I like to drink good wine, and I especially love mature wine: I get excited by the complex organoleptic changes that time so enigmatically triggers. I may not be a scholar in the chemistry of a wine as it ages, but I can appreciate a good wine when I drink one – there’s no doubt about that.
The invitation to collaborate on this special issue of Club Oenologique magazine came to me through a member of the El Bulli family, Ferran Centelles, or Fredi, as we call him. Fredi was part of the sommelier team at El Bulli restaurant between 2000 and 2011, and he is currently curating the contents of Wine Sapiens, a very ambitious project that we are carrying out at the El Bulli Foundation, one that represents the largest encyclopedia of wine within the context of the gastronomic world. In this issue, Fredi introduces the concept and details how we have been looking at wine from a 360-degree perspective.
After listening to Fredi, who told me about the excellence of Club Oenologique, I had no hesitation in accepting the invitation. The quality of its contents, as well as the beauty of its design – I love design – prompted me to embark on the first meetings with its editorial team. I was offered a blank canvas on which I could propose the contents and themes that I believe are essential for today. Some are real obsessions of mine.
I would like to highlight some articles that lie ahead in this issue, such as one written by Rafael Tonon, who has been able to extract the essence of El Bulli 1846, the museum project that aims to continue the legacy of the restaurant. And you will get to know Enigma, my brother Albert Adrià’s restaurant: it’s such a magical place and the closest thing to El Bulli in recent years. I am also happy to present a feature written by Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW about the great wine regions of Spain. I have a beautiful relationship with Pedro, and he is a great supporter of the El Bulli Foundation.
I was particularly moved by one article, in which 13 former El Bulli sommeliers pay tribute to my much-missed partner Juli Soler, choosing the bottles that they felt traced the evolution of the wine list at the restaurant. It has been nice to revisit the iconic names that marked such an era.
I hope all wine lovers will be surprised by the article that deals with taste and the trigeminal sensations, which are so important in gastronomy but have been little explored in the world of wine. We have also taken this opportunity to confront the term ‘molecular gastronomy’ with which the cuisine of El Bulli has been associated and which sparks great scepticism within me. For me, ‘techno-emotional’ more accurately defines this type of creative cuisine that changed the history of gastronomy.
I toast with the best wine and hope that you will enjoy this issue in which we explore how now, more than ever, wine comes ever closer to the highest levels in gastronomy.
Ferran Adrià,
June 2024
The summer 2024 issue of Club Oenologique is out on Wednesday June 5 and available here
