Tag Archives: spain

Jun 18 2013
22 Comments
California, USA

Summer is here, it’s time for sangria…

Our Sangria

Our Sangria

It has undoubtedly become summer here in A2: It is hot, and it is humid…yikes. But I have begun feeling my urge to have sangria, and at our local food bloggers meeting we were talking about it, too. So I dug a bit and found my post from May 2012 in which I posted my recipe. Until then, I had never made sangria. But I thought whatever, it cannot be too hard… So back then, I scoured the web, and found tons of recipes, like this one or that one, usually boasting that they are the best recipe ever. A surprising number were for white sangria of which I had never even heard of before. I was also disturbed by the frequent ingredient of club soda or ginger ale…just did not sound right to me.

Eventually, I just decided to give it my own try, pure and simple:

– 5 liters of Franzia boxed shiraz (hey, it is the world’s most popular wine after all…according to their website) – I picked a shiraz because it tends to be more spicy than the other varieties they have and I thought spice notes like cinnamon and cardamom etc. would go well with the fruit that was going in. Also, don’t even bother with buying more expensive wines, the idea is using a cheap wine and flavor it to taste.

– 2 oranges, 1 lemon, 1 apple (all organic, because they will soak with their skins in the wine) cut in wheels. Peaches are also great.

– 2 oranges squeezed into the wine

– 2 cups of sugar dissolved in 1 1/2 cup of warm water (to create a syrup that blends easier with the wine than the granulated sugar) – make this according to your own taste.

A friend of ours also adds some vanilla aroma, which I have found to be a great addition, too.

Mix it all, chill it for as long as you can (ours chilled for about 10 hours, overnight is even better) and that is that. No club soda, no ginger ale. We added some sparkling water to make it bubbly later, but I don’t think it is necessary. I thought it worked pretty nicely…

This is not a 5 liter cooler...I refilled it from the bucket.

This is not a 5 liter cooler…I refilled it from the bucket.

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Mar 26 2013
13 Comments
2009, Cariñena, Spain

2009 Picos del Montgó Old Vines Garnacha Cariñena DO

2009 Picos del Montgó Old Vines Garnacha

2009 Picos del Montgó Old Vines Garnacha

Last night was one of those nights: We were catching up on The Americans (a great TV show, by the way) and I was vaguely craving a glass of wine. So I checked our box that says “cheaper reds” my eyes landed on this bottle, a 2009 Picos del Montgó Old Vines Garnacha from the Cariñena region in Spain. I had picked it up a while back, probably a year ago, at World Market (so tells me Cellar Tracker) for $8 at the World Market.

The website is not very helpful, it is one of those typical wines made in large numbers for the export markets. It seems like these wines are made by an importer called Vinnico, at least that is what the back label states. I turned to other blogs and it turned out that there are a number of reviews of this wine, but they also don’t really provide much in information about it. The Cariñena region of Spain is located in Aragon, in the North Eastern heart of Spain. It is one of the oldest protected wine growing areas in Europe, apparently having been awarded DO status in 1932 (thank you Wikipedia for that!).

With not much more to give you in background, let’s get to the wine. It has a listed 13.5% ABV. In the glass, a rather dark ruby red wine presented itself, no visible signs of ageing yet. In the nose, I got red berries, some almond and hints of tobacco. It was a riper, more aged wine. On the palate, this wine was medium-bodied, with low and nicely integrated tannins. Definitely on the sweeter side, with some wood and spice and tobacco, plums, vanilla and receding red berries, especially cassis. It was very reminiscent of a Port to me. Don’t get me wrong, it was no Port, but it was so ripe, and tad too sweet, and it showed some age on the palate. The finish was of medium length.

Absolutely nothing objectionable about this wine. Nothing special or earth shattering, but for $8 it was a decent weekday wine. I was actually surprised how much I liked it. Definitely a wine for a fall or winter evening, though. I would probably buy it again, although I assume this vintage will not get better from here on out.

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Mar 17 2013
35 Comments
2007, Arribes, Spain

Sunday Read: Almaroja Pirita 2007 Arribes

This week’s Sunday Read is a novelty. It is just one review, but this wine review has a couple of things that I want to share. First of all, it is written by Jancis Robinson, who I really like and who in my view is one of the most gifted wine writers out there.

Second, it is one of those many interesting wine stories out there, about a person following her dream, opening a winery in a remote area of Spain. I love those stories.

Third, the wine review is about a wine that I just had Friday night. I really enjoyed the wine a lot, but did not take any notes because it was during Nina’s birthday party which, since our time in Germany, has always had the theme “we provide cheeses and some mustards and you bring a bottle of wine you like”. This year, the invitation encouraged guests to bring obscure varietal wines to help us in our quest to make the Wine Century  Club.

And that is the fourth reason why I am sharing this review: This wine catapulted me across the 100 different grape varieties tried threshold to enter the Wine Century Club with its mostly unknown grapes  Juan Garcia, Rufete, Bruñal, Tempranillo, Tinta Madrid,  Bastardillo Chico, Bastardillo Serrano, Tinta Jeromo, Gajo Arroba and Verdejo Colorado. I will soon mail in my application and then will be a proud member! I will write wrote more about this club in a separate post…

For now, happy Sunday. Enjoy the read and put something nice in your glass.

Jancis Robinson: Almaroja, Pirita 2007 Arribes

2007 Pirita

2007 Almaroja Pirita

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