The Tasting Panel magazine

July 2015

Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/537687

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 20 of 136

20  /  the tasting panel  /  july 2015 NEW YORK CITY SIPS Food, art and wine merged at the Instituto Cervantes, where the #thinkwinely producer consortium hosted a courtyard party to familiarize wine buyers, writers and drinkers with their Spanish portfolios. Located in the northeastern province of Huesca, the 30-year-old Somontano D.O. is both under the radar and "under the mountain," a Spanish- language reference to its position at the foot of the Pyrenees. The outdoor bash featured a tasting of wines produced from red and white Garnacha, as well as red and white blends of international varieties, a live cooking show and mural painting by Boa Mistura, the innovative Spanish art collective. Huesca native Mateo Sierra Ballarin, a runner-up on Spain's MasterChef reality television show, served tapas that paired with the wines from Viñas del Vero, Enate, Pirineos, Sommos and Batán de Salas-De Beroz, the #thinkwinely producers promoting the regional wines. Visiting from the other side of Spain, Andrew McCarthy of Castro Martin Albariño, offered tastings from the Rías Baixas bodega that he and his wife own. McCarthy, a former wine buyer in the U.K., fell in love first with the Albariños he was importing from Castro Martin, and then with Angela, the winemaker, whose father was instrumental in shap- ing modern Albariño (he was the first to use 100 percent stainless steel tanks). McCarthy moved to Galicia in 2001 and now markets the wines globally. We tasted the 2013 A20 Sobre Lías, showing an atypical shimmering sweetness (fermentation time was slightly shorter to compensate for rainfall), and the estate Sobre Lías, with a "drink-me-now" freshness and distinctive salinity. Food and Wine for Thought by Lana Bortolot Left to right: Chef Marcus Samuelsson; Food Network's Chopped host Ted Allen; and Herb Karlitz, co-founder of Harlem EatUp! at Vinatería. PHOTO COURTESY OF HARLEMEATUP! It's not often one has the chance to say "Harlem dining" and "Bordeaux wines" in the same sentence, but thanks to celeb chef Marcus Samuelsson's inaugural HarlemEatUp! food and drink fest and Vins de Bordeaux, that tasty combo passed the lips of many New Yorkers—figuratively and literally. Demonstrating the wines' everyday appeal, Cécile Ha and Mary Gorman-McAdams, MW from the Bordeaux Wine Council hosted trade dinners at two of Harlem's hottest eateries, Ginny's Supper Club (owned by Samuelsson) and Spanish-Italian fusion restaurant, Vinatería. Each house chef partnered with a guest chef: Sean Brock, of Husk Restaurant in Nashville, teamed with Samuelsson, and Linton Hopkins, of Atlanta's Restaurant Eugene, shared Gustavo Lopez's kitchen at Vinatería. Pairing Bordeaux wines with the diverse menus of the festival, McAdams said, "was the best proof that Bordeaux wines are highly food-friendly." Chef Mateo Sierra Ballarin at Instituto Cervantes. Andrew McCarthy at Santina at the High Line in New York. PHOTO: LANA BORTOLOT PHOTO: LANA BORTOLOT

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Tasting Panel magazine - July 2015