When it comes to El Bulli, Ferran Adrià’s name may be the best known, but there was another key player and driving force behind the restaurant and its gastronomic revolution: Juli Soler (1949–2015), Ferran’s business partner in the adventure that began in Cala Montjoi. For me, Juli was the most transgressive restaurant manager who ever lived – at least, I don’t know anyone who comes close to him. He had a great sense of humour and knew how to use it to joke with his customers and make them feel at home. This was a supernatural gift, useful for loosening the rigidity that top-level gastronomy sometimes has. Breaching classic etiquette in a Rolling Stones T-shirt (but wearing it with the utmost elegance), he was a seducer that the customers loved. Juli loved them, too – and he loved his wines, as few restaurateurs in the world ever could.
Knowing Juli’s way of being and considering the incredible creative disruption caused by El Bulli’s cuisine, you might imagine a wine list different from any other, with an array of unusual colours, surely served in futuristic glassware or even imported from other planets in the solar system. But no – quite the contrary. At El Bulli, the wine selection was a reflection of Juli’s love of the great wines from the classic regions of the world. An orthodox wine list in which only a few rare and well-considered licences were taken to incorporate less known but promising producers. In this – humility aside – the sommelier team was able to contribute, and Juli was able to rely on our know-how.
In each service of 50 customers, there were four sommeliers, 55 types of wine glass, two fully operational ageing cellars and 1,600 wine references. Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne, Cava, Sherry, Rioja, Priorat, Ribera del Duero and Rías Baixas stood out. From today’s critical point of view, these names may sound excessively well known, but I can assure you that in the years of El Bulli’s activity, some of them were complete newcomers on the scene.
At El Bulli, we liked to open whole bottles, and we didn’t do wine pairings. It may be controversial, but even though the customers dined from a closed tasting menu, neither Juli nor Ferran ever wanted to deprive them of the freedom to choose their own bottle. The wine/dish pairing was not overly important, and during the four hours that the menu lasted, an average of one and a half bottles per person were uncorked. A festival in every sense of the word.
We did, however, pair some dishes with good success. For example, the Albarizas dessert, a dish that referenced the soils of Jerez, was served with a very old Sherry. I also remember another delicate dish of mushrooms with flowers that was delicious and accompanied by a gran reserva from Rioja. These were sublime combinations where the pairing was approached as an integral part of the dish’s concept.
Unfortunately, Juli left us sooner than we would have liked, but his essence lives on in the El Bulli Foundation and in every one of the many sommeliers who passed through the El Bulli dining room. As such, we asked them to choose the wine that most marked their time at the restaurant – and I have included some of my own favourites from my time there, too. Here is our selection of iconic Spanish wines once served in El Bulli, scored according to how they are drinking now.
The Spanish wines that best tell the story of El Bulli
