Rock & Wine at the Barrio de la Estación tasting (Haro, La Rioja)

June 24, 2024 4:40 pm
Posted by Editorial –

The experience was born on our radio several years ago, fusing good wines and songs, with Mariskal on our side and on the other the current world guru of the best wines, Luis Gutierrezwho began writing at the age of eighteen for The Heavy with the also veteran photographer in our pages Estanis Núñez, with which he remains linked. Then the star of RockFM, Rodri Contrerasand “Rock & Wine” was consolidated in the pandemic years from the rock music network.

And he continues his live adventures, adding the supergroup to the show The Winedrinkers, headed by two great instrumentalists, such as the drummer and producer William Masterand the reference guitar Francisco Simonwhich lay a firm foundation for winemakers with excellent labels and good fans Dani Landi (Comando G), guitar, and Curro Bareño (Fedellos do Couto), vocals, to have a great time covering a handful of classics, with a lot of Stones or Black Crowes and the beautiful contribution of the singer Beech Pillar (Lavinia) and Gutiérrez himself on bass.

The show, which last year closed in Sanlúcar de Barrameda as part of Innoble, another great convention of avant-garde winegrowers from many places, consolidated in haro the proposal in a local event focused on La Rioja and, more specifically, on the prestigious and some centenary wineries of the Station Neighborhood, emerged around a locomotive to be able to transport the barrels to distant destinations: Bodegas Bilbaína-Viña Pomal, Cvne, Muga, Gómez Cruzado, La Rioja Alta and Bodegas Roda. In Cvne We were even able to visit a warehouse designed by Eiffel (yes, the same one as the Parisian tower), with enough cool to keep the wines and with direct opening to the carriages, technical problems solved by a great architect with elegance and beauty.

Mariskal Romero, Rodri Contreras and Luis Gutiérrez

For two days, professionals and the public from all over the country enjoyed the “best food and wine festival in Spain”, as its organizers proudly proclaim. They had Michelin stars in the culinary field and twelve high-end wines. With a day of spring excellence, they drank and they ate wines and food in the designated spaces, with music within the facilities of the participating wineries and open doors for those who, for months, had sold out the general public tickets. The tickets for the event were also sold out. Master Tastingon the first day, aimed at professionals and by Gutiérrez himself under the motto “A journey in time, seven decades of the Barrio de la Estación.”

Luis, in his role as critic for the prestigious Parker platform “The Wine Advocate”, tasted great vintages with the attendees in a “vertical” from 2021 to 1962: sublime chronological experience, where wine and rock shook hands with great songs twinned with each bottle. The last vintage, 1962, the best, the year in which the Stones began their journey.

This first day would end with the Winedrinkers performing their powerful show under the imposing façade of Bodegas Bilbaínas. With Mariskal and Contreras as masters of ceremonies, the entire fauna of veterans and young vintners had a great time.

Lola Palacios did not miss the great food and wine festival

The next day, from eleven in the morning, the area around the old station was a great festival of smells and flavors, tasting wines and delicacies from each of the wineries, where there was no shortage of good music with fun anecdotes.

Visiting MugaManuel Muga himself interrupted the show of the hired disc jockey so that Mariskal, Rodri and Luis could go up and play some classics, which ended with an explosive “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC, chanted by the festive crowd.

At night, attendees would also join en masse at the end of the party in the central Plaza de la Paz, with the three entertainers playing in a tremendous session with Rock & Wine in style and the welcoming people of Haro – the jarreros, As Mayor Guadalupe Fernández explained to us in the calado (underground passages) – dedicated to a ritual and twinned by two cultures with great popular roots: one ancient, wine, and another already centuries old, such as rock & roll. We will be back.

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