Why do you travel?
I travel to grow.
Of course, it’s about seeing new things, experiencing other cultures, seeking out interesting food and wine, but at its core, travel, for me, is a way to observe myself in another context.
And, if I’m lucky, find new ways to thrive.
My recent six-day February trip to Barcelona, a winter antidote to rainy, cold Berlin was made possible through the kindness of a winemaker friend I met in November 2022 at the RAW wine fair in Berlin. Blanca invited me to stay in her mother’s seldomly lived in three -bedroom apartment near Barcelona’s Villa Olimpica Beach.
Blanca Ozcáriz Raventós, of El Jardi dels Sentits in Penedès, is a veteran biodynamic winemaker with her own vineyards and her own strong view on how to make wine that is true to its place. She is a woman who eschews conventional life – morning coffee, WiFi (it’s okay if you have it, but not critical to her) and the comforts of say, a big fancy winery.
In fact, when she said to her father over two decades ago that she wanted to work with grapes from the family’s 10 hectares of well-situated land that have been in the family for nearly 200 hundred years, he built her a winery. But, in true Blanca style, she stayed true to herself and politely declined to use it. It was too big, too new. It didn’t have the heart and soul she craved. So, many years after he died, the building remains unused.
Today, Blanca is putting the final touches on the winery she feels proud to call her own. She found (through a Google search!) a six-hundred-year old former Benedictine Monastery in Sant Sebastià dels Gorgs, across the hill from her own vineyards, which she has renovated and where I had the chance to visit this week and taste through her idiosyncratic, soulful wines.
Last Sunday, the day of my arrival, Blanca and I had agreed that I would meet her at the Barcelona Wine Week fair venue so I could help her carry wine into the space. We had organized the meeting for about 7 pm, giving me plenty of time to pick up my checked bag and grab the bus from the airport to Plaça d’Espanya. (super easy and affordable, btw). I was early, and texted Blanca. The response was “please find a place to grab a coffee, we forgot to label some of the wine for the fair. I’m going to be about an hour late.”
Welcome to the 24/7 life of a one-woman-small independent winery. It’s a never-ending race to get it all done.
And, it was this kind of chaotic rhythm that set the pace for the visit. A constant degree of spontaneity, aliveness, freedom from schedules — from a linear way of living.
The next morning, after searching for a place to find my morning cortado (no coffee pot in the apartment); a long sun-filled walk along the seashore; a few deep breaths about living without WiFi for 6 days, my shoulders dropped and I began to relax.
My “get it right, be on time, have a plan, live in a straight line-ness” evaporated and I realized it was this sense of roll-with-the-punches that gave way to an extraordinary travel week. I learned to live comfortably with a degree of chaos.
It was through this openness and spontaneous gateway that the trip unfolded. We shared beautiful moments like arriving at the family house and entering the atrium while Blanca’s mother, María Asunción Raventós, treasured Catalonian artist who is now 93, was quietly painting with her caretaker from Ghana. (See photo)
Thank you Blanca for sharing the wisdom of your ways and the fun week in Barcelona.