A mosto in Ángel’s bar
No ‘wine of the week’ from me this month, but a story of everyday drinking in a typical bar de pueblo.
These slowly disappearing old taverns are places to meet friends, enjoy conversation and drink a glass of wine or a cold caña.
Jabugo, in the province of Huelva, is world-famous for its superb jamón ibérico and other cured meat products, such as chorizo, morcilla and caña de lomo. But deeper into the heart of the town, away from the jamón emporiums, you will find Ángel’s bar. It is unmarked with no sign outside, and the entry is through a small side door that passes through a small space with a urinal.
Inside, although there have been a few changes over the years, the original decor and old wooden bar have been preserved. On the wall there is a clock whose hands run backwards. Amongst the bar snacks of nuts and seeds, there is also an old cassette head cleaner for sale; something it is now doubtful anyone will ever buy.
86-year-old Ángel Vázquez Fernández was just 15 when opened the bar in 1950 with his brother Onofre. Every lunchtime and evening he opens the bar to welcome the regulars and any other customers. That’s 71 years of uninterrupted service, apart from the restrictions during the pandemic and occasional periods of hospital treatment.
Photo: Steven Cropper www.transientworld.uk
Ángel has seen drinking habits and preferences change over the decades. In the 1950s and 1960s, wine and aguardiente, a strong aniseed-flavoured spirit, dominated until beer started to become popular in the 1970s. Nowadays aguardiente is in decline, and it’s become quite rare to see anyone drinking it.
He recalls the time when a chato de vino (a small glass of wine) cost just 50 céntimos de peseta (half of an old peseta), and was served with a free tapita of tortilla or chorizo.
Along with Cruz Campo beer, on tap and in the bottle, the only other drinks currently available are Pitarra, a rustic red wine made in northern Extremadura, white wine and mosto from the Condado de Huelva and manzanilla from Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Don’t expect anything else, least of all any kind of vino de categoría, or even the Rioja and Ribera del Duero that are available in almost every bar in Spain. No tapas of any kind are served, but each drink comes with a small plate of crisps.
Mosto is literally grape juice, but in the Sierra de Huelva, the Aljarafe in Seville province and the Marco de Jerez it’s an alcoholic drink. The new grape must is fermented to around 11ᴼ-11.5ᴼ and becomes a table or bar wine that is usually sold with minimal filtration.
If you are passing a bar and you spot a notice saying ‘hay mosto’, go in and give it a try. You might see it in a jug on the counter, although it’s usually kept cool in the fridge. The staff may tell you where it comes from.
It’s a tradition for local people make their own mosto from their grape vines, and in one village near Jabugo, Los Marines, there is a Fiesta del Mosto every December.
Ángel’s mosto is made by a bodega in the Condado de Huelva. Mostoro mosto is a young rosado wine made every year by Bodegas Díaz, a family business in the town of Bollullos Par del Candado.
Zalema, the native local variety, and Tempranillo are fermented separately and then blended (80% - 20%) to create a simple, young wine.
It shows little on the nose, but on the palate it is refreshing and fruity with a good level of acidity. Ángel decants it from the box into a wine bottle that is kept in the fridge. The price for a copa is just €0,50.
Let’s show respect for our traditional bars and taverns, and the people who keep them going. If you are in Jabugo, pay Angel’s bar a visit. You will find it just off the central Plaza del Jamón on C. San Bernardo. Or just ask anyone for ‘el bar de Angelino’ - everyone knows where it is.