Catalogue of Experiences TASTINGS & PAIRINGS 2014
Food Wine Tours, Gastronomic experiences 1
Ocio Vital specializes in organizing Experiences and Team buildings in Spain with a gastronomic touch. These experiences allow our clients the opportunity to discover, share, and appreciate the diverse tastes of our unique country. If you are a lover of good food and wine and you are planning on doing a creative and fun experience, then our activities have been designed for you. We can tailor made all of them to your specific needs. Creativity is one of our milestones. Our offer is addressed to companies, tour operators and travel agents but also to all those entities seeking for high quality food and wine experiences. Our services can meet all your needs, from the expertise of our professionals to create a unique activity. • Team building / competitions o Develop organizational skills o Give and take direction effectively o Work toward common goals o Build confidence and morale o Adapt to changing environments o Sharpen communication skills o Dare to be creative o Have fun • Incentive tourism: winery visits, special accommodations, gourmet meals, … From gourmet tours to cookery courses, take a break with a gastronomic twist, tailored to your needs!
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Index
Wine tasting....................................................................................................... 5 Aromas & Wine Tasting...................................................................................... 6 A delicious Catalan Snack ......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Chocolate tasting ............................................................................................... 7 Cheese tasting .................................................................................................... 8 Ham tasting ....................................................................................................... 9 Olive oil tasting ................................................................................................ 10 Beer tasting...................................................................................................... 11 Cheese & wine pairing ...................................................................................... 12 Chocolate & sweet wine pairing ....................................................................... 13
For more information and reservations: Telephone: +34 93 317 19 09 info@ociovital.com General Information: Reservations: reservas@ociovital.com Comercial: comercial@ociovital.com
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Gourmet Tastings Experience with us new sensations of the palate and delights to the senses. It's about sharing the experience of wine and food among friends. It's about learning to appreciate the finer things in life in a friendly environment. Tasting, an activity that surprises by its innovation. Pairing, a sensory experience that combines flavors in a way that you would have never imagined, providing you with exciting surprises on your palate. The activity begins by making a sensorial taste to educate and to prepare the tongue and the senses. We will go through all the stages and shades of flavors and tastes. Sweet, bitter, salty, spicy,… all of them thru a variety of products, aromatic plants, fruits,.. A trip thru the tasting world. Each tasting is a single activity, which you can combine with other tastings. Tastings: • Wine Tastings: traditional (vertical, horizontal), surprising (cava versus champagne), specials • Chocolate Tasting • Cheese Tasting • Ibérico Ham Tasting • Beer tasting • Olive oil Tasting • A trip to all your senses Pairings • Cheese and Wine pairing • Chocolate and Sweet Wine pairing
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Wine tasting Eyeballing wine, swirling and sniffing and swishing ... it may look complicated but you will see that it is not. Nevertheless, wine tasting is an art that must be learnt, following a strict process in the search for aromas and flavors; a training that can be turned into a great time! Wine culture forms part of the Spanish gastronomy. Our wines are a real richness, which doesn't leave indifferent the most demanding palates. We have made a rigorous selection of gastronomes, in order to guarantee the best services in the wine tasting training. Thanks to them, you will be able to discover the most used tasting techniques, and make use of your talents as an amateur sommelier!
