I have dreams of Not being a grocery store wine buyer, but….when Michael and I pick up a bottle at a winery, it’s special and I won’t open it without him. Unfortunately due to our schedules we typically can only enjoy a bottle together twice a week. If I have time off and he is working, I want to enjoy a glass anyway, hence grocery store wine buying.
Now typically we are Trader Joe’s people but sometimes we run into the local Smiths to pick up something quick and on one trip we found a huge Taste of Spain display. Intrigued, we picked up a selection of 6 of the Spanish wines they had and a pairing guide. I will applaud Smiths for this. I know that these will be larger exporter wines and might possibly be geared toward the typical American palate, but I am more than willing to give it a go. So…join me (and sometimes Michael) on a little Spanish Wine journey!
A Taste of Spain guide
Here are the wines we picked up:
The Spanish Wines
Bella Conshi Brut Rose
El Pensador Tempranillo
Las Rocas Garnacha
Martin Codax Albarino
Tablao Tempranillo
Val de Vid Verdejo
So… 3 reds, 2 whites and a sparkling wine.
Pairings
Within the guide it gave basic tasting notes as well as Cheese pairings. Suggesting Garrotxa and Mahon with the White & sparkling wines and Drunken Goat or Queso Iberico with the Garnacha. With the Tempranillo they recommended the Drunken Goat and a Young Manchego. You can expect that I will set out to pick some of those up this evening.
The flyer also has some recipes, including Albondigas with a Spicy Tomato Sauce meant to go with the Marque de Caceres Red or Garnacha (yes, these are not wines we picked up, I may try to remedy that when I get the cheese), Steak with Quince paste on Toast to pair with the Marques de Riscal Reserval (yep yet another), Jamon with Goat Cheese with the Val de Vid Verdejo (yep got that one!), Garlic Shrimp with the Pazo de Senorans Albarino (we might just do this with the other Albarino) and Patatas Bravas to pair with the El Pensador Verdejo (we will see if I pick up a bottle of that). Are you wondering what some of those things are? Me too, we will discover together.
And, did you think I was just going to recite what you might find in your local Smiths? Are you kidding? This is Crushed Grape Chronicles! We will explore details on the wines and regions, California wineries and their variations on these grapes, and expand our pairings immensely!
Leave a Reply