Blame it on Rioja

Much like Cataluña and the Basque provinces, La Rioja harbors an ardent passion for wild mushrooms. Foraging for, identifying, and cooking wild mushrooms just hits all the right notes: specialized knowledge and a chance to geek out on it; close physical connection to the earth and a heightened sense of its seasons; a measure of risk that demands vigilance and precision; and ultimately, complex flavors that excite both sense and intellect and call out for wines equally as complex. As mushrooming cultures go, in my experience only Emilia-Romagna, the food-obsessed north-central Italian region I happened to traverse at the height of Porcini season in 2005, comes close to matching Rioja’s mycophilic ardor.

In my last post, I described a sauce made by Francis Paniego from a locally-sourced spring wild mushroom called perrechico (Tricholoma Georgil). Well, there’s a lot more to the story than that.

El Portal de Echuarren, Paniego’s Michelin-starred restaurant, sits high in the Sierra de la Demanda, a mountain range that marks the western frontier of La Rioja, in a town called Ezcaray. Just down the road from Ezcaray, elevation 813 meters, is Rioja’s most important ski resort, Valdezcaray.

Francis is the fifth generation to cook at his family’s roadside inn. His mother’s restaurant, called simply, Echuarren, is next door. Famoulsy, they share a kitchen. Despite innovations he brings to his kitchen, tradition and fierce pride in local abundance run deep.

“There are many modern techniques here,” he told me last year. “But we use them only if they add value to our things, to our land. It is a little concept that sets our cuisine apart.”

And what a bounty that land yields in spring and fall, when rain, temperature, humidity, and decaying organic matter yield more than 500 varieties of mushroom, many of them edible, a few quite exquisite. So abundant are Ezcaray’s surrounding hills with wild mushrooms that each year, on the first weekend of November, the town plays host to Jornadas Micológicas, a festival devoted exclusively to the celebration of wild mushroms. The most adventurous celebrants convene on the town’s main square early in the morning of day one and break off into small groups, for forays into the countryside. Later in the day, professional mycologists help foragers classify what they’ve brought back in.

All weekend, the dozen or so of the town’s restaurants, bars, and taverns create special mushroom menus; tables set up along the main square display hundreds of varieties found locally, all arranged alphabetically using scientific nomenclature; another square feature fanciful mushroom “habitats”; a third is devoted entirely to an interactive mushroom playground for kids.

For more information, see www.amigosdeezcaray.com

Photos courtesy Francis Paniego.

Francis Paniego (top) at El Portal de Echuarren, Ezcaray, Spain, October 2005 (Photo: Daniel Hertzell); María José López de Heredia (bottom) at Bodegas R. López de Heredia, Haro, Spain, October 2005 (Photo: Eric Striffler.

If ever a moment illustrated the harmonious coexistence of tradition and modernity in Rioja, a phenomenon applicable to all of Spain really, it was my dinner at Francis Paniego’s El Portal de Echuarren with Bodegas R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia managing director María José López de Heredia, while on a press trip to the region in May 2006.

Apart from finding Ms. López de Heredia exceedingly charming and passionate–and grappling, I must admit, with a profound sense of delirious incredulity that I should find myself in such exalted company–I was just mesmerized by how well her bodega’s wines went with Francis Paniego’s food.

Which is significant because here we were in Rioja’s ski vacation town of Ezcaray enjoying the food of the region’s most talented and celebrated practitioners of Spain’s cutting-edge Nueva Cocina, all the while drinking wines from a bodega that’s become an icon for classic winemaking in Spain.

Our whites that evening included the 1995 Viña Gravonia Blanco Reserva (100% Viura, aged for four years in American oak), the 1988 Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva (15% Malvasia*, six years in oak), and the 1981 Viña Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva (10 to 15% Malvasia, up to eight years in oak and another fifteen before release!).

The aromas of the ‘81 Tondonia Gran Reserva were heady and seductive, unlike anything being produced right now in Rioja–”honey, bitter almond, coconut, (petrol?), something tropical,” I wrote in my notes. The wine’s acidity was very much alive, a Grand Cru Chablis-like foil to the evening’s third course: a metallic, Belon-like oyster (I forgot to ask for the name) served with grilled melon and quash puree, and drizzled with almond cream.

But it was with the fourth course that the ‘81 Tondonia really showed it brilliance as a food wine: spears of white asparagus with a perrechico cream drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Perrechico, Maria Jose told me, was a seta de la temporada, or a seasonal wild mushroom, found in the surrounding hills from April to June.**

So, why 1968?

