Eating with Bob and Suzette: September 14, 2023 a morning with a master vinegar maker, Lunch

September 14, 2023 a morning with a master vinegar maker, Lunch - Sabrego

We dressed and went to breakfast. We ate lightly because we knew we would be eating at Casal de Armans fine restaurant, Sabrego, for lunch.

We each took a croissant with butter and a strawberry spread and shared a bowl of yogurt and granola with a few hazelnuts, and raisins added.

Suzette is in search for artisanal vinegar, so after breakfast she asked the chef for the name of a vinegar maker and was given the name Pablo Leirado in Beade, which was a little east and north of where we are staying.

Suzette called Pablo and made an appointment to meet him in the bar at Beade at 11:30.

He arrived when we arrived. I immediately liked Pablo because he had a twinkle in his eye.

After he bought us and we shared a coffee con Leche we walked up the hill to his warehouse.

This was the first time we have been exposed to the intricacies of natural vinegar making.

Pablo was quick to explain that there is a big difference between industrial vinegar making and artisanal natural vinegar making.

Industrial processes are chemically based and uses sugar to drive the process while he used fine wine grape juice or natural raisins and a natural bacteria mass developed from the process. This mass is used throughout the entire process that takes a year to convert all the sugars in the grapes into vinegar of 6% to 9% acetic acid.

Pablo also said that he uses purified mineral water to dilute his vinegar to the desired level of acetic acid. He dilutes four parts of water to one part vinegar, while typical Moderna balsamic and other industrial vinegars are diluted Nine parts water to one part vinegar and Modena adds sugar to give it that typically sweet characteristic.

The wooden barrels that he uses to make the vinegar contain the same friendly bacteria that is in the mother mass.

We learned a lot of biochemistry in a short period.

Then we tasted five vinegars. Pablo flavors his vinegars with various plants to enhance their flavors.

The first was a vinegar made from white wine grapes flavored with laurel or Bay leaves. Although strong in aroma and taste of vinegar it also had a lightness that Pablo said went well with fish.

The second vinegar was much darker and stronger tasting because it was made from red wine and flavored with fennel.

We washed our mouth out with purified mineral water between each taste.

The third taste was a red wine vinegar flavored with garlic. It had a different flavor because the garlic added a hint of sweetness.

The fourth vinegar was also red wine vinegar but flavored with the famous Padron chili of Galicia. It had both a strong aroma and flavor of the Padron chili that cut through even the strong vinegar flavor. The Padron vinegar won Pablo and international vinegar award and he said its powerful flavor was proven at a recent dinner for 80 persons who each were served a platter of steamed mussels each drizzled with just a few dashes of the Padron vinegar. The power and flavor of the Padron vinegar was so intense that less than one bottle served the entire crowd of life long Padron chili eaters.

Finally, Pablo served us his 2017 reserve vinegar, a red wine vinegar that has been aged for a total of three years, in both oak and chestnut barrels.

I could taste both the musty flavor of the chestnut and the depth of flavor of the oak, a more complex flavor than the other four vinegars.

We loved them all.

Then Pablo let us taste his experiments. First, we tasted the liquid he was making by rehydrating Italian wine grapes that he intended to make into a Moderna style vinegar. It was sweetly delicious and just starting to turn into vinegar probably from the free floating bacteria in the warehouse. He will continue to ferment the liquid, then remove the raisins, and finally transfer the rendered liquid into barrels to fully ferment into vinegar.

The final taste was a slightly fermented honey that was still fermenting that would be turned into vinegar, Pablo hoped. It was cloudy with a white frothy surface that made it rather unappealing.

So, artisanal vinegar starts with a good wine and converts the alcohol in the wine into vinegar through contact with beneficial bacteria, which is then filtered, flavored, diluted to the desired level of acidity, and bottled.

We bought a case of vinegar to take home, said goodbye to Pablo, and headed home at 1:30.

When we returned I had a conference call at 2:30 and a little after 3:00 we went downstairs to the Sabrego Restaurant located at Casal de Armans where we are staying. It received a Michelin recommendation in 2022 and holds a Spanish Sol designation. Sabrego is the named for the type of granite rich soil in which the grape vines in this area grow.

We were a bit late for the 9 course tasting menu, so we ordered off the a la carte menu.

We were first served a complimentary appetizer of a pork stew diced finely and covered with a creamy potato and corn foam.

Next was an eel appetizer we ordered that also was served on a creamy sauce.

We were a little lost on entrees, so we played it safe, perhaps too safe.

Suzette ordered Sautéed Wild Boar that was served with a sweetened cream sauce that I had not encountered before with baby vegetables, including broccoli, zucchini, and cauliflower. The boar was sautéed to rare and tasted to me like an elegant piece of seared pork with a more dense and wild flavor.

I was even less adventurous. I ordered sirloin steak served with baked potato wedges and oven dried cherry tomatoes. It was served without any sauce, but the steak, cooked to rare, just beyond searing, was melt in your mouth delicious. Having been raised on steak, I was comforting to have a good piece of beef and this qualified as one of the best.

I ordered a glass of Casal de Arman’s Pepe Gonzalez white with the eel and then we both ordered glasses of limited edition red with the meal.

I could not resist the urge to try a dessert so I ordered a chocolate layers that turned out to be three squares of light chocolate cake interspersed with chocolate mousse, chocolate ice cream and top with a chocolate foam and jellied globules of citrus, a lovely dessert. I also ordered a coffee con Leche.

We returned to our room at 4:45 and rested the rest of the day, fuller than full.

I read and watched the workers in the winery who for the three days we have been at Casal de Arman have been washing and stacking over a thousand plastic containers to be filled with grapes, which you can see stacked in the driveway.