Last night, Mr. Food Musing's wine group (of which I am a member) held its latest tasting and the theme was Spain. Spanish wines have been making news lately - in Food and Wine, the SF Chronicle and Gourmet to name a few. (NB: We planned our tasting 4 months ago but schedules got in the way. What can I say? We're a trendsetting bunch.)
We tasted five wines and although there was a clear loser, the top spot was up for grabs. My personal favorite was a Cepa Gavilan from the Ribera del Duero region.
Now, I don't have a great palate or nose - I swirl and swirl (pretty good at that), then sniff deeply into the glass and smell...wine. That's about it. Luckily, the others in the group can pick up white flowers and blackberries, and throw lingo like "long finish" and "tannins" around like tennis balls. (I suspect they only let me join the group because of my affiliation with Mr. Food Musings. No one has ever said as much, but I'm definitely the novice in the group.) M. always brings her book on wine so we can look up where the wine comes from and read about the producer.
In an attempt to make up for my lack of oenophilia, I put together a tasting sheet with the producer, wine, tasting notes from professional sources (Wine Spectator, Robert Parker and the like) and then left space for our own notes. (Wasn't that organized?) I also served Spanish nosh - fleshy green olives the color of moss, Manchego cheese (which paired really well with the wines), chorizo sausage, tortilla Espanola (a good choice for the wine - mild, and the natural sweetness of the potato came through nicely), shrimp with a romesco sauce, and orange segments for dessert (which are still in the fridge, oops!)
Here are the wines we tasted and my tasting notes. (It's pathetic, really, don't expect much.) The producer is listed first, followed by the region, wine and year.
Alvaro Palacios, Priorat Les Terrasses 2001: Expected this to be a favorite because Mr. FM and I have had it before and loved it. It was good but not as good as we expected. All I wrote down was that it was the most expensive ($25). We also tasted it last so it was a bit warmer than I like, which no doubt influenced our judging.
Vinos Gustin-Pardo, Montsant Isis 2001: I drew a heart with three exclamation points - !!! - just like that!!! My second favorite. I also wrote "berries, spicy, zin-like." (I know. Insightful stuff.)
Ramon Bilbao, Rioja Tempranillo 2000: Musty. Least favorite. We dumped most of the bottle down the drain. (Cool label, though.)
Artadi, Rioja Vinas de Gain 2001: Hot. Needs to open up. M. got fleurs from the nose and didn't like it. Everyone else did. This was a less expensive version of a wine we had by Artadi when I took Mr. Food Musings to the French Laundry for his 40th birthday. (I know, I know, I'm a good girlfriend, n'est-ce pas?) That particular Artadi was GREAT!
Bodegas Hnos. Perez Pascuas, Ribera del Duero Cepa Gavilan 2002: Yum! My favorite. J. thinks it's pinot-ish. I thought it smelled like zin. (Hmm. A theme - I seem to like zin and zin-like wines a lot. Simple girl, simple tastes.)
I must mention that we played Robbie's newest album. You know, Robbie Williams. He "put the Brit in celebrity." Modest he is not but it's okay, he's so damn talented! (sigh) Robbie, WE LOVE YOU!!!
For our next tasting we're going Italian. M. wants to go crazy on us and do a blind tasting. (That's where you don't know what you're drinking, not where you sit around with blindfolds on your faces. Duh.) We'll get to test our knowledge of Chiantis, Barolos, Brunellos and Amarones. It's going to be fun, but I don't expect to come home with the door prize!
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