Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

Sunday, October 26, 2014

November 10: Wine and Food of Spain at The Bazaar ( + Ticket Giveaway!)

On Monday, November 10, head on over to The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills for a taste of Spain's best wines and food. The event is called Spain's Great Match and will feature more than 200 Spanish wines. The wines will be accompanied by tapas from The Bazaar. We're talking 200+ wines with Chef Jose Andres' lauded food! Last year's bites include a taste of their famed molecular gastronomy techniques

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There will also be a Cava Bubble Lounge. I don't know about you, but I love my bubbles.

Sounds good? Even better, at the end of this post you can enter a giveaway for 2 FREE TICKETS to this event!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Getting To Know The Wines of Ribera del Duero

I don't profess to know much about wines (yet) but I like attending wine seminars because I learn so much. Most recently I attended a seminar for Ribera del Duero wines of Spain at Red O. The sommelier leading the seminar told us that there are three great wines of Spain: Rioja, Ribera del Duero, and Priorat. Ribera del Duero has higher elevation and thus greater diurnal shift. The hot summers ripen the fruit while the cold winters allow retention of acidity. This region is almost entirely planted with Tempranillo, and a third has vines that are older than 50 years.


Tempranillo is a thin skinned grapes which is highly aromatic. Apparently delicate grapes usually do not work well with oak but tempranillo is the exception to the rule. For the seminar, we tasted 5 different wines.
Ribera Wines
Bodegas y Vinedos Monteabellon, S. L. Avaniel 2011
This wine is 100% tempranillo all aged in stainless steel, which means it was meant to be drunk young.
Aroma: sourdough. Bright, good finish.

Bodegas Valdubon S. L. Cosecha 2010
The term "cosecha" (or sometimes "joven") means that there's been no oak aging. Just like the previous wine, this is 100% tempranillo in stainless steel, and ready to drink. Aroma: dill.
There's a sweet and sour character on the palate. I liked this better than the Avaniel. They're both 14% ABV but this tastes smoother.

Bodegas y Vinedos Ortega Fournier, S. L. Urban Ribera 2009
This wine has been aged in French oak for 3 months (which is not long enough for the next labeling, "crianza"). According to the sommelier, almost all across Europe, the wines in 2009 have a ripe fruit character, almost jammy. This wine is spicier and a little heavier than the previous, with subtle vanilla and spice notes.

Valduero Reserva 2004
This was even spicier than the Fournier, but still balanced. 

Alejandro Fernandez-Tinto Pesquera, S.L. Pesquera Reserva 2008
This wine was aged 2 years in American oak and a year in the bottle. This was heavier and had less acid than the Valduero but still tasted bright.

Next we had some bites from Red O and tried pairing them with the various wines.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Casa Botin, The Oldest Restaurant in the World (Madrid, Spain)

What's the oldest restaurant you've been to? Well, unless you've been to Restaurante Botin (also known as Casa Botin), then you still have ways to go. Casa Botin in Madrid goes back to 1725, when it was operating as an inn and restaurant, and the space is reminiscent of what it was.

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Tight spaces and narrow wooden stairs took us to the upper dining area. On the walls were menus from special dinners dating to the 1800s for the royalties and visiting government officials.
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A visit to Casa Botin isn't just about visiting the oldest restaurant in the world - the food is actually quite good. For the most part they still serve simple fares. Appetizers include salads, soups, and jamon iberico or a plate of ham with melon.
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The rest of the menu is divided into egg dishes, vegetables, fish, and meats.
They list two specialties on the menu, so naturally we had to get those. The two specialties are the roast suckling pig and roast baby lamb, both roasted slowly in a wood-fired oven.
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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Spanish Olive Oil Tasting, and a Feast at Playa

What country do you think of when you think of olive oil? Italy? Greece? How many thought of Spain? Well, Spain is in fact the number one producer of olive oil in the world. It's not just the quantity, either. Apparently the winner of the latest international olive oil contest is an olive oil from Spain.


I had gone to a Spanish Olive Oil tasting last year, but it was so much fun that when they invited me again this year, I went. The tasting was led by Alfonso Fernandez, an olive oil expert from the LA trade commissioner of Spain
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The formal tastings are done using this dark blue tasting glass, as they do not want to see the color while tasting. Perhaps they don't want to have any misconception based only on visual elements.

We tasted four of the main varietals from Spain: Arbequina, Hojiblanca, Cornicabra, and Picual. For each one, we determined whether the aroma is of ripe fruit or green fruit, and if there is any bitterness and astringency to the olive oil.

The arbequina smelled of ripe fruit (banana) and was sweet with no bitterness. There's a spiciness at the back palate as you swallow.
The Hojiblanca had a medium intensity in aroma and smelled of kiwi. There's bitterness and piquancy in this oil which is great for cooking.
The cornicabra smelled of ripe apple and bananas. It had some astringency but no bitterness and there's less spiciness which came deeper in the throat. This varietal is apparently only found in Spain.
The Picual was many people's favorite. The aroma is much more intense and smelled of green tomato. It was very bitter with some piquancy. It was much thicker. Everything about this olive oil was intense yet it was well balanced.

For more detailed tasting notes, you can see my post from last year!

The tasting was followed a lavish meal prepared by Chef John Sedlar (all incorporating olive oil, naturally). Even though we knew it would be a four course tasting menu, little did we know that each course would consist of four dishes!

Before the courses started we also had a rather big "amuse bouche" in the form of Rivera's famous flan de elote with quinoa. I've had this dish a few times at various festivals and I still fall in love with it all over again, every time.
Flan, Quinoa

The first dishes we had were served with a blend of gewurtztraminer and riesling.
Papas salsa verde, serranos, micro cilantro
Chips

Picual, fried chiles gueros, crab. The picual varietal is good for dishes with bold flavors such as this.
Chile Relleno

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