Bullfights and Wine

May 2011
At the wine tasting event was a traditional dish called “Gachas”. Its very simple, but very delicious, resembling a form of gazpacho or salmorejo. Gachas is a dish with a little more ancestral origins, and is a bit simpler in preperation. Only flour, water, olive oil, garlic and salt, and with a little pimienton it doesnt consist of much.
But its delightfully simple on the palate, and a great way to jump back into things here in Spain.

Acrobatics at the wine tasting event. This winemaker happens to have a little bull ring on the property and had young bulls, as well as these amateur bullfighters. This guy did a front-flip over the charging bull. Pretty cool!
Especially when you have a nice wine buzz at 3:30 in the afternoon and the sun is warm on your face.

WINES FROM THE WINE TASTING http://www.vilaviniteca.es/

Some wines we were tasting…

El Hombre Bala 2010 Granacha (DO Madrid)

Ca N’Estruc (Catalunya)

Emilio Rojo (Ribiera – Galacia)

A little less frightening when the bull just comes up and sniffs at your feet.  But it is much more entertaining for sure.

Wine bottles?? This does not happen at your traditional Bullfight in Madrid. But why not use what you have at the time to fend off the bulls!? I am a huge proponent of recycling, and this is recycling at its best!

Ok, here is the real deal bullfight, no bullshit.

The Matador is not buzzed, he is much more focused, and the bull has grown a big set of cajones.
La Venta in Madrid is considered by many to host the most serious bullfights, and is popular amongst the people who are aficionados of the sport. Here you can find a beautiful bullring built in 1931, the best matadors, and some huge bulls.
When I went there were horses as well, with which I was very impressed. These horses were so well trained, and unbelievably well ridden. I have not seen a horse move with such precision ever before!
They dance to the music, they get the bulls to chase them while running sideways and backwards, and could maneuver seriously quick

Quite an amazing spectacle.  These bulls have one hell of a presence once they step foot in the ring, as well as the matadors and their horses.

Although its is not customary, there were two roosters thrown out to the matador who was obviously a crowd pleaser. they seem pretty happy to receive the gift!

BULLFIGHTING TICKETS http://www.bullfightticketsmadrid.com/

The Bullfight – So for anyone traveling to Spain between April to September, I recommend going at least once, before they may be gone.

Madrid has more frequent bullfights, and La Ventas is easy to get to on line 5 of the metro (it has its own stop, La Ventas).
By your tickets online, pick them up in central Madrid and you are ready to go. Purchasing seats in the part shade/sun or full shade is worth the money. You will have better photos, and you will avoid being hot, sweaty, sunburned, and squinty-eyed.
Other places that are good to see them are Sevilla and Rhonda, but they are a bit more touristy since the bullrings are older and more historic (La Ventas in Madrid definitely has enough character and is home to more sincere enthusiasts). Either way, the experience will be one of a kind, full of passion, emotion, history, tradition, glory, intensity, sacrifice, and death. There are few things in the world left that bring out such energy and focus, on a real and natural level.

In Spain there is a growing sentiment in that bullfighting should be banned. Obviously it is interesting to see one, but granted it’s not too great for the bull in the end.
Of course, I see this issue as quite close to other issues important to me and how we eat, involving animals and food…as it tends to be the same argument – sensitivity to the treatment of animals.

Bullfighting is already banned in Catalonia (law as of July 2010, in effect 2012), and may be banned elsewhere in Spain soon. As for Catalonia, there is only one functioning bull-ring, and its not nearly as popular here as it is elsewhere in Spain. Obviously this was the best place for anti-bullfighting activists to get things rolling. If they had tried elsewhere, the resistance to such a law would have been much, much greater. We have to remembeter too, that bullfighting has been banned many times before in Spain, only to be brought back out into the spotlight and popularized again.

I cannot speak for the bullfights of Mexico and South America, but in Spain this is a deeply rooted tradition regardless of changing tastes.
The people involved truly care for these animals, regardless of the out come. I feel it’s the same for a farmer raising animals for food. A good farmer really cares about the animal and treats them with care, but in the end, it still is killed and turns up on the table. A truly good farmer and food producer also feels the sacrifice for that animal, and understands the necessity to feed one another. I think these things get blurry when big-businesses treat the animals just like the numbers on paper that they think they are…hence my argument, that its not whether we kill the animals or not, its really how we do it.

For all those who are super sensitive to these things, and are anti-whatever, surely you may have a case. The bulls do endure pain during this and they do die in the end. But there are certain traditions that perhaps shouldn’t be so targeted? How come people have become so sensitive? Death is an absolute certain fact of life. Perhaps when people started to forget this, and have been able to detach themselves from the food they eat and the only animal interaction is their house pets that they get an overly emotional attachment to? Frankly, in the scheme of things, I have more against NASCAR than bullfighting for the simple reason that the emissions are bad for everybody (and there are plenty of PEOPLE killed over the oil to make it all happen! Hello?). Plus there are still egotistical meatheads running around a ring, who can and do get killed too.
Obviously it is sad that the bulls die. But to look at it one way, it is a noble death, and it is a quick death. There is no more suffering here than with your cow going through the slaughter-house. And I would say its much more of a traumatic and less significant of a death in the slaughterhouse than the bullring.

With bullfighting you can witness the purely human battle with the fine-line between life and death. These people are so passionate about life and their tradition than you can imagine. It is an instance where you can really feel this passion, right in front of you. It is also a time for you to really respect and feel the presence of a great animal. Something than many people have been able to forget thanks to modern life.
I have to say this is an event that can re-center you, re-focus yourself, and perhaps help understand things a little better. It may even create a greater respect and appreciation for life, yours and others, including animals. This does not mean we need to ban any sort of animal deaths, and start to go after NASCAR to save the poor race car drivers…