Many young chefs at the casual fine dining restaurants of Madrid’s “bistronomica” movement are working with recipes and ingredients from all over Spain.
Porto has long been Portugal’s relatively sleepy second city, but in the last few years the city has woken up and become an exciting, cosmopolitan destination.
Priorat may be the star of Cataluña’s wine lineup. Since a few brave winemakers recuperated old vines here in the 1970s, Priorat’s quality has exploded, along with its reputation.
Without the dizzying crowds it was easy to remember what makes Barcelona so attractive. Its undeniable modern cool factor has always been there, but the traditional bars, watering holes and eating counters which feel even more anachronistic given their 21st-century Barcelona surroundings, make this diverse city what it is.
Winemaker Jorge Monzón needed three ingredients to make his extraordinary wines possible. First, winemaking experience in France at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and in Spain at Ribera del Duero wineries Vega Sicilia and Arzuaga-Navarro. Second, old vines in and around his hometown of La Aguilera in Burgos province, at the northern end of Ribera del Duero.
La Escribana is the flagship vino de pasto from Willy Pérez and one of the finest white wines made in Jerez. The grapes are sourced from Pago Macharnudo, one of Jerez’s top quality vineyards. Willy harvests the vineyard in two passes, with the first bringing acidity and the second ripeness and body.
Viña Tondonia is a mythic name in the world of Spanish wine. López de Heredia, the winery and family behind Tondonia, is among the most traditional of the classic Rioja producers. What makes them so is their use of traditional Rioja blends (Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo, Viura) and especially their extremely long aging period, both in barrel and in bottle,
Spain is not a country where cocktails are common. Spanish drinkers have traditionally been devoted to wine and beer, or a brandy or anís, both made in Spain, in the old man bars. Yet with the rise of Spanish haute cuisine since the late 1990s and the turn of the millennium came the implantation of a special take on a seemingly mundane mixed drink:
Celebrating with friends and family is what I love best about the holidays. To enhance these celebrations, I think of wines, in this case Spanish wines, that are special and pair well with holiday menus from seafood to lamb, beef to wild game, as well as plates of Iberian jamón or goat´s-milk cheeses.
Orange wines. What they are: A style of wine made from white wine grapes that stay in contact with skins and seeds after pressing. They are frequently fermented with natural yeasts and aged in clay amphoras, and slightly oxidated. They tend to have more tannins and body, like red wines, but retain the minerality of a white. What they are not: Wine made from or with oranges.
While in New York City recently I made it a point to try some of the sherry cocktail offerings found on many of the bar and restaurant cocktail lists. My favorite was the Bamboo, which has amontillado sherry, dry vermouth, orange bitters, Angostura bitters and a twist of lemon. A perfect aperitif.
Wine Enthusiast offers a brief description of the different kinds of sherry as well as select sherry cocktail recipes. What I'm trying next: the Adonis which is a riff on the Bamboo, with fino sherry in place of amontillado and sweet instead of dry vermouth.
Recipes
Bamboo (from Saveur)
1½ oz. dry amontillado sherry
1½ oz. Noilly Prat dry vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters
Twist of lemon
In a mixing glass, combine sherry, vermouth, bitters, and cracked ice. Stir ingredients for 20–30 seconds until well chilled and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add a twist of lemon to serve.
Adonis (from Wine Enthusiast Magazine)
1½ ounces La Ina Fino Sherry
1½ ounces Perruchi sweet vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters
Lemon twist, for garnish
Stir all ingredients (except garnish) with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
See our Jerez Sherry Tour in Spain.
