RSS FeedThere were all sorts of reasons to kick off the December 2009 Vino Valencia event at Restaurante Tahine with a glass of Cava. It is the festive season, and we were also celebrating how much we’d enjoyed setting up and putting together the events since they started in September. We have made a lot of friends, not just with the wonderful people who come to the events, but with the bodegas, the personnel of The Ginger Loft and Tahine.
It was particularly good of Castell de Sorells to provide us with their Castell de Sorells Cava Brut, as this time of year is naturally frenzied for the wine world in general, and Cava especially. There were three representatives from Castell de Sorells (Víctor, Fran and Antonio) despite an assortment of colds and sore throats. Perhaps something to do with working in a winery that is a replica of a 15th-century castle. They explained to all and sundry that this Cava, a snip at under 7.00 euros, had been disgorged (when the yeasts and sediment from the second fermentation are frozen in the bottle’s neck where they’ve gathered and removed and the cork put in) only the day before. This was a reserva from 2006 (though this is not stated on the label) so it had been given plenty of time to develop subtleties and generally come together. The fizz was matched with Eddie of Tahine’s exotic bon bon of foie coated in Peta Zetas® (popping candy).You can then fascinate your guests with a detailed explanation of how and why Castell de Sorells is the only Valencian Cava producer allowed to make Cava outside the area of Requena.
From this longest-standing Cava producer in Valencia we moved on to what must be the youngest bodega, Bodega Sánchez Zahonero. I’ve written about Alfonso and his L’Essència elsewhere in these pages, and it was a pleasure to have this energetic, enthusiastic and gold medal-winning young winemaker at the event, with Lorena and a brother who looked identical to him under the soft lighting and after a glass or two – though not to Lorena, one hopes. Again, Eddie broke with conventions with the two red wines, by matching this vibrant young wine with marinaded red tuna with wasabi. Absolutely delicious.
And the third wine was an old favourite in every sense, the Raspay reserva 2003 from Primitivo Quiles. The family has been involved in the wine trade of Alicante since the eighteenth century, and they make their Monastrell wine the old-fashioned way. This hasn’t prevented it from being awarded 90 points bby Robert Parker‘s “Wine Advocate”. You should try Googling this wine and see how US and other international wine sites rave about how distinctive and unusual and magnificent it is in a world of global homogenous wines. It is not that easy to get hold of in Valencia, however, and it was a great help to have José Luis Llorens of Bodegas Santander (and their excellent sister shop Beals), the only stockists, to tell people all about it. I thought that this highly distinctive wine might not be to everyone’s taste, but it went down a storm, to my delight. There was the added excitement of a sort of light show in the form of Eddie and colleagues’ live flambéeing of langoustines, another unexpected and successful combination.
We’ll see those who sign up in time at the January event. Can’t wait to see what Eddie comes up with to match the wines I’m setting out to find.
