I took a week off blogging for a vacation in Marbella, located in Malaga Province in southern Spain.  It’s always a great break to go to the coast, one of the few places I can really relax.  I always feel like it’s a spa week as I go to the gym, walk a lot and eat really healthy.  We eat nothing but fish and seafood when we’re down there, either grilled or fried…so fresh and delicious.  The food in southern Spain tends to be simpler than elsewhere and can be repetitive, but it is really perfect for a few days.  We ate simple food at simple place….the one exception being Calima Restaurant, which I will write up separately. Food highlights typical down there are coquinas, tiny clam-like shellfish, chopitos, baby fried squid, grilled large shrimp, and grilled sardines.  There are also wonderful salads, especially a typical roasted pepper salad and a tomato-garlic salad.  Our favorite restaurant for fish and shellfish in Marbella is El Timonel….great value and delicious food….their grilled calamar with a garlic olive oil is one of my favorites.  The wine scene in southern Spain is pretty dismal. Read on for more on the terrible wine choices available and my review of the most popular white wine in Spain:  Barbadillo.

Another edition of the Salon Gourmets has past in the Feria de Madrid…Gourmets is a four day professional food and wine show that launches the fair season.   In the past wine has been a much bigger part of the show and this year I noticed that even less wineries participated.  Food dominates this show and sadly I’ve seen the wine component diminish every year.  Wine shows in Spain have yet to find the international audience that justifies many wineries participation.  It’s a fun show to walk around, with delectable offerings at stands such as jamon, olive oils, cheese, paella and even grilled steaks and roasted suckling pigs.  It’s a bit of a struggle to get samples at the most interesting stands as there are often long lines, but very fun.  Another interesting element are all the national and international gourmet stands looking for distribution in Spain.  I’ve notice a huge increase in those over six years…a great sign of the times…Spain is going gourmet big time!  As to the wine scene…there were a few interesting regional offerings, especially from Castilla Leon, and Galicia.  I tasted a fascinating 150€ wine from the Denominacion Vinos de Madrid!  I’ll be doing a separate post on the Ricardo Benito Winery.  The best wine section of Gourmets is the Wine Tunnel.  In the wine tunnel, wine is served at stands organized into grape varieties.  The first edition was last year and I went thinking there would be few wines of great interest, that they would mostly be inexpensive wines.  It turns out the wines offered at the stands are some of the top wines in Spain, some very expensive and the wine tunnel is a great opportunity to taste different styles of the same varietal from around Spain.  Read on for information on some fo the stand out wines in the wine tunnel this year. 

El Chaflan is one of the most famous restaurants in Madrid and in a real sign of the times they have opened a tapas bar called the Aris Bar to make their expensive “alta cocina” more accessible to the rest of us.  We checked it out this weekend and despite some problems, had a very good experience.  On the good side the food and wines are excellent, on the downside is the décor and ambiance, which resembles an upscale fast food restaurant like the Fast Good chain.  El Chaflan is located in a hotel and when we entered, we saw what resembles a modernistic hotel breakfast room.  We asked the waiter where the tapas bar was and to our surprise he said: “Here!”  Sadly, there is no actual bar, it is just a plain room with modern plastic furniture.  Despite our dismay, we proceeded.  The service was indifferent at first though eventually the waiter warmed up to us.  The menu is divided into two pages…traditional tapas and special El Chaflan modern tapas.  We stuck to the modern tapas and ordered several…they are very small and meant for one, but we preferred to order many and split them anyway.  All of them were delicious without exception.  In the finger sandwiches we tried three types:  Torta del Casar cheese with truffle oil, sobresada with lemon jam, and smoked eel with mascarpone….seriously unusual but wonderful combinations!  Amongst the pinchos we tried the anchoa and boquerone toast, which is commonly called matrimonio, matching the salt cured anchoa with the vinegar cured boquerone.  This was a creative twist on that with tomato and pesto…really lovely.  We had a tiny plate of steak tartar served with a sweet/savory ice cream…a delicious contrast of savory, spicy, cold, and sweet.  The tuna tartare with avocado is a modern classic…here they add some fish roe and some crunchy fried bits that add lovely texture.  The octopus ceviche was tender, oniony and tart with a lovely sweet and creamy mousse of maracuyá fruit on top….spectacular!  The wine list is short but interesting…I had a decent Alsatian Pinot Blanc by the glass….almost impossible to find in Madrid.  The wines by the glass are expensive but the pours are generous and there are many Champagnes by the glass as well.  The prices by the bottled are not bad at all. The location is a bit isolated so you should plan to come and stay, but the food and wine definitely make up for the bland décor and lack of atmosphere…come with a  group of friends and you can make your own!  I’m be returning to try some cocktails, more tapas and also to try the 15€ prix fixe lunch menu that is offered during the week. Check out the El Chaflan Aris Bar website for more info.

