Showing posts with label spanish wine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spanish wine. 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.

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