Well, fast forward a year and half: now working on behalf of the region, accompanying the author and wine columnist Elin McCoy, I had dinner with María José in Ezcaray once again, this time at Echuarren, the traditional restaurant next door to El Portal, operated by Francis’ mother, Marisa Sanchez. At one point, María José pulled out a bottle of 1968 Viña Bosconia Tinto Gran Reserva and told us that this was a special vintage for her, since this was the year she was born.***

She also told us that one of Spain’s glossy magazines had recently run a feature called the “Generation of 1968,” centered on Felipe, Prince of Asturias, the only son of King Juan Carlos I and heir to the Spanish throne, who was also born in 1968. Among the famous Spanish 68-ers also included in that feature: María José López de Heredia and Francis Paniego.

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NOTES:

*According to Ms. López de Heredia, Malvasia is also known as Rojal, from the Spanish word for red, because it oxidizes easily.
**Last September, while meandering through a one of San Sebastian’s main squares, Amy and I stumbled upon a series of bookstalls, and by chance came across a beautiful little book called Las Setas Comestibles by Andres Buesas (Vitoria: Caja Provincial de Ahorros de Alava,1967). When I got back to the U.S., I looked up perrechico, and there its was: Tricholoma Georgil, a variety found in northern Spain, known variously as muserones (Cataluña), seta de piedra (Castilla), and setas de orduña. For the record, the variety did not appear in either of my North American wild mushroom field guides.
*** Also the birth year of my brother Patrick, not to mention also that of Manuel Camblor, who commiserates with other members of the turning-forty-this-year-if-I-haven’t already crowd in the ‘comments’ section below.

CLASSIC COMBINATION: Chuletillas de cordero asadas (Grilled baby lamb chops), piquillo peppers, and fries, taken at Posada Mayor de Migueloa, Laguardia, Spain, September 9, 2007.  Photo: Jon Stamell.

It’s that time of year when one of viticulture’s most bracing demands comes a-callin’: the winter pruning of the vines.  By clipping the canes of each plant after the vines have shut down for the winter, a wine grower can reduce the quantity of fruiting buds and, therefore, improve the quality of the buds that eventually flower and bear fruit later in the season.

In Western Europe, the practice of grilling meat over the smoldering embers of vine clippings dates back several thousand years. In Rioja, the ancient practice of cooking meat over sarmientos in fact came to define the regional cuisine, and today traditional asadores, restaurants specializing in grilled meat, are still everywhere, thriving even as edgier cooking has made its way into the valley.

At the same time, Rioja’s cuisine helped to shape the evolution of its wine.  John Radford points out in Wines of Rioja that, even if it were possible, it’s unlikely that a red wine like Rioja would have fared very well along the seafood-rich estuaries of coastal Galicia. In other words, razor clams and sea scallops called out for high-acid, aromatic whites (i.e., Rias  Baixas, Ribeiro, Valdeorras); in Rioja, grilled baby lamb chops, or chuletillas de cordero, called out for something quite different.

And speaking of lamb chops, a reader named Marco Romano left a comment on one of my most recent posts and confessed that “Rioja is the wine that turned me into a lover of wine with food. Grilled lamb chops marinated in olive oil, garlic, pimenton, cumin and arbol chilies over charcoal with a Rioja reserva. Ah…”

Of course, I immediately asked for a recipe, and he quickly complied.

As for the grape vines, well, that’s the hard part.  A 2006 Wine News article on cooking with vines, written by Carole Kotkin, suggested contacting Kalmazoo Outdoor Gourmet, which sells grape vine chips, although I took a look at the website, and “grape vines” appears to be missing from the order form, even though it’s mentioned as an option on the product list. A phone call is definitely in order.

Or you can do what I plan to do next week, after I get back from Napa: call your nearest winery.

Grilled Marinated Lamb Chops
Recipe submitted by Marco Romano
4 loin chops, or 8 baby loin chops (chuletillas), if you want to get really authentic
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. sherry vinegar
3 cloves roasted or raw minced garlic
1 tsp+ pimenton
1 tsp+ ground cumin
Ground arbol chilies* to taste
Salt & pepper

Mix the oil and vinegar with the garlic and spices, and marinate lamb for 2-4 hrs. at room temperature. Grill over hardwood in an outdoor pit.**

Serves Two
Wine Pairing Suggestions: Mr. Romano recommends the following Reservas

Lopez de Heredia “Vina Tondonia”
Muga “Seleccion Especial”
Contino
CVNE
Sierra Cantabria
Marques de Murrieta
Monte Real
Rioja Alta
Vina Real

*Chiles de Arbol, usually sold whole, are available at Latin markets across the country and at select Whole Foods.

