Epilogue Bark to Bottle Tour


Gerry has renamed this tour:

Cork, Food, Wine, Culture, Repeat.

What a tour Bark To Bottle has been!  If we had to name this tour, it would be "Cork, Food, Wine, Culture, Repeat".  We came to learn about cork and came away with so much more. There is no way we could have had the educational experience about cork, the cork process, the foods of Spain, the wines and the history and culture of this country on any other tour. This was an authentic experience delivered by two guides who make a fabulous team.  

Patrick Spencer, the Executive Director of the Cork Forest Conservation Association (Oregon) and Miguel Rollán, the owner of  "Two Birds One Stone" travel expedition company (Spain) knocked it out of the park.  Together they brought their contacts, passion and enthusiasm about the cork industry, nature, Spanish culture, foods and wine. They also showed extreme kindness and sincerity to us and everyone they encountered.

The local guides, the over-the-top food and wine experiences and the constant sharing of information along the way made this trip special.  Every single day we learned something about cork, something about Spanish foods, something about Spanish wines and something about Spanish culture.  

If Patrick and Miguel could package their format for this trip and apply it to other specialties in other countries, we would take every single trip!

CORK

What an educational trip this has been. A sample of things we learned:

  •         The Cork trees is the only tree that can regrow its bark

  •      Harvesting of cork is done manually by expert harvesters

  •           The process involves manual harvesting every 9-12 years  
    •       the cork is sorted by thicknesses, 
    •       boiled or steamed and flattened into sheets
    •       the sheets are cut into strips
    •       the cork stopper are punched
    •       the corks stoppers are sorted by size
    •       a layer of silicone is added
    •       winery logos are applied via lasers
    •       there are numerous quality checks between each and every step   
  •         Cork forestry is the most sustainable forestry

  •        The primary purpose for harvesting cork is for bottle cork stoppers

  •       The cork that is not selected for cork stoppers or is discarded throughout the quality checks is used for composite corks, or cork disks (lack of thickness), and other uses such as shoes, flooring, etc.

  •        Climate change is extending the harvest cycle due to more time needed to grow thicker cork
FOOD

What a culinary experience we have had. Some of the unusual things we have eaten:
  •        Iberian jamon
  •       Lomo ((from the loin of the pig)
  •       Pig Cheeks
  •       Pig Snout
  •       Snails
  •       Anemone
  •       Octopus
  •       Raw Shrimp straight from the sea, shell included
  •       Fresh (made that day) goat cheese
  •       Bull's Tail
  •       Fried Pedron Peppers
  •       Bread smeared with fresh tomato, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt
  •       Expresso (Spain does not make good “American” coffee but great expresso)
  •       Suckling pig
  •       Watermelon gazpachio
  •       Sausage that tasted like candy
  •       Squid (black ink)
WINE

We had wine with every lunch and dinner during the tour and even had sangria for one late breakfast.

We love Spanish wines and the wines we were served were very good.   We sampled wines made in each of the regions (Extramadura, Andulusia, Catalunya).  With the exception of the wines from Catalonia, most of the reds were Tempranillo based and red blends.  In Catalonia, many reds were Cabernet Franc based and not as bold as those from other regions.  The white wines were mostly Chardonnay based but not near as oakie as California wines.

Cava - Spanish sparkling wine - ranged from good to excellent.  In fact the Cava produced by Recoreda has been rated higher than French champagnes in many international taste tests.

CULTURE

Thanks to the tour we were able to scratch the surface of the wonderful history and culture of Spain.  We visited cities built by the Romans, and Moors.  Saw how Christians adapted theses towns and saw the Jewish influence in the architecture.  We heard about the Spanish Civil War and how the country stayed out of World War II because of their Civil War.  We also learned a bit about the Franco dictatorship from 1939 until 1976.  We visited multiple regions of the country, experienced different dialects and regional foods.  Catalonia has its own language (Catalan) and an active separatist movement because some of its residents want to secede from Spain.  We visited a country that eats lunch at 3:00 pm and dinner at 10:00 pm. Shops still close in the afternoon for siesta.  It is all interesting, beautiful and exciting.

Lastly, we were very lucky to have shared this amazing tour with a group of folks who were just great. We all liked and cared for each other!




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