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WBW 2: Spanish Reds

Cariñena is the Spanish name for the grape carignane. It is also a DO-designated region in Spain near Aragon. If you imagine Spain geographically as a water balloon being filled from the tap of Southwest France, you'll find Cariñena close to the pipe, roughly equidistant between the northern and southern coasts. The region allows the same-named grape in its wines, but a quick web search suggests that most of them favor the garnacha grape, better known to wine aficionados as the Southern Rhône's grenache.

Certainly it dominated my entry to this edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, a spin-off from the popular Is My Blog Burning? event. In WBW as in IMBB, the host suggests a theme and a date and participants post vinous finds relevant to the theme on that date. This month's theme is Spanish reds, suggested by host Alder of vinography.com. The 2004 Valcantara is 95% garnacha and a mere 5% tempranillo, though the latter is Spain's more well-known grape. The Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant staff recommended the wine. As much as I like the staff, I don't often ask them for wine recs because we're in their wine club and generally like those wines, so we usually visit to buy more of that month's shipment. But they came through in suggesting a pleasant wine from an area I know little about.

Tasting note: A pink edge with elusive hints of lavender darkens to a clear center richly dyed the color of ripe pomegranate skin. Unabashed but somehow still delicate cherries and berries dominate the nose and the taste, though the medium-long finish also offers clear butterscotch notes garnished by hints of vanilla and cream. Modest acidity and tannins are easy on the mouth but offer little backbone. This wine makes up in charm what it lacks in complexity.

General thoughts: Melissa enjoyed this wine quite a bit. I found it pleasant and enjoyable. It's a lightweight wine, and Melissa suggested it might be a good winter aperitif, though it lacks the acidity I prefer for such wines. Its price ($8) certainly makes it attractive for parties, where it would no doubt be well-received by those few who have escaped the cult of Napa.

Food: This wine's dainty structure should be matched with light fare. Fish cooked en papillote and served with delicate greens dressed lightly with good oil (vinegar would undo this wine). Squash ravioli sauced simply but elegantly with butter and sage, a bridge between summer's warmth and autumn's hints of winter. An elegant saddle of rabbit baked and served on a bed of paella. Perhaps even soup, that most elusive of wine pairings. So many dishes, so little time.

In honor of the Spanish theme, I made a tapas platter for Melissa and myself. Figs stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in serrano ham, and baked at 450° for 10 minutes. Duck sausage made by our friends Karen and Thaddeus. Quartered small potatoes tossed liberally with olive oil, salt, and pepper before being baked for 20 minutes at 450°. Brined and pan-seared shrimp. Picholine olives. Yerberra cheese, a nut-encrusted goat cheese from Spain. Curiously the platter took little time to assemble, something I filed away for future reference. In general the wine fared well, but the cheese pushed it off-balance in a hard-to-describe way and it suffered at the hands of the sugar in the plump ripe figs.

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