SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 23 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Tenerife has inaugurated this Monday the Madrid Fusión 2023 International Gastronomy Congress with a masterful tasting of wines from its six denominations of origin. It has been the first tasting of the Wine Edition national space and has been guided by the winery men and women of each one of the denominations.
A total of 45 professionals from restaurants, oenology, sommeliers and specialized journalists participated in the tasting. Attendees were able to enjoy wines such as Los Loros Listán Blanco, with Juan Francisco Fariña (DO Valle de Güímar); A clean slate, aromatic Malvasia, with Ángela Delgado (DO Abona); Origin 1989, with Francisco Borja de Mesa, from Bodega El Lomo (PDO Canary Islands); sustainable selection red, with Yaiza Álvarez Pérez, from Bodegas Insulares de Tenerife (DO Tacoronte-Acentejo); Los Pasitos, with Jonatan García, from the Suertes del Marqués winery (DO Valle de La Orotava), and Blanco Vidueño, with Borja Pérez (DO Ycoden Daute Isora).
The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, opened the professional tasting, highlighting “the great variety and the very high quality of Tenerife wines which, although they cannot compete in production, can compete in originality and diversity, with their own flavors marked by our different climates, our unique grape varieties and our volcanic soils,” he added.
The island president also referred to the outstanding presence of Tenerife in this congress, where the island has a space of 350 square meters, the largest of all the attending destinations. Gastronomic media, travel agencies, tour operators, hospitality professionals, sommeliers and purchasing managers of companies and restaurants will meet at it until January 25.
“It is about highlighting the good that we have in Tenerife and that our gastronomy becomes an element of economic revitalization. This congress is a magnificent setting to value our products so that they are later requested, demanded and loved discover, and that is to support the primary sector”, added Pedro Martín.
The island has also prepared a program with breakfasts, lunches, snacks and themed workshops, and comes with a selection of the best products from its primary sector (wines, fresh meats, honey, cheeses, avocados, potatoes and sweet potatoes, and fruits like the handle).
The insular Councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Javier Parrilla, highlighted the opening of the Wine Tunnel, which this year has 75 square meters and will offer, throughout the three days of the congress and uninterrupted hours, the tasting of 44 of the great wines of the island.
In this sense, the island manager assured that the Wine Tunnel “has been one of the most visited places of the congress on this first day, in which the professional public has been able to discover and enjoy the uniqueness and high quality of the wines of the island, made with remote and unique varietals”.
For her part, the insular director of Tourism, Laura Castro, defended that Tenerife is “a diverse territory, with immense cultural and natural wealth and, without a doubt, our unique gastronomic offer adds incalculable value to our image as a tourist destination leader,” he added.
The CEO of Turismo de Tenerife, David Pérez, recalled that this year everything will revolve around the circular economy, “on how to make the gastronomic ecosystem more sustainable, fair and equitable for a better use of the product”.
DINING ROOM AND TASTING ROOM
The Tenerife stand opened with a grape harvest breakfast accompanied by Bodegas Monje and continued with an interactive talk on gastronomy and tradition by chefs Seve Díaz (El Taller de Seve Díaz), Iván Casimiro (El Rebojo) and Fabián Torres and Mario Torres (Grandma’s El Calderito and Donde Mario, and La Bodeguita).
The lunch, dedicated to ‘The origins of the cuisine of the North of Tenerife’, featured a menu prepared by the restaurants Mesón del Norte, El Rebojo, El Mortero and Casa Egón; and in the snack there was a tasting of cheeses from the north of the island accompanied by wines (DO Valle de la Orotava and Ycoden Daute Isora).
Chef Diana Marcelino, from the El secreto de Chimiche restaurant, gave a presentation on the multipurpose stage entitled ‘The goat, a gastronomic and sustainable metaphor for Tenerife’, in which she showed the importance of this animal in tradition, its contemporary evolution , the transversality that it generates, its sustainability and its infinite culinary possibilities.