Wine pairing with art

La noia de la malvasia, by Ramon Cuello, 2005
Cast bronze rough stone and glazed floor
Museu de Maricel, Sitges. Sitges Art Collection

It’s time to harvest grapes, to start making that delicate process that results in a world of aromas and open discussions about eccentric names they give to colours or flavours. For me, it is also that time of the year when the slow tractors stop the traffic and people like me, the busy dwellers, need to get to work on time, tractor forgiving. So we shall stay behind the steering wheel, looking at those grapes, white or red, and think of their journey from grapes to wine. It is a fascinating process, there’s an aura of mystery and excitement for wine lovers, and worries for winemakers about the number of litres, quantities, type of grape, which is an obstacle race for winemakers: the weather, the harvest, the rain, the mildew, the right moment harvest. These are just the first steps of a long process that will lead to that expected wine. Many hours of work go into each bottle. And I will prefer Garraf Wines today, those close to home.

Once the wine is created, we will enjoy the wine in the cellar itself, in a restaurant or, why not, wherever it pleases us. Today I will bring some excellent wines to our museums and see where I would pair it with. How? Every wine has a colour, a texture, a smell. On the other hand, Art transmits an emotion, if we forget outside troubles and stay present to the moment, this time we are not going to pair the wines with food (which has a taste and a flavour) but to some of the artwork from our museums, and see what it transmits. Be it a painting, a mural or a place to enjoy.

My beloved paintings from JM Sert depicting the Great War would undoubtedly pair well with a blood-red Pedradura wine. The grapes are Marselan and Petit Verdot, a well rounded and deep flavoured wine from Can Rafols dels Caus, open the bottle day before, so it’s oxygenated. I would think of the deep flavours, and it’s thickness, tears of blood rolling down the glass to remind me of those harrowing years of trenches and blood. These paintings are a homage to that terrible war, the war to end all wars.

To change the atmosphere, I’ll go for a drink to enjoy while overlooking our Mirador, where we have these Greek-style sculptures of three beautiful women. Let’s pair these women with a cheeky young red. I’ve picked the Negre de Ribes from the Vega de Ribes Cellar (Garnatxa and Merlot grapes) now here we can sit and enjoy the company of these calm, relaxed ladies that compensate the troubled war we just left behind.

Malmsey wine (Malvasia grapes) accompanies “La recol·lecció de la malvasia” (The malvasia harvest), the sweet dessert wine by excellence that we elaborate in Sitges. These Malmsey vines are still grown in these two hectares in the centre of the village of Sitges. Here we can look at the workers harvesting the grapes, and we see on the background the top of the church we all recognize as the Parish church of Sitges, it’s local history.

The Abandoned Gardens of Santiago Rusiñol would be accompanied by a complex, still, atmosphere; it has to come from nature, Rusiñol’s nature. Santiago Rusiñol enjoyed Absynthe, the inspirational green drink. But today we are keeping ourselves to wine, so here we can go for a wine from the Torre del Veguer. Honouring the artist and his gardens, we have to think of abandonment, just letting go with an indulging slow wine that is citrusy sweet of the bottled Verema Tardia, from the late harvest from 2015.

To end our tasting expedition, please join me and let’s leave the setting of the museum and step up to the Cloister of the Palau Maricel, where the swifts can add the sound to the momentum. Here there is peace and calm. Now we can pop open and savour a Cava elaborated in the Finca Valldosera with Subirat Parent grape variety the luxury of its bottle is suitable with the setting, I am just talking of choices now. On this spot, we sit, have a sip and say, perfect. At any time of day or night, I would settle on the blue bench and just let the time go by.

Better to be enjoyed on different days.

Photo Credits

© Photographic Archive of the Consorci del Patrimoni de Sitges

Susana Preston, guide and visitors attention for Sitges Museums