The New Wines of Malaga

This is a guest post from wine educator and consultant David Furer who found that Malaga has more to offer than its fortified wines. 

Malaga and its environs are a well-established vacation and relocation destination for northern Europeans. The 'Moscatels of Malaga' are mostly found in the less touristy highlands of Axarqua which were, as is the case in much of Spain, 30 years ago far more covered with vines than today.

With an agri-economy based largely upon wine grapes, the introduction of phylloxera foreshadowed the region's eventual depression with a nearly 50% drop in its population. Opening wineries is an expensive venture anywhere, Malaga was also caught in the crossfire of tourism's rise and the overall poor impression Spanish wines enjoyed up to the 1990's.

The Mediterranean is often within easy eyesight all of the region's hodge-podge of heavily sloped vineyards, scattered in every possible direction at 2000-3000 ft. elevation. Rains arrive January-March with flowering taking place around late May. Cool daytime winds abate in July/August though nights are cool enough to help the vines retain acidity. With so little rain available the vines, many which were planted pre-phylloxera, roots must burrow deep for water in the long, hot summers. These mountainous soils are comprised of an array of rugged, decomposing shale and brown slate, some with clay and some with quartz veins. Manual labour is essential for harvesting these untrained gobelet vines and grapes are typically collected in baskets holding 30lbs of grapes.

My introduction to these wines begain at the 2008 edition of Jerez's Vinoble wine fair where, along with 25 other members of the wine trade, I was whisked away to an outlying tapas bar's back room by one of Spain's star winemakers. Telmo Rodriguez dazzled the assembled with his passion for and tasting of a complete 8-vintage vertical of his naturally sweet Malaga wine, 'Molino Real'.

"A wine from Malaga is a wine that should have a memory," he told us. He's chosen to eschew fortification in favour of a previously unknown naturally-sweet style allowing the intense minerality and length of the old-vine, often ungrafted, Moscatels to shine through. His first vintage, 1996, was not allowed by the D.O. to be called 'Malaga' but he persevered. Others were to follow including his former US importer (below).

On a subsequent visit I met a number of other Malaga producers:

Bodegas Bentomiz
In 1994 a sunworshipping Dutch couple, Clara Verheij and Andr Both, turned their backs on their native Utrecht to settle outside the Axarqua mountain village of Sayalonga and began the process of establishing Bodegas Bentomiz. They planted a test vineyard of many varieties with an eye to one day making wine. It wasn't until 2005 they produced their first commercial vintage from Moscatel and a blended red from Tempranillo, Petit Verdot, and the indigenous Rom. In addition to the one hectare they own, they also buy annually from 35ha of growers, many of whom also work in Andre's construction business.

Their brand name 'Ariyanas' yields a modern style of both very dry (2g/l RS) and medium sweet styles. The French oak-aged Terruo Pizarroso is the winemaker's preference though I prefer her low-sulfur Dulce Naturamente. All are bottled in 50cl formats with a glass lock closure and a modern label design. All are very well-made, bright and minerally, with a powerful varietal character.

One May afternoon Clara treated me to a 30-minute drive, then a 90-minute hike deep into the stunning hills of the Parc Natural Sierra Almijara designed to work up an appetite for Bar El Acebuchal. Located 14km from Cmpeta on the way to the more famous weekend tourist attraction of Frigiliana, the key to its owners, the Garcia-Sanchez family's success is the preponderance of wild herbs (more rosemary than I've ever seen growing wild, oregano, at least two varieties of thyme, and fennel) growing around them and finding their way into almost every dish served. Many of the vegetables also come from their garden.Sour elements play an interesting part in the preparation and sauces. My only complaint would be that the hearty, wintry style of food served in late spring was too rich for the time of year. Here are the dishes we tried:

Garbanzo beans with mixed pig parts in a mild yellow (turmeric?) sauce with oregano.
Chicken in Moscatel sauce--moderately sweet with black pepper (would've been terrific with a Bentomiz Dulce Naturamente had one been available)
Mixed fruit and vegetable salad with an array of wild herbs
Lamb in a wild mint/vinegar sauce
Wild fennel with white beans & rice, chicken and blood sausage
Wild deer in a thick ragout of wild greens, herbs, carrots, onions, black pepper, red wine, Cognac
Rabbit with celery, carrots, onions, thyme, nutmeg
Wild boar with onions, white wine, thyme, cumin, black pepper

All were accompanied with plenty of local beer and a bottle of Clara's red.

Bar El Acebuchal
Cmpeta-Frigiliana
+34 697 255 363

Bodegas Dimobe
Brothers Juan and Antonio Munoz are natives of the mountain village of Moclinejo. Their grandfather started the family winery officially in 1927 though Munozes have been growing grapes and making wine long before that. The winery is but one business within their Dimobe group; they also distribute drinks for the region and own a scenically-poised Vistalmar hotel & restaurant. which provides a welcome stop along the windy road to the heart of Axarqua's wine country. A typical menu consists of medium-sized green olives cured with a lot of whole garlic cloves and a little paprika, a range of tapas typical to the region and to Spain as a whole, seafood including shelled prawns 'pil-pil', in a very hot and oily pepper-garlic sauce as a starter (mopped up with bread), sepia a la plancha with a touch of garlic and roasted meats such as lamb, goat, beef and pork. Dimobe's medium sweet and fortified Seorio de Broches 2007, satisfying enough to act as dessert, would also have worked well with a melon and ham salad or blue cheese

Hotel/Restaurante Vistalmar
Ctra. de Moclinejo, Km 1
Moclinejo Malaga
+34 952 400 507

Bodegas Jorge Ordoez
Former medical doctor Victoria Ordoez embarked on a second career working with 'flying' winemaker, 28-year old Austrian Gerhard Kracher, who took over from his late father Alois at Bodegas Jorge Ordoez. The elder Kracher founded the project with Victoria's brother, the former US importer of Telmo Rodriguez, in April 2004 when he came to Almchar for his first harvest of sweet Malaga. The later-implemented idea of a dry Moscatel was that of Kracher's and the 100% first-ever dry Malaga Muscat. Victoria credits Alois with having the vision though she tasted with him all the time, giving credence to my theory that the wines' more feminine style is a reflection of her involvement much as Clara Verheij's is at Bentomiz.

During our vineyard tour, Ordoez took me to Bar Almchar for a snack of baby boquerones battered and fried in an oily salad with cucumber, tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes, onions, olives, chopped egg, and orange pieces. This was followed by raw clams, 'conchas finas', which was perfect with a glass of the town's signature cool drink, 'ajoblanco'. which is made of raw blanched almonds, raw garlic, dried bread soaked in water, salt, olive oil, and vinegar.

We also went to Restaurante Marichuchi one of several restaurants in a former fishing district to the east of Malaga, which are famed for their boquerones which are skewered and grilled over smoky wood fires built in tiny boats, raised up on the sand immediately in front of the restaurants. Ordoez considers this her 'HQ'! We also tried:

• Garlicky green olives, a regional staple
• Mixed salad with cooked tuna, another typical regional dish
• Raw whelks
• Small rectangular clams steamed with an olive oil dressing
• Gambas a la plancha with rock salt
• Batter-fried baby mullet
• Batter-fried boquerones which had been beheaded and gutted, "a style of cooking unique to Malaga", Ordonez claimed.
• Roast pepper salad

With it we drank a bottle of her excellent dry Moscatel, Botani, which was named after the city's botanic gardens and the sweet, naturally low-alcohol 'Esencia'.

Restaurante Maricuchi
Paseo Maritimo el Pedregal 14
Malaga
+34 952 290 412

David Furer is a freelance wine writer, and educator and author of Wine Places (Mitchell Beazley, 2005) He travelled to Malaga as a guest of the bodegas mentioned in the article.

Photo by Anatolii Maks

What's the best way to introduce food and wine pairing into your restaurant?

More and more restaurants are introducing an element of food and wine pairing into their menus. It may be simply a question of suggesting a wine that is available by the glass to go with a dish or a more ambitious food pairing experience - the key thing is that both the front of house and the kitchen can pull it off.

The other night I went to a tapas bar which had introduced two menus paired with wines. They’d really got behind the idea, found a sponsor for the promotion and the manager was enthusiastic about the concept but it didn’t quite work and this I think is why:

* The formula is not ideally suited to tapas which is a casual, pic’n’mix way of eating. It’s based on a selection of dishes rather than a succession of courses which can be carefully matched to a wine.

* The wine wasn’t sufficiently interesting to carry the pairings (or encourage the customer to trade up - the point of the whole exercise for the restaurant, presumably). Being tied to a single supplier also limited the pairings that could be offered.

* The kitchen didn’t have the skill to pull off the complex dishes they were creating. (Or the time, with a busy restaurant, come to that.) To be fair that’s actually very hard to achieve. I’ve only ever come across one restaurant that could create perfect dishes to match specific wines on demand and that was run by France's top sommelier

So how might they have done it? Well, presumably from their point of view the object was to create a point of difference from other neighbouring restaurants, and give their customers confidence to experiment. All customers also like deals so here’s what they could have done.

* Offer a deal of the week - one glass of wine with three complementary (not complimentary!) tapas

* Offer a carefully chosen selection of tapas with a matching bottle of wine - for example a seafood selection with a Rueda or an Albarino. Or, for a bigger party, a ‘surf’n’turf experience: a bottle of white with seafood tapas, a red with meat-based ones.

* Gradually wean the customer onto the idea of food and wine matching by offering one or two sweet tapas or a cheese course with a matching glass of wine - encouraging them to order an extra course.

In other types of restaurant where dishes are served individually there’s no reason why you shouldn’t offer a specific wine - or beer - suggestion with each dish, depending on how many items you have on the menu. (A long menu means having a lot of bottles open which makes it harder to keep them in good condition. You could get round this by limiting the pairings to a number of daily ‘specials’

What the restaurant I visited did right was to offer great value for money (£20 for four samples of wine and matching tapas, £30 for 8 wines and tapas tasters) and sell the idea enthusiastically to the customer. Food and wine matching can be a great marketing tool.

Risking a spam attack do you have a view on the best way to sell food and wine pairing. Restaurateurs, what’s worked for you?

Image credit: Timur Saglambilek

 

Matching wine and charcuterie - an experiment

About the most daunting audience that anyone could face is a group of wine writers, especially if a number of those happen to specialise in food and wine matching so it was with some trepidation that I agreed to lead a tasting on wine and charcuterie in London on Monday night on the eve of the London International Wine Fair.

The subject had been suggested not by me but by fellow writer David Furer, who also writes for this site. At first I thought it was limited in scope but the more I considered it the more it appealed. Charcuterie is normally paired with very simple rustic wines, usually French but what if one attempted to match it with wines from outside France? Possibly even fine wines?

There was a precedent for that. I remember an unusual and highly successful pairing of Dom Perignon with jamon iberico which linked the umami taste of both the ham and the wine. Charcuterie is typically salty, often fatty providing a coating for the palate that allows the wine to shine. A sparkling wine breaks up that fat (in much the same way as a beer). Could other fine wines do the same?

Appropriately enough the tasting took place at Terroirs, the recently opened wine bar that has some of the best charcuterie in town. On our plates we had a Spanish ham, Jamon de Teruel, which was quite delicate in flavour (more like an Italian than a Spanish ham), some saucisson sec from the Pyrenees, some duck rillette and the formidable ‘terrine Terroirs’ which was lavishly seasoned with spices and garlic. Typically you would eat them together but would we find a wine that could handle them all?

Here are the wines we tried, why I chose them (although in a number of instances I asked the sponsoring body for a wine of a specific type and wasn’t sure what I was getting) and how they performed. Skip to the end if you simply want to read our conclusions:

Rosé Carte Noire 2008, Maitres Vignerons de St-Tropez
RRP: 9.99 Nicolas
I thought we should kick off with a southern French rosé as a ‘control’. This was darker in colour and more intensely flavoured than many Provençal rosés with some attractive ripe berry fruit on the palate and a long dry finish, nevertheless it struggled with the very punchy terrine. I liked it better than many of my fellow writers but then I spend a lot of time in the south of France. It ‘felt right’.

Assyrtiko Hatzidakis 2007
9-10 Caves de Pyrène, Waitrose
This wine was suggested by Doug Wregg of Caves de Pyrène who writes their highly diverting wine list. His recommendation for the wine: “Normally octopus but would work well (we think) with the fattiness of rillettes or a jambon persillé (like a supercharged Aligoté)” As it turned out it lacked the requisite freshness and zip - a younger vintage might have been better. (The usual Greek pairing, according to Greek wine-writer Ted Lelekas who was present, is seafood and shellfish)

2007 Riesling IDIG Grosses Gewaechs, Weingut Christmann, Pfalz
35 Charles Taylor
I wanted to include a dry German Riesling, Germany having many fine charcuterie products of its own (though probably rather more that are smoked). This was an exceptionally fine example - too fine, most thought for these particular charcuterie products, especially the terrine though the ham proved a particularly sympathetic foil. There was a suggestion that a wine with a touch more sweetness would have worked better. And, I would suggest, one with a few more years maturity. Worth pursuing this route though

Chapel Hill Verdelho 2007
Supplied by: Lindsay May on behalf of Wine Australia
RRP: 9.49 in independents including Planet of the Grapes, Ongar Wines Ltd, Australian Wines Online, Rehills of Jemond, Badmington Wines
Again I wanted to include something from Australia and thought a Verdelho would be an intriguing choice but the zesty limey character of this very attractive example didn’t work with anything but the duck rillettes (actually a fascinating combination). Better to stick to Thai and other south-east Asian influenced dishes. Australian food, in other words.

Lambrusco Reggiano Concerto
RRP: 8-10 Vinum, Everywine, Harrods, Booths
It seemed to me that an authentic red Lambrusco should be ideal for charcuterie - after all Emilia Romagna where it comes from has some wonderful pork products of its own. And for me it hit the spot perfectly. I loved its acidity, its dark bitter cherry fruit and its gentle effervescence but it’s obviously a ‘love it or hate it’ wine. Some didn’t take to it at all, another group agreed that it was one of the best all-rounders. It was particularly good with the rillettes, though some preferred the Marcillac below.

2006 Marcillac, Cuvee Lairis, Jean-Luc Matha
RRP: 9.99 Caves de Pyrène
I thought we should have a rustic French red of the type the French themselves would drink with charcuterie and thought a Marcillac from south-west France, a favourite wine of the Caves de Pyrène crew, would work well. It was actually the only wine that was positively affected by the charcuterie which rounded it out and enhanced its fruitiness. Most thought it performed pretty well overall - best with the saucisson and the rillettes.

Morgon, Côtes du Py, Beaujolais 2007 Domaine Jean Foillard
RRP: Around 16 a bottle from Caves de Pyrène, slurp.co.uk
I’ve always rated Beaujolais with charcuterie, but thought it would be interesting to have one from the band of ‘natural’ winemakers who eschew sulphur and filtration. Although Foillard is highly rated this was possibly not the best example from an unremarkable vintage - it was a bit funky and feral, so failed to completely engage with our troublesome terrine. Good with the saucisson though.

Isabel Estate Pinot Noir 2005
18.55 Berry Brothers & Rudd
I remember being very taken with the idea of a ‘Pigs and Pinot’ festival I read about so thought it would be interesting to see how a top notch New World Pinot Noir from New Zealand fared with our selection. Better than I anticipated was the answer, particularly with the terrine where its lusciously ripe fruit proved the perfect counterpoint to the spicing. It was also pretty good with the rillettes - less so with the saucisson and ham. Possibly a less classy Pinot would have done an equally good job?

Manzanilla La Gitana
RRP 8.49 at Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury, Majestic, Somerfield, Wine Rack, plus independents.
Further proof - if proof were needed - that sherry is one of the all time great food wines. This salty manzanilla sailed through the plate taking every component in its stride, just as it would a plate of tapas. I’m not sure a fino wouldn’t have been even better. Worth trying a dry amontillado or palo cortado too which would have probably worked marginally better with the terrine. Most attendees’ favourite overall.

El Grifo Canari Lanzarote 1997
I’d never come across this rare cream sherry-style wine from Lanzarote but happily Spanish specialist John Radford was in the audience to explain its origins. Most agreed it was quite wrong for the charcuterie (far too sweet) but we reckoned it would have been interesting with blue cheese or a crema catalana. (The website recommends it with good company!)

Conclusion
So what should you drink with charcuterie? Well, the manzanilla sherry got the majority vote as the best wine overall, followed closely by the Lambrusco and a little way behind by the Riesling though it was felt that the quality of the latter was diminished by the charcuterie selection.

If you’re a Francophile I reckon you’d probably be inclined to stick to the usual suspects, rustic and fruity reds having the edge on rosé and whites. The Marcillac was good, though I suspect a fruitier cru Beaujolais might have outclassed it (see the links below).

Individual matches that were singled out were individual pairings of the ham, rillettes and terrine with the Riesling, Marcillac with both the saucisson and rillettes, Morgon and saucisson, Verdelho and duck rillettes and the Isabel Estate Pinot Noir and terrine.

The duck rillettes proved particularly wine-friendly - worth considering serving on their own on crostini as a nibble with an aperitif. A flavourful pâté or terrine is probably also better served on its own, rather than as part of a selection if you particularly want the accompanying wine to shine (though take care if you add an accompanying relish or compote). It can also take a wine with a touch of sweetness.

The ones that got away
What else could we have fielded? Well a Champagne or a cava would have been interesting. Someone suggested a dry Chenin like a Savennières and I’d have quite liked to include an Italian red like a Valpolicella or a Teroldego. Plenty of food for thought, anyway.

 

Matching wine with fusion food

There seems to be quite a buzz around pairing wine with spicy food at the moment - detractors saying it’s a waste of time, people like me saying that on the contrary you can derive a good deal of pleasure from it.

Last night’s dinner at the Covent Garden restaurant Tamarai, which featured a series of one-to-one matches devised by wine writer Charles Metcalfe and his wife Kathryn McWhirter was a case in point, showing that even when you venture beyond the usual suspects (aromatic wines) you can find many successful combinations. Here’s what we ate and drank:

Sweet chilli lotus root with chives and fresh coriander
A really delicious ‘nibble’ - the lotus root was covered with a slightly sticky glaze which went really well with a crisp, limey 2007 Knappstein Hand Picked Riesling from the Clare Valley

Smoked salmon thayar Satham (curd rice) with tomato pickle
Another one-bite canap that was less spicy than it sounded. Paired very successfully with a 2007 Laroche Chardonnay Terret from the Languedoc (an unoaked wine that would in fact have worked well with other smoked salmon dishes)

Soft shell crab with flame roast coconut and masala (spiced) mayo
A perfectly sound pairing with a richer, fuller-bodied Stonier Chardonnay from the Yarra Valley. Other possibilities would have been a Viognier (which would have picked up on the coconut) or a glass of sparkling wine (always good with deep fried foods)

Hoisin duck spring roll with pickled plum sauce
Not quite as it sounds - the flavours were hot and citrussy - more Thai than Chinese and as such a great foil for a 2007 Spy Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

Beef Satay, wasabi yoghurt
Apparently Charles had picked a Rioja Crianza with this mildly spiced dish which I think would have worked really well though for some reason it wasn’t on offer. None of the other wines were quite up to it

Mango and green papaya, banana blossom pandana dressing
Listed on its own without a pairing this sharply flavoured salad certainly wasn’t an easy customer. The Spy Valley Sauvignon worked best. The Knappstein Riesling survived

Curry leaf tiger prawns with wild rice uppama
Also partnered with the Spy Valley Sauvignon which worked well with the spicy tomato marinade

Masala Morels with water chestnut and herb lemon rice
Quite a mild dish served with a dosa which, together with the morels made it quite wine-friendly. A less acidic wine - the Stonier chardonnay - worked well here, as, I think, would a Pinot Noir

Thai Chicken Green Curry, pea aubergine, young bamboo shoots
One of only two pairings I didn’t really think worked, partly because I wasn’t mad about the slightly bubblegummy 2007 Vivanco Rioja rosado (which would probably have matched better with a meat curry or the beef satay) The Sauvignon survived - just. An Alsace Pinot Gris (or, to be honest, a witbier) would have been a better pairing.

There were also three desserts: a seasonal fruit satay (a nice way to end a meal of this kind) a roasted sesame and white chocolate semi-freddo with wild berry coulis and iced mango with goji berries with bitter chocolate mousse, none of which really worked with the accompanying slightly lightweight 2006 Muscat de Rivesaltes from Jean Marc Lafage. A beerenauslese or other very sweet riesling with good acidity might have done the trick but the combination of mango and chocolate was far from easy.

The only drawback about this approach is that an Asian meal typically features a selection of dishes rather than serving them one at a time but if you were serving Westernised fusion-style dishes at home you could find the suggestions useful.

Overall I felt the Spy Valley New Zealand Sauvignon and Knappstein Riesling were the most versatile wines but the meal certainly showed it is possible to pair an oaky chardonnay with spicy food.

There seems to be quite a buzz around pairing wine with spicy food atthe moment - detractors saying it’s a waste of time, people like mesaying that on the contrary you can derive a good deal of pleasure fromit. Last night’s dinner at the Covent Garden restaurant Tamarai,which featured a series of one on one matches devised by wine writerCharles Metcalfe and his wife Kathryn McWhirter was a case in point,showing that even when you venture beyond the usual suspects (aromaticwines) you can find many successful combinations.