A Report From Wine Explorer Diego Samper – Presenting Our New Spanish Wine Collection
Five centuries later, and some things don’t change.
Santa Marta, Colombia
Five hundred years later and some things don’t change.
I’m in Santa Marta, Colombia, the first Spanish city in South America, and there’s imported Spanish wine in my glass. Back then it was a lifeline. Today it’s still a luxury. Only now, the quality is better, the trip shorter, and the storms fewer.
When Rodrigo de Bastidas left Cádiz in 1525 to found Santa Marta, his ships were heavy with everything they thought they would need to start a new world. Tools. Maps. Faith. Barrels of water. Barrels of wine. And a few men who volunteered because it was either this or the gallows.
Their first stop was usually the Canary Islands, a last breath of land before the Atlantic opened wide.
I can only imagine that stretch between Cádiz and the Canaries. Quiet decks, nervous laughter, and that creeping doubt that hits once you have left port. The 16th-century version of sitting on a plane and thinking, Did I forget my toothbrush?
Five centuries later, I found myself earlier this week packing for a journey, thinking about what I cannot forget, and trying to come up with a list of what-ifs.
Only now, I am traveling with a baby. Luckily, my better half is a professional at this game. She can look at a suitcase and see three days ahead while I am still deciding which pair of socks are lucky.
The white noise machine that is not charged when you need it most.
The pacifier that vanishes like it joined the witness-protection program.
The soft giraffe that must not, under any circumstances, be replaced by the backup giraffe.
Every parent tells me it gets easier, and every parent knows exactly what I am talking about.
The closer you travel, the more things you seem to bring. I still cannot explain why.
Which brings me back to what we do here.
Packing for someone else. Hoping we brought the right things.
After twenty-six collections, I think we have become pretty good packers. The nerves still persist, but trust is there.
Sometimes the things you think matter most are not the ones that save the day. The expensive pacifier is useless if the baby decides the ear of the giraffe works better.
The same goes for wine. You think you know your favorites until something new lands in your glass and changes the map.
Because that is what we are, really, explorers. And in this new Spanish Collection, that is what we set out to do again.
This collection shows both sides of Spain, the old and the new.
The timeless regions like Ribera del Duero and Toro, where vines have been dug into the same ground for centuries.
And the new voices rising from Madrid’s highlands and La Mancha’s plains.
Together, they tell the story of a country that never stopped reinventing itself, even as it held on to what mattered.
Here in Santa Marta, wine is still imported. The tropic will never grow grapes; the air is too humid, the nights too warm. Yet five centuries later the ritual continues. The bottles still arrive by ship or plane, carrying the same simple purpose as ever: to connect people across distance and let them share a moment that feels familiar, no matter where they are.
I like to think that somewhere between Cádiz and the Canaries, those sailors found a calm day and opened one of the barrels.
Maybe they drank a little too much and laughed about what they had forgotten.
Maybe they even jumped into the ocean to cool off.
Different times. Same spirit.
So as this Spanish Collection lands at your door, I hope you enjoy it the way I imagine they did.
Grateful for what you have. Laughing about what you forgot.
And discovering that sometimes the thing you did not expect ends up being the best part.
Shipments for this Spanish Collection started to ship. Depending on where you live, it might take a few days for your box to arrive. We are shipping a lot of wine this week, so please be patient if your tracking number takes a moment to show movement.
We packed everything you need. And if something in this box becomes a new favorite, good news, we know where to find more.
A tu salud,
Diego Samper
Wine Explorer
P.S. If you are not yet part of our Partnership Collection, you can join here and get this Spanish Collection shipped right to your door.
After twenty-six journeys together, I can tell you, we have gotten pretty good at packing.
