Letter from Barcelona: Members of one of the world's most exclusive wine clubs celebrated their 10th anniversary in Barcelona. It was a tough assignment but Jane Walker rose to the challenge.
My lunch started with two champagnes, a 1985 and 1995 vintage Pol Roger brut, continued with Drouhin Montrachet Marquise de Laguiche 1992 and 2000, a memorable 1998 Premier Grand Cru Classe Mouton Rothschild and a Rothschild Chateau Clerc Milon 1996 via a 1997 Mas la Plana Cabernet Sauvignon and 1998 Grans Muralles by Miguel Torres, and ended with an unforgettable Dow 1970 vintage port. Along the way we sampled some of the best vintages of Antinori from Italy, Robert Mondavi of California, Vega Sicilia of Spain, Egon Muller from German, and France's Paul Jaboulet Aine and Hugel Fils.
Never before have I sat down to a meal to face 22 wine glasses - and probably will never do so again. But there was one for each of the two wines from eleven leading wine families. We were at the Michelin three-star Raco de Can Fabes restaurant in Sant Celoni, 50 kms north of Barcelona, where the food was not eclipsed by even those wines. Local wild duck with pears and a bitter chocolate sauce followed roast turbot with wild mushrooms, a vegetable platter with different flavoured olive oils, and wafer thin slices of lobster with finely chopped tomato.
I was a lucky guest at a very special lunch celebrating the 10th anniversary of Primum Familiae Vini (PFV), an exclusive club where members come from 11 leading wine families whose estates remain in family hands, most of them after many generations, producing some of the world's greatest wines.
The inspiration for this association began one summer evening in 1991 when Robert Drouhin and his friend Miguel Torres were walking through the Drouhin vineyards in Beaune chatting about wines, their friends in the industry and the difficulties many of them face trying to keep their vineyards and chateaux in the family. Two years later PFV was born.
"We chose a Latin name because the Romans were the first wine makers and the Mediterranean is the true cradle of wine," explained Miguel Torres.
Membership rules are simple but, in these days of globalisation, not so easy to fulfil. The estates and wines must belong to a single family, and membership is limited to only a dozen families - although there are currently only 11 members, since one of their body was forced to drop out two years ago after it left the family hands.
They meet regularly to exchange information on viticulture, aiming to preserve the traditional methods of winemaking and work to promote "the moderate consumption" of good wines, and by auctioning unique presentation cases of their wines, raise thousands of dollars for charity each year.
The host of this week's meeting was outgoing PFV president Miguel Torres, the current head of Bodegas Torres, who have been making wines since 1870 - although the family has had vineyards near Barcelona since the 17th century.
He said: "We want to be able to hand down the traditions and the businesses to our sons and daughters, and to our grandchildren. The PFV families have become like family to us and we exchange visits and information. We have not had any weddings yet, but one never knows. . ."
As we sipped a Hugel & Fils Gewurztraminer Selection de Grains Nobles 1976 and 1997, Etienne Hugel, whose family began making wines in 1639, echoed these sentiments. "For us, it is more than a commercial venture. We not only exchange information and trust, but also great friendship. They have become like a second family to me."
There were congratulations for Laurent Drouhin, the fourth generation Drouhin, who has just recovered full control after a share of the company briefly fell out of family hands. "Once more it's 100 per cent back in the family," he said.
And there were congratulations too for Egon Muller as another family line was assured when he become a father for the first time this week. He told me that one of the greatest threats to family enterprises were the multinationals and the accountants who were only interested in the bottom line. "Often they force winemakers to sacrifice quality for profit." The members would like to use their combined clout to persuade governments to grant wine families dispensation from the hefty inheritance taxes which have wiped out so many historic wine houses.
As this feast of wines drew to its close, one of my fellow guests remarked: "It is a mortal sin and a dreadful waste. I have spat out wines today that I will never see again in my life."It might indeed have been a sin but one I will never forget.