Viva Rioja: Wine and Cheese Pairings
As mentioned in my last post, I taught a class at Murray’s Cheese Greenwich Village on Tuesday, September 24, called Viva Rioja. Below is our lineup of wine and cheese:
Marqués de Cáceres Blanco – 2005 $7.99 Enrique Forner founded Marqués de Cáceres in the early 1970s, the first bodega in Spain to use temperature-controlled stainless steel fermentation vats as a way to preserve fresh fruit flavors and minimize oxidation and other undesirable “off” flavors and aromas. Today, this house is one of the region’s largest and most successful, with a huge market share in America. This wine is made with 100% Viura and sees no oak aging whatsoever. A simple, clean sippin’ wine of no great complexity but with easy drinkability and impressive value. Murcia Curado, a.k.a. Naked Goat (Raw goat’s milk; Murcia) Lightly tangy and very snackable.
Viña Tondonia Rosado, Lopez de Heredia – 1997 $22.99 From the most traditional bodega in Rioja, fermented in giant oak tinas over 100 years old and aged for 36 months in American oak. Made with Garnacha, Tempranillo, and small amounts of Viura. Nothing quite like this anywhere in Rioja, or in Spain for that matter. Clara (Raw goat’s milk; Castilla-León) Tangy and citric in the center, runny at the rind, peppery and farmy at the rind.
Conde de Valdemar, Crianza – 2003 $10.99 A beautiful balance between what I find to be the classic taste of Rioja–fresh berry fruit, a toasty vanilla and earthy nose, easy drinkability, impeccable balance (meaning the presence of food-friendly acidity and the absence of that grape jelly sweetness present in so many comparably priced wines from warmer climates)–and updated winemaking technology. Ombra (Pasteurized sheep’s milk; Catalonia) Butterscotchy and complex, Ombra is made for Tempranillo.
La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva – 1999 $29.99 Textbook classic Rioja. All American oak, aromas of cigar box, faded flowers, and spicy fruit. Lively acidity, garnet colored, great with food. Manchego, Garcia Baquero, 6 Months in Olive Oil (Raw sheep’s milk; Castilla-La Mancha) Fruity, peppery, buttery.
Contino Graciano – 2001 $95.99 From one of Rioja’s most eloquent and passionate champions, Jesus Madrazo, and one of Rioja’s first single estates comes this unusual single-varietal red wine made from 100% Graciano. Only 3,000 bottle of this wine were made in the 2001 vintage; we are tasting this very special wine owing to the great kindness of Pasternack importers. Great aromatic concentration and extraction. Aged for 14 months in a combination of French and American oak. Majorero (Raw goat’s milk; Canary Islands) From the rugged island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands comes Majorero, made from the milk of the cabra canaria, a breed that somehow manages to subsist on the meager vegetation available on this arid island off the coast of North Africa. The cheese is a dense, chalky, and a little bit briny. With its pale straw color and deep fattiness, it’s more like a sheep’s milk cheese than a goat’s milk cheese.
Fincas de Ganuza Rioja Reserva – 2001 $42.99 From one of the most vineyard-mad producers anywhere in Spain, Fernando Rémirez de Ganuza, comes this thoroughly modern, seductively fruity, sexy and elegant red wine from the beautiful town of Sanmaniego at the foot of the Sierra de Cantabria in Rioja Alavesa. Straight from the bottle, the wine reeks of black cherries; with a little aeration, the real magic starts to reveal itself. Mahon Curado, Coinga (Raw cow’s milk; Menorca) If a more perfect cheese for crusty bread, a bold red, and a rocky shoreline exists, I do not know of it. Big, sweet, nutty, salty, and piquant—but tempered by faint butterscotchy notes—Mahon, to me, smells like Old Spain: smoky and porky.