19/08/2026
There's a reason we only sell Spanish wines at the Nerja Wine Club: it's the Spanish spirit we're so fascinated with, that's residing in every bottle.
And here it is, in a plain and simple depiction.
On the last day of my holiday with my boys in Cรกdiz I had a glass of wine in a place that opened in 1804.
I need to write that again: 1804.
๐๐ Ultramarinos La Diana, the oldest business in El Puerto de Santa Marรญa.
The Battle of Trafalgar hadn't happened yet when they started serving wine there... ๐ซก
220 years later, I walked through its doors and, strangely enough, I don't think what I drank that day matters very much in the grand scheme of history.
๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ We spend so much time talking about wine. Grapes, vintages, producers, scores, ageing, soils. I'm probably more guilty of it than most. ๐ซฃ
But places like this put wine back where it belongs: on a table, between people.
With someone behind the bar telling you a story, somebody laughing next to you, some food popping up, another glass being poured and absolutely no need to analyse the bloody thing.
Just let the moment get to you.
โจ๏ธ "Dejate llevar", as the Spanish say.
It got to me too, you know. Maybe because of the history, maybe because of the people.
But mostly because I looked across that old table and there were my sons.
And for an hour, the three of us became - though a tiny and completely insignificant - part of the 220 years of stories La Diana takes pride in.
I feel very lucky for that. ๐
The wine? Honestly, who cares? ๐คญ
I will remember who I drank it with. ๐ซถ