**A good substitute for vine chips would be chips of some easier to find fruit woods: apple, apricot, cherry, nectarine, or peach.  Check out barbecuewood.com or kalamazogourmet.com.  I must confess that I have never cooked with wood before, but the three websites linked in this post seem to have enough information to steer us in the right direction. Still, proceed with caution.

September 11, 2007
6:00pm

Our last interview today was with José María Ryan, winemaker at Bodegas Bretón in Navarrete, inside the bodega’s Sala Alba de Bretón. The bodega’s Loriñon brand is among the region’s best; at $17 retail, the Loriñon Reserva is one of Spain unsung value exemplars (see my post Burgerlicious).

(more…)

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Last night was the first team meeting that included all of the major players, held in a private room at Juan Nales’ Restaurante Las Duelas inside Hotel Los Agustinos. Ricardo Aguiriano, director of marketing at the Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Calificada de Rioja (CR), was there, along with Rebeca Gómez, head of international promotions for the CR; Tom Perry, head of the Rioja Exporters group; and, on our end, Jon Stamell, head of Vibrant Rioja campaign; Kelly Bucher of CRT/tanaka; John Barkley, associate director of strategic initiatives at CIA Greystone; Chad Wilmouth of CIA; and me.

It’s been crazy here in Haro, music and carrying on until the wee hours. Friday night, there was a wedding inside the hotel, in the courtyard below, and something that sounded like Iron Maiden coming from the town’s main square at about 2:00am, a bocadito of cacophony I found more amusing than obtrusive. I mean, who I am to complain? I am the interloper.

But the fiestas have meant that everything’s been closed since Friday afternoon, with nowhere to print and copy the schedules, except the front desk at our hotel, and that was like pulling teeth. One guy, a manager-type who looked and acted like he didn’t really like his job all that much, had warned me on Thursday night that they “were not set up to do big jobs.” And yesterday we exchanged words when I came down to pick up the schedules I had emailed down to a compliant receptionist a half hour earlier. “Remember what I told you?” he told me when I asked for the copies. That’s when I reminded him that we were bringing eleven people to this hotel and staying for six days, and that it was a little ridiculous that he was giving me a hard time over 70 sheets of paper. Ten minutes into our meeting, the schedules were delivered.

Today was a whirlwind day that began in Logroño, at the Fiesta de la Verdura, a festival that celebrates the harvest of all the killer fruits and vegetables that are cultivated in the region. It hasn’t been happening for all that long, according to Ricardo, and it’s sort of spin off of a major verdura fiesta that takes place in Calahorra further downriver, home to Chef Nino, who we are visiting later this week.

Today was set aside for exterior shots: bodegas facades, rivers, vineyards, etc. Man, it’s beautiful here. Temperature in the 70s, not a cloud in the sky, cool at night. In other words, perfect weather for the days leading up to the harvest. For the sake of the ’07 vintage (my vintage, in a way), I hope it stays this way.

Dinner at La Vieja Bodega in Casalrreina was very good. Three sommeliers arrived today, accompanied by the awesome Jose Guerra of Wines from Spain (ICEX): Skye LaTorre of A16 in San Francisco; Juan Gomez MS of the Breakers in Palm Beach Florida; and Jason Smith MS of Micheal Mina at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. They were a little beat after such a long travel day, but I liked their energy nevertheless. Good group so far.

Ángel Pérez Aguilar, the proprietor of La Vieja Bodega, opened the place just for us tonight, and he exhibited the kind of happiness in his life’s choices that I always dream about: he couldn’t take life in Madrid, and when he found this place, saw its underground cellar, well, he knew it was for him. He took us on a tour of those caves, showed us a wall of ancient bottles and pulled two 375ml bottles for us to taste, with barely legible labels that said: Monte Real, Blanco Semi-Dulce, 1954. Somewhat Sherry-like, with baked apple, faded floral, and hazelnutty aromas, the wine still had quite a lot of life. I never even knew such a wine existed here.

You might recall that in last week’s post on “The Marriage of Wine and Cinema,” I referenced the restaurant double-date scene in Sideways, calling it the most accurate depiction of anxiety-fueled wine overindulgence in the history of cinema.

What a nightmare to be haunted by a lost love, to feel awkward in some forced-upon-you blind date, and to decide that rushed, four-ounce slurps of fine wine might be the only way to make the desperation of that single moment possibly more palatable.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

No, wait. I’m not bitter. (more…)

In 2006, I’ve had the good fortune of visiting Rioja twice, first in late May, when the region’s vines had just begun to flower, and again in late October, just after harvest. The picture that emerged is one of a region in flux, an enclave of impeccable taste in the midst of reinventing itself while simultaneously staying true to its essential character, to what it knows and does the best. (more…)