FERNANDO SAENZ & ANGELINES GONZALEZ

How does the Rioja region taste? To find out, visit DellaSera – a little ice-cream store in Logroño. Everybody in La Rioja knows Fernando Sáenz as ‘Fernando Helado’ (helado is Spanish for ice cream). Born in Logroño 50 years ago, Sáenz has spent all his life there, studying his home region’s tastes and working as an artisan pastry chef who makes creations to be eaten frozen.

In 2008, Angelines González, a former lawyer, brought her own vision and management skills to the project. Together they run dellaSera, as well as Obrador Grate (obradorgrate.com), a workshop where they focus on creating new flavours inspired by their own small vineyard of Graciano vines, fruit trees, and aromatic plants.

The ice creams from dellaSera and Obrador Grate are not only small pieces of art but they are also love letters to the region. Instead of making ice cream from wine, they decided to embrace the whole process of winemaking and give many of its elements – even those bits usually thrown away – a second life.

Take ‘Chocobarrica’, a chocolate ice cream marinated with pieces of oak from used barrels of wine, or ‘Agraz and butter’, made with unripe grapes gleaned from the green harvest. Or try their confection involving the ‘lees of Abel Mendoza’s barrel-fermented white’ and the ‘Racimas sorbet’ created from forgotten bunches left on the vine after the harvest – in November, Sáenz collects them himself when they are almost dried and sweet. The whole enterprise is a true destination for wine lovers. PC