spanish wine

The first thing you will notice when you spot the Vivanco White Rioja is the unusual shaped bottle. Slightly squatty with a wider lip on the neck, the bottle has a distinct historical look which is not surprising since it was inspired from an original eighteenth-century bottle from the Vivanco Museum of the Culture of Wine. The next thing you will notice is the type and region; a white wine from Rioja with Tempranillo in it.  Intrigued?  Good!

From the Navarro area in Spain formally known as the “basque” region comes this easy drinking, full bodied Garnacha is perfect pick for a last minute get together. This wine comes from vineyards dating back to when Spain was a colony of the Ancient Roman Empire. Benefiting from Atlantic and Mediterranean influences and cold winds from the Pyrenees, Vina Zorzal has excellent conditions for this type of wine.

With temperatures climbing into the mid-eighties and humidity on the rise, this holiday weekend   practically guarantees you’ll be peeling your shirt from your back as you exit the car. Generally, as a wine drinker, you’d be reaching for a Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc or even a Vinho Verde but you are having a small gathering of friends instead of a large party and you need something a bit more elegant.

Our final wine pairing with East Aurora take out will lead us to 189 Public House on Main Street. 189  (www.oneeightynine.com) is a relatively new comer to East Aurora and is owned and operated by John Crook whose family also runs the Bar Bill next door. The pub, known for excellent live music, has a warm, dark wood atmosphere which includes a well appointed bar and is a great place for lunch, dinner and pub fare later in the evening. 

Summer maybe be waning but let us not forget that there is about a month or so left before the true chill of Fall will arrive. Therefore, we should all carry on with our crisp, white wines that refresh us so much when the temps are climbing above 75 degrees or so.

Sometimes formal dinner parties are stressful and big parties complicated and often messy. There are occasions when at the spur of the moment you want to invite a couple of good friends over for cheese and crackers and a simple but tasty glass or two of wine. You want to relax with no pressure and this fruit forward red will work perfectly.

This week we have a new wine that is very affordable and a delightful surprise. The Shania 2011 Monastrell from Spain is a deep, inky, opaque colored wine that has dark fruit and spice aromas. It tastes of blueberry and blackberry, but it also has a significant plummy quality with a distinct peppery finish. The firm but soft tannins make it an easy drinking wine that pairs well with a variety of foods including BBQ ribs, Tex-Mex dishes, and pizza. It even held up to my leftover Tortellini and meat sauce.

I said this wine was a delightful surprise and it is, but not just for being a very tasty and affordable wine, it is also a box wine. That’s right folks. This is a box wine that costs $16.99. That works out to $4.25 a bottle! How can you pass that up?

So you want to grill this weekend, possibly even barbecue some chicken. Well, you might be a little nuts considering how hot it is but, hey, this is what we do on weekends in the good ole summertime. You might think I’m a bit nuts myself considering the wine I’m going to suggest. But that’s okay, because this wine comes from La Mancha where one of the most famous nuts in literature came from: Don Quixote.

The Finca del Castillo Tempranillo is a dry Spanish Red that is medium bodied with substantial red berry fruit. Because it is fruit forward without the influence of oak, this wine is a great match for a spicy barbecued chicken. Another great benefit of this wine is it can be served slightly chilled on a sultry day without compromising the fruity-spicy flavor.

Right now, you can pick this Spanish treasure up for $5.99.