves local food with beautiful medieval village of Sant Martí a short wine list favouring the best local d’Empúries. 8-9 June. www.arrelsdelvi.com producers. www.canxiquet.com Salvador Dalí House- Hotel Peralada Wine Spa Museum, Portlligat A suitably quirky shrine to the surrealist and Golf El Roser 2 Four-star country club-style hotel under the artist, which was originally a fishing shack on same ownership as Castillo Perelada winery. the beach and his home from the 1930s until Restaurants, wine bar, wine spa, indoor and and seafood from chef Jordi Sabadí and 1982. Booking via the internet is essential. outdoor pools and golf course. expert advice on Empordà wines from his www.salvador-dali.org/museus/portlligat/ www.hotelperalada.com sommelier brother Rafel. Good-value en_index.html Clockwise from top left: the stunning monastery of ; the elegant Hotel & Spa Mas de Torrent; K La Gina in ; delicious wines weekday lunch menu. www.elroser2.com and tapas at reasonable mark-ups make dining in Empordà a treat; soak up the view at Restaurant Villa Teresita at Hostal d’Empuriés Hostal de Empúries Archaeological site, A respectfully modernised 1920s-built hotel Restaurant Pera Batlla, Empúries on the beach next to the Empúries L’Armentera Extensively excavated remains of Greek and renewing those ancient terraces and dry stone ‘The wines of these young guns archaeological site (see right). Enjoy dinner Inspirational food by chef Antonia Quiñones Roman settlements on the coast between walls, resurrecting old vines – principally Garnatxa on the seafront terrace at Villa Teresita or an in an old watermill with large terrace and L’Escala and Sant Martí. Guided tours run and Carinyena – and planting new ones. Their have bags of character and a epic breakfast buffet both courtesy of cosy dining room. Local fish, shellfish and daily in summer. www.mac.cat/eng/ wines have bags of character and a strong sense of consultant chef Rafa Peña, then book in to meat, vegetables from her kitchen garden branches/empuries place, marked by the Mediterranean and given a strong sense of place, marked the decadent spa. www.hostalempuries.com and wines (70% from Empordà) selected in good dose of tough love by the tramuntana winds by the Mediterranean’ tune with the house preference for local, Museu del Suro, that blast across the mountains from the north, Hotel & Spa Mas de Torrent, characterful products. www.perabatlla.com See how the bark is peeled from the local Don’t miss stressing and airing the vines in equal measure. Torrent cork oaks and is then boiled, pressed, Decanter’s Spain The map on the DO Empordà website (www. Customary Relais & Châteaux elegance in K La Gina, Garriguella cleaned, shaved and cut to shape in this & Portugal Fine doemporda.cat) is a useful guide to help shape your 100-year-old Carinyena vines, which snagged the this stone-built former masía (farmhouse) Designer tapas and coques (Mediterranean former cork factory. www.museudelsuro.cat Wine Encounter travels. Most bodegas are in Alt (Upper) Empordà, top award at Arrels del Ví, the annual wine fair and with pool, spa and two restaurants with flatbread) with many local wines by the glass, north of Figueres with a handful more in Baix Empordà showcase (see opposite page). Mediterranean-inspired food by chef Jorge plus mojitos, ‘gin-tonics’, tasting events and Saturday 22 February (Lower) Empordà, out towards the coast from It’s worth visiting Joan Fabra at Martí Fabra in Garrido and monthly tastings by sommelier live music at weekends. www.klagina.es How to get there 2014, 10am to 5pm Girona. Most require an appointment and charge a ([email protected]) to Pere Palmada. A good base for exploring By plane to Barcelona or Girona, then by In less than three modest fee for the visit. taste the full range from this exciting bodega, but if Baix Empordà. www.mastorrent.com Can Batlle, Garriguella train to Figueres or drive from Barcelona weeks’ time, Spain and Vinyes dels Aspres in (www. time is short you can find their wines (favourites Simple, family-run village restaurant with a via the AP-7 motorway. Otherwise, drive Portugal’s finest vinyesdelsaspres.cat) is the most northerly vineyard, are Masia Carreras, both white and red) on the lists RESTAURANTS rabbit warren of vaulted dining rooms and a from France via the A9 Languedocienne/ producers will be where winemaker David Molas works with 30ha of of the top restaurants in the region, including Pera large terrace, hugely popular with locals and Catalan motorway and cross the border coming to London to El Roser 2 vines planted on slate and granite. Top of the range Batlla in L’Armentera. And while you’re at it, note With a prime position and picture windows visitors alike for classic Catalan cuisine. The at La Jonquera. pour their wines for you. here is S’Alou, an impressive Garnatxa-Carinyena- the modest mark-ups at the region’s restaurants, looking onto L’Escala’s famous bay. Top fish lunch menu is a steal. Tel: +34 972 53 05 98 More than 300 wines Cabernet Sauvigon-Syrah blend, while Blanc dels which adds to the delight of dining here. will be available to taste Aspres, an old-vine Garnatxa Blanca, is one of the Before heading out to the coast, make a date to from a number of iconic wineries, with region’s best-value whites. visit Mariona Parals at Roig Parals in Mollet de Masterclass and Peralada (www.roigparals.cat). Top of their range is block, Hugas de Batlle (www.cellerhugasdebatlle.com). producers here have to play with: vines, mountains, Discovery Theatre Exciting bodegas Camí de Cormes, a muscular wine from 120-year- Tastings are prefaced by a bone-shaking tour in a sea and tramuntana winds, all captured in the bottle. tickets available to book Just to the south in Capmany, Carme Casacuberta, old Carinyena vines (known here as Samsó), whose 4x4 of the four dramatically sited vineyards, carved ‘It’s more than 2,000 years since the Greeks first Sue Style writes on food, too. To buy tickets, visit at tiny Vinyes d’Olivardots (www.olivardots.com) is 15% alcohol is tempered by the grape’s natural into the hillside high above Colera with sweeping brought vines to Empordà,’ says Dominic Abernethy, wine and travel for www.decanter.com/ one of the new generation to have swelled the ranks acidity. More accessible is Tocat de l’Ala, a stylish, views out to sea. Later, as we sip a flowery Moscatel- the brains behind the Arrels del Ví wine fair and numerous print and online events or call +44 (0)20 of DO Empordà members from 26 to 50 in recent blend from old-vine Carinyena and Garnatxa made Garnatxa and sniff the spicy, bramble notes of champion of the region’s wines, ‘but it’s only thanks publications, including 3148 4513 times, harvesting her first crop in 2006. Look out in a joint venture with Montsant producer Coca i Fitó. Coma de Vaixell (Merlot and Cabernet), Edu Hugas to the huge rise in quality in the past decade that www.suestyle.com and

Photographs:fotostock/Alamy;age SimonReddy/Alamy for Gresa, a four-grape blend including some from Your last stop should be at the new kid on the de Batlle reminds us of the four key elements they’re finally gaining recognition.’ Time for a visit. D www.zesterdaily.com

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