Two of the hottest women winemakers in Spain today are named Victoria, so when they banded together to start a new winery, it was hardly surprising that they decided to call it Dos (two) Victorias.
When the first vintage of their unoaked Verdejo won the Best White Wine from Spain award from Revista Gourmet magazine, and subsequent vintages garnered 95-point scores from influential critic Robert Parker, they were described as overnight miracles — angels who had appeared from nowhere.
Yet this writer came away from a recent visit with them in Spain reminded of the parable of the master plumber called in to fix a problem with an ancient boiler, in which the plumber takes out a small hammer and, with one hard thwack, fixes the problem. Upon being presented with a bill for $1,000, the building's owner says, "That's an outrage, all you did was hit the boiler with a tiny hammer." The plumber calmly ripped up the bill, and made a new one which read, "Hitting boiler: $10; knowing where to hit boiler: $990."