Taberneros is wine bar I used to visit often, but it somehow dropped off my tapas route.  Plaza Mayor in central Madrid…they have no website (!), but are on google maps.   We visited the other day with some friends and I was pleased to see that the basics were still in place:  great food and good wine.  Part of the reason I had stopped going there was because I felt the quality of the service and food had dropped off a little…the food impressed me anew but the service was still pretty indifferent.  Taberneros is worth a visit though because it offers unique tapas and wine.  It fits in style-wise in between the multitudinous traditional places and the “modern-elaborate” tapas places that have become trendy.  Taberneros puts sophisticated touches to classic Spanish cuisine but without losing that comforting comfort food taste.   We tried the cecina with olive oil and it was as good as ever:  tender cured beef presented as carpaccio with top quality olive oil, lemons, and sea salt.  Most cecina is tough and dry…this is perfect!  We had the creamy scallop gratin, soft tender vegetables topped with slices of scallop and béchamel…served on the shell.  Next up was the fried eggs and potato with shaved black truffle….a cholesterol fest, but so delicious.  The wine list is very complete, a bit pricy, but with some interesting inexpensive alternatives.  There is a smattering of foreign wines, but Spain is the focus.  The by-the-glass list is good and the best surprise is that there are 6 types of dessert wine by the glass.  The highlight of the night was my first taste of the botrytis wine Caligo.  The wine is from coastal vineyards close to Barcelona and is not included in any wine appellation.  This first vintage, 2005, is made from 100% Chardonnay, but there are plans to include Sauvignon Blanc and Albariño in future vintages. Botrytis is a rarity in Spain due to the climate and this is the first Spanish dessert wine with botrytis I have ever tasted.  Their website shows the unique mists in their vineyards that allow the noble rot to flourish.  Fascinating wine which I will revisit soon.  To sum it all up….Taberneros is a great stop on the upscale Madrid tapas route!

Memento Restaurant is not strictly a wine place, but it is one of my favorite restaurants and it does have a nice, well-selected wine list.  Memento Restaurant is owned and run by Karen Bell, an experienced young American chef who was looking for a change of scene when she moved to Spain five years ago.  When she arrived in Madrid she saw that missing from the restaurant scene was a great California/Spanish fusion place.  She opened Memento three years ago and has been building up quite a local following.  Her cuisine is inventive yet satisfying, a great blend of some unusual ingredients with some really comforting classics.  Her sauces and use of herbs is genius…and when you live in Spain long enough you crave sauces and herbs!   If you are a mussel lover make sure you order them…it’s one of her signature dishes and are some of the best I ever eaten.  She offers a high- end menu del día (prix fixe) lunch which is great value at 18.50€.  Her latest creative addition is a great jazz brunch every Sunday between noon and 4PM.  She offers brunch classics served with a creative twist:  Potato latkes with smoked salmon and mixed greens or crab cakes with poached eggs and a spicy hollandaise sauce.  A group of us went yesterday and we loved it!  You can enjoy your brunch with cocktails such as a Bellini or a Bloody Mary or just stick to the brunch classic, a Mimosa.  It’s hard to find a great brunch place in Madrid and Memento really hit the spot…I’m already craving those crab cakes again!  Check out their regular menu and contact info at:  http://www.restaurantememento.com/.

I’m on a tapas roll!  Yesterday we tried another newish tapas and wine bar called Estado Puro, located right across the Paseo del Prado from the Prado Museum.  A very stylish locale, it offers the innovative and elaborate tapas of famous Madrid chef Paco Roncero.  He’s the chef at the top rated Casino de Madrid.  The tapas are modern interpretations of classic Spanish dishes and the menu is filled with interesting choices.  The tapas are very creatively presented and arrive on slate board plates.  We tried four different tapas and results were mixed:  the tempura asparagus and the “meat bombs” were delicious while the deconstructed tortilla and the presa iberica with chimichurri were just ok.   There are lots more things on the menu I would like to try though, such as the mini hamburger plate, the fried egg with baby squid and the boletus carpaccio with pine nuts.   The tapas are a bit pricy…they range from 6 to 12€, but are smallish, so this is a place to come and try only a few at a time then move on to one of the more traditional places in nearby Huertas.  The wine list by the glass offers 6 reds, 3 whites and a couple of rosés….a good variation, though none of the wines were spectacular.  In the whites my favorite is a nice Godello called Montenovo, the best red was Artazurri,   a joven red from Navarra.  The wines are all priced at 2.50€ a glass, which is a bit steep for this level of wine….but the pours are really generous.  To sum it up:  Estado Puro is a fashionable new alternative on the tapas trail…the location is amazing and they also have a really nice outdoors terraza seating area with spectacular views.  I’m not completely sold on the food, but I’ll definitely be returning to try some more.  Another plus is that it offers its full menu all day from 11AM to 1AM, a rarity still here in Madrid.  Read on for more details on the food and wines at Estado Puro. 

I’m always on the lookout for great wine and tapas places in Madrid.  Unfortunately they are few and far between, though the situation is slowly improving.  One impressive new place is called Kulto al Plato, located near the Argüelles metro in Moncloa.  It’s a great combination of a cool modern décor, delicious modern Basque pintxos and an interesting wine list.  The food is really unique, really showing casing the modern techniques that are coming out of Basque Country and the wine list is short but really diverse and original….a real change from the boring wine lists that are typical here in Madrid.  The prices are good…about 3.50€ for most tapas…modern interpretations in miniature of Spain’s most famous dishes.  Despite the modern feel, I love that the back wall is huge chalk board with the menu and wine list written on it…it gives the place a really warm feel.  The service is very good, very quick and friendly…the food arrives very quickly as well.  This wine bar has a really different vibe than most…it really draws its style from the streets of old town San Sebastian, where its sister establishment, A Fuego Negro, is located.  It’s definitely high on my list for a return visit…there is lot more to try on their creative tapas menu!

The holiday season, with its lengthy and varied meals, is the perfect moment to try many different styles of wines.  Holiday meals also offer a challenge with regards to wine matching:  it’s tricky to find a wine to match so many flavours. 

During the holiday season, I’m going to rate the wines I’m choosing for my clients and my family.   The holidays here in Spain are like a marathon, the festivities don’t end on New Years…we have a whole other round of big meals for the Epiphany holiday on 6 January!  The flavors for the holiday meals are different here, but just as challenging….fish and lamb are common, though you can find turkey as well.  Shellfish, cured meats, and foie all play important roles.  

As mentioned in my article below on Navarra Wine Country, we recently had the chance to visit an impressive new winery project near Estella in Navarra: Pago de Larrainzar.

The project is the vision of Miguel Canalejo Larrainzar, the former president of Alcatel in Spain. It is a real family project: a couple of his children are involved full-time in the winery.

I’ve been very remiss in posting…we’ve been crazy busy with tastings. But I’m determined to get back into it!

There is a huge variety of wine vinegars available now….choosing a vinegar is just as complicated as choosing an olive oil. Besides the usual line-up of aged balsamic vinegars and herb-infused wine vinegars, my new favourite is one I discovered recently at a wine store. This is a company that is known for its excellent olive oil…and it’s latest release is an unusual and delicious wine vinegar. It’s not just a regular wine vinegar it also has sweet Pedro Ximenez dessert wine and some fresh grape must. It is certainly the most unique vinegar I have tried.

Terroir: Does it Apply to Everything?

The growing number of appellations for every type of agricultural product in Europe would suggest so. There are appellations for salt, olive oil, cheese, beef and wine, amongst others.

I decided to do a small experiment in the influence of origin on ducks.

When we are in France, usually in the St Jean de Luz area, I love to go to Carrefour. There is Carrefour in Spain but obviously the products are quite different…sometimes to a surprising extent. This time I picked up some local duck breasts recommended by the butcher.

Calle Santiago, 9
Hours: from 1300-1600 and 2030 to 0000, closed on Mondays
Tel: 91 542 2160

Address:

Another great tasting to give this weekend: Matching wine and cheese. A classic, but a difficult classic as they can actually be quite challenging to match! I picked five wines from different categories and five very different cheeses. The wines were as follows:1. DO Cava – Bodega Raventos i Blanc – Elisabet Raventos – Reserva – Brut – 2000 – 60% Xarel.lo, 30% Chardonnay, 10% Monastrell – 4 years aging on lees, 6,5g/l residual sugar – 12% – 18 euros