As our coaches wound their way precariously up into the hills, hearts were in
mouths as the front overhangs swept out over unguarded precipices at every turn.
At the Bodegas Santa Catarina, staff greeted passengers with just the right remedy
– a nerve-soothing glass of their finest Chardonnay. The Mallorcans have been
producing wine in the La Serra de Tramuntana for centuries, no doubt treating
Roman, Byzantine and the Moors to the same palatable welcome. The problem for
our intrepid Oyster invaders, is that they had worked up quite a thirst, so it was
the wine rather than the bouquet that took precedence during the tasting session
under the olive trees.
We learned that it was a Scandinavian entrepreneur who had established this
particular bodega, which had flourished when a plague of root-eating ‘Filoxera’
(wine lice) marched across Europe a century ago to devastated French and
Spanish vineyards. Today, the bodega produces 500,000 litres of the finest
Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Shiraz and Pinot Noir
varieties which Oyster crews did their best to consume during a splendid dinner
served in a magnificent cellar cut into the sandstone rock where these vintage
wines are aged in oak barrels.
Dolphin Sails Trophy Race
The morning after was a slow affair, and for once, the fleet welcomed the lack of
wind until after lunch for the passage race back to Palma. The delay also gave
Michéle Colenso and her eager crew on Capriccio of Rhu the opportunity to
prepare their party piece. Two years ago Michéle was diagnosed with breast
cancer mid-way through a circumnavigation aboard her Oyster 55 and was forced
ABOVE: to stop in Sydney to undergo treatment. Keen to make others aware of the early
Heinrich Schulte’s Oyster 655, Anabasis signs of this illness, she embarked on a cheeky campaign to raise breast cancer
awareness. Taking part in the 2007 Sydney Hobart race, she and her crew
RIGHT CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:
‘shocked’ their Aussie rivals by flying two ‘42DD’-sized pink spinnakers on the sail
Michéle Colenso’s Oyster 55, Capriccio of Rhu
Oyster 72, Cookielicious
down Sydney Harbour emblazoned with the slogan ‘Want to keep em?
Paella cooking at Bodegas Santa Catarina
If in doubt….Feel em!! Check em out!!’
16
www.oystermarine.com
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