A Temple of Wine and Food

by

On a beautiful corner of the city of Granada in the province of Andalusia in the south of Spain, a temple marks a crossroads in the world of wine and food. It’s a temple which speaks to what the world of wine and food was and what the world of wine and food is again becoming. It’s called Al Sur de Granada.

I was in Spain in January to stage my play Tu historia es with the Argentine actor Valentina Corbella at El Pasillo Verde Teatro in Madrid. With a few days to myself, I seized a chance to visit the great winegrower Manuel Valenzuela, his son, Lorenzo, and his daughter-in-law, Luisa, at their great Bodega Barranco Oscuro in the south of Andalusia. (I wrote about Manuel and Barranco Oscuro for the March issue of Shepherd Express.)

On the way to Barranco Oscura, in the city of Granada, Luisa and Lorenzo directed me to a temple of honest wine and food called Al Sur de Granada. I whiled away hours in the wine shop, reading its notes about every bottle on its shelves and savoring a ne plus ultra breakfast of sheep’s milk cappuccino, local breads, fruits, and cheeses, and housemade kefir, jams, and marmalades. Along with its breakfasts, Al Sur de Granada offers tasting menus of wines paired with local dishes. I also had the opportunity to meet Alba Aponte, Al Sur de Granada’s charismatic proprietor, to ask her about her shop and its mission. Al Sur de Granada may be far away from the city of Milwaukee, but it’s a model for what wine and food are again becoming. If you’d like to experience the fruits of its temple, Al Sur de Granada ships its wines around the world. For details, visit alsurdegranada.net.

Interview with Alba Aponte of Al Sur de Granada

Gaetano Marangelli: How did you fall in love with natural wine?

Alba Aponte: I fell in love with natural wine from simply working with it in my store. When I visited the natural wineries, the people behind the projects and the wines were so, so different. The natural wines were more authentic, felt more real, and also the winemakers were much more committed to an organic agriculture. 

GM: What made you want to offer consumers honest foods, along with honest wines?

AA: It just felt right and consequent to my ethos and philosophy. The other options were not connected to the earth and didn’t care about provenience, sustainability and/or health. 

GM: How do you describe your mission to bring honest wine and food to Granada?

AA: I don’t see my mission as bringing real food and wine to Granada. We are in Granada, but it’s not for Granada. It’s for anyone sensitive and conscious enough anywhere in the world. 

GM: When you and your staff talk to people, whether they're from Granada or anywhere in the world, how do you describe natural wine to them? 

AA: We actually just talk about what we believe in. This is a holistic lifestyle—the values interlace together and make more sense when all are aligned. In the end, it’s all about provenience, health, ethical practices, sustainability.

GM: Al Sur de Granada and Sostiene Pereira, a bookshop owned by your father, Pepe Aponte, make for one of the most beautiful corners in Granada or anywhere. Did your father's shop in any way inspire you to open yours? Or was your father inspired by you and Al Sur de Granada?

AA: I actually opened 10 years before him! It was always a dream for him to have a bookstore! It’s a pure coincidence to be together.

A reading of Gaetano’s play The City of Benedict della Crosse directed by Cody Estle of Next Act Theatre will be staged at the MARN Arts + Culture Hub on Saturday, Aug. 24.