Vega Real, Ribera del Duero

After a family barbecue on Saturday night, Sunday started a little sore. The weather from my bedroom window seemed overcast, which in view of my heavy head suited me to remain horizontal. I emerged at around 3pm, starving and to discover that my bedroom window may need to be cleaned. Blue skies and really warm. We decided on prawns and a big glass of Spanish red. I usually pick up some nice fat frozen king prawns in Superquinn but we had overlooked the fact that not only was every person in Dublin barbecuing but they had been to the supermarket at least 5 hours before us. After travelling to 3 shops we settled on a bag of uncomfortably small de-shelled frozen prawns.
The prawns were a disaster but the bottle of Vega Real made up for the rubbery- water injected- pretend shell fish.
This wine punches way above it's weight. A dark black cherry colour in the glass. The nose has the Spanish earthiness that always makes my mouth water, some dark red fruit and a slick of liquorice. The palate is smooth and full-bodied. The fruit ripe and big with a nice savoury finish.
Wines from Ribera del Duero are a serious favourite of mine. Try Crianzas and Resevas during the colder months and Jovens are ideal for barbecue season. All work exceptionally well with roasted or slow cooked meats but also mask cremated red meats very well. Forget scraping or binning just serve plenty of this and no barbecue guest will even notice. Best summer catering tip I've ever received and forget about frozen prawns - a definite no!
O&O

Ruth.

DEVENEYS DUNDