It is often said that Madrid tap water is the best in all of Spain and the majority of consumers detect changes in taste in the water depending on where they are and what brand they buy. However, the concept of water tasting or water menu is still something that raises suspicion even among the most gourmets.
But there are more and more followers of fine waters or gourmet waters, either due to the growing tendency to look for alternatives to alcoholic beverages or, perhaps, due to the threats of drought caused by climate change. And, in fact, it is nothing new: at the end of the 19th century, the cultural currents that spread naturism, hiking and veganism in Catalonia were interested in the ferruginous or sulfurous properties of water springs, which they considered as a remedy to different ailments. Today, in a more hedonistic way, we look for those that please the palate the most and/or best accompany the menu, or those that allow us to make an optimal coffee or tea.
The O Lar restaurant in Leiton (Ourense) opted to have the largest water menu in the world: 150 references, with and without gas, classified by different degrees of minerality, from 33 different countries. Its sommelier, Carlos Crespo González, has recently been awarded by The Fine Water Society during the celebration of the Fine Water Summit 2024, which took place at the end of April near the Basque Culinary Center and in collaboration with TOB Strategy and Solán de Cabras .
The summit hosted presentations on the use of different types of water for cooking (Silvia Stefanuca-Serban), the terroir provided by the geology of each spring (Antunes Da Silva), as well as a discussion on which are the best distribution solutions ( Pat Eckert) and a tasting session, among other activities.
“Water is not just water,” they say from The Fine Water Society, created in 2008. “It has terroir, it comes from a real place, and it has character.” For all this and to recognize the best waters, the Taste awards were held within the framework of the contest.
The jury was made up of water sommeliers such as Elena Berg, also a professor of Environmental Sciences at the American University of Paris, Ruriko Suzuki, the aforementioned Stefanuca-Serban, from the Conac Polizu hotel, and Eckert, from the international water distributor Fine Liquids, Nico Pieterse, of The Fine Water Company, and Michael Mascha, founder of the Fine Water Society.