Type of tasting to choose from: • Wines from Spain, tasting of 5 wines : o 1 selected cava (sparkling wine) o 2 selected white wines: DO Penedes and DO Rias Baixas 2 selected red wines: DO Rioja and DO Ribera de Duero
• Wines from Cataluña, tasting of 5 wines : o 2 selected cava (sparkling wine): Traditional grapes and Modern coupages o 1 selected white wines: Picapoll, DO bages / xarello DO Penedes, … o 2 selected red wines: DO Priorat and DO Montsant
• Cava Wines, tasting of 5 selected sparkling wines Locations: all over Spain. Participants: Groups from 6 to 50 people Duration: 1- 2 hours Availability: Mondays to Sundays, all year around under request Languages: English or Spanish. Consult other languages The activity includes: • A wine expert who will lead the tasting • Tasting of 5 wines of your choice: whites, reds, cavas or combined • A maximum of 3 hours The activity does not include: • All local taxes • Venue rental • Glassware and dishes
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Aromas & Wine Tasting Educate your nose! How often have you been tasting a glass of wine and you think “I know what that aroma is” but you just cannot put a name to it, even though it's on the tip of your tongue..... Literally. This is a wine workshop to develop a fine nose, essential for a wine tasting. As an aid to novice wine tasters - and experts too - wine scientists came up years ago with something called the "aroma wheel." You do not need a wheel to do a good tasting, however: The information is just as useful in the form of a list, starting at noon and moving around the clock from "fruity" through "nutty" and "earthy" around to "floral," "spicy" and back to fruity again. You will have to guess, a collection of scents related to wines from a wine aromas set. By the end of the workshop you will be able to pair aromas with 4 different wines, and you will know the difference between them. After this activity, enjoy an optional meal in the venue with wines. Locations: all over Spain. Participants: Groups from 6 to 50 people Duration: 1- 2 hours Availability: Mondays to Sundays, all year around under request Languages: English or Spanish. Consult other languages The activity includes: • Gastronome • Aromas Workshop • Tasting of 4 wines (2 whites, 2 reds). • Aromas guide, aromas set,… • A maximum of 3 hours The activity does not include: • All local taxes • Venue rental • Glassware Food Wine Tours, Gastronomic experiences 6
Chocolate tasting Chocolate tasting skills will allow you to truly savor gourmet chocolate. And learning to taste fine chocolate and appreciate its distinctive personalities is a pleasure. The first impression is very important when it comes to chocolate tasting. Therefore, you should first pay attention to the chocolate's appearance - color, and even structure and sheen. True chocolate lovers taste chocolate like a fine wine or a select cigar. Equally, a special vocabulary is also used to describe chocolate. We invite you to find out more about the many and varied sense impressions. Give it a try, it’s really Locations: all over Spain. Participants: Groups from 6 to 50 people Duration: 1- 2 hours Availability: Mondays to Sundays, all year around under request Languages: English or Spanish. Consult other languages The activity includes: • The services of our exclusive chocolate specialist • All the necessary material for the tasting: o Chocolates with different % of cocoa o Chocolates from different parts of the world o Chocolate bonbons with different flavors • A maximum of 3 hours The activity does not include: • All local taxes • Venue rental • Glassware and dishes Observations: It can be combined with a Wine pairing Optional private transfer to the venue
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Cheese tasting Creamy, sharp, woody, mild...the choices are endless. And just like a fine wine or a good beer, Cheese should be appreciated. And there is no better way to experience cheese in its purest form than to hold a tasting. Enjoy a delicious selection of cheese from Spain, In the tasting, we discuss the characteristics of the flavor, the aromas, the texture, the color and its aspect. Spain has about 120 different varieties of Cheese. Every region has its own specialty, covering a full range of cheese types, from fresh to cured, to fermented and blueveined. One essential characteristic is the type of milk used in the production. Depending on the area, time of the year, climate, or tradition, cheeses are made of cows', sheep's, goats' milk, or of a mixture of two or all three types of milk. Locations: all over Spain. Participants: Groups from 6 to 50 people Duration: 1- 2 hours Availability: Mondays to Sundays, all year around under request Languages: English or Spanish. Consult other languages The activity includes: The activity includes: • The services of our exclusive cheese specialist • 6 different types of cheeses • A maximum of 3 hours The activity does not include: • All local taxes • Venue rental • Glassware and dishes Observations: We recommend to combine with a Wine pairing Optional private transfer to the venue
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Ham tasting This flavorful and versatile dry-cured ham is making its way to tables around the world. From France to Japan, from the Netherlands to Mexico or the United States, consumers in over seventy countries worldwide have come to appreciate its fine taste and texture, its health-promoting qualities, its variety in culinary uses, its excellent shelf-life, its affordability, and particularly the fact that Serrano ham is the product of a natural process. During the tasting with which you will be able to experience the different qualities and textures from Spanish Ham and their different flavors according to the origin, raising and feeding of the pigs. All the Ham to be tasted is Iberian and Iberian of acorn and with denomination of origin. Locations: all over Spain. Participants: Groups from 6 to 50 people Duration: 1- 2 hours Availability: Mondays to Sundays, all year around under request Languages: English or Spanish. Consult other languages The activity includes: • The services of our exclusive Ham specialist • Tasting course: 8 different hams • A maximum of 3 hours The activity does not include: • All local taxes • Venue rental • Glassware and dishes Observations: It can be combined with Wine pairing Optional private transfer to the venue
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Olive oil tasting
Smooth, vibrant, Bold. Just like a fine wine, the variety, climate and region determine an olive oil’s taste. Spain is the number one producer of olive oil and offers the largest variety of unique oils that are as distinctive and diverse as nature itself. As an amazing approach for the novice, Olive Oil tasting astonishes guests every time. Olive Oil is the faithful reflect of its native tang, and reveals pervasive aromas which is its typical and exclusive signature. Learn what Olive Oil is, what are its origins, its extraction method and its designations. Discover how to taste it without forgetting that Olive Oil combined with wine tannins was recently acknowledged as a positive factor for health. Locations: all over Spain. Participants: Groups from 6 to 50 people Duration: 1- 2 hours Availability: Mondays to Sundays, all year around under request Languages: English or Spanish. Consult other languages The activity includes: • The services of our exclusive Olive oil specialist • Tasting course and all the necessary Olive oil for the tasting: 5 different types of olive oil • A maximum of 3 hours The activity does not include: • All local taxes • Venue rental • Glassware and dishes Observations: It can be combined with other tastings. Optional private transfer to the venue
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Beer tasting Beer is a drink of enormous agricultural and commercial significance. Every drop of the millions of gallons made annually has one final objective-to be consumed. In passing the lips, crossing the tongue and descending the throat, beer is tasted whether or not a conscious comment of judgement is made. During this activity you will learn the history of beer, how to taste it, how to serve it, the different types of beers in the world… This experience will vary depending on the knowledge, tastes and wishes of the group. Locations: all over Spain. Participants: Groups from 6 to 50 people Duration: 1- 2 hours Availability: Mondays to Sundays, all year around under request Languages: English or Spanish. Consult other languages The activity includes: • The services of our exclusive beer specialist • Tasting course • Beer tasting material: Tasting guide • A maximum of 3 hours The activity does not include: • All local taxes • Venue rental • Glassware and dishes Observations: It can be combined with Cheese pairing and/or a visit to a beer factory. If this activity is done in a Winery, there is an Optional Complete guided visit to the cellar Optional private transfer to the venue
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Cheese & wine pairing “Cheese, wine, and a friend must be old to be good.” Cuban proverb
Cheese and wine have a great deal in common, and they have been enjoyed together since ancient times. Both are products of fermentation. Both may be consumed while fresh, simple, and young or in their more complex forms when they are aged and mature. The possibilities of pairing cheese and wine are endless. Spain has about 120 different varieties of Cheese. Every region has its own specialty, covering a full range of cheese types, from fresh to cured, to fermented and blue-veined. This activity allows you to discover cheese with all your senses, while enriching your knowledge about its matching possibilities with drinks and other food. You will also learn how it is made, what are its different variations in function of the milk and the elaboration process. Locations: all over Spain. Participants: Groups from 6 to 50 people Duration: 1- 2 hours Availability: Mondays to Sundays, all year around under request Languages: English or Spanish. Consult other languages The activity includes: • The services of our exclusive Cheese and wine specialist • Tasting course and all the necessary material for the tasting • 6 different cheeses • Combinations with other foods: jams, vegetables, seasonal fruits, dried fruits, bread sticks… • 4 different wines • A maximum of 3 hours The activity does not include: • All local taxes • Venue rental • Glassware and dishes
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Chocolate & sweet wine pairing The perfect harmony A day without chocolate is a day without sunshine. Although chocolate is not typically Mediterranean, it is closely linked to the Spanish culture. For several centuries it has been part of us, now associated with specific periods, now used for its medicinal and psychological properties. But it is in its purest expression, namely the cocoa bean, that chocolate reveals its whole character and intensity. The transformations that undergo cacao can affect its genuine flavour, but they also confer many attributes, that are worth discovering. This tasting is a sensorial trip into the chocolate world, where you will learn the whole process that transforms the cocoa bean to the chocolate we are used to eating. We will explore the infinite possible combinations that chocolate offers. Chocolate snack with salted chocolate bonbon Chocolate bars with different % in cocoa Chocolate bonbons 6 different wines Locations: all over Spain. Participants: Groups from 6 to 50 people Duration: 1- 2 hours Availability: Mondays to Sundays, all year around under request Languages: English or Spanish. Consult other languages The activity includes: • The services of our exclusive chocolate specialist • Tasting course and Tasting guide • Chocolate & wine tasting material The activity does not include: • All local taxes • Venue rental • Glassware and dishes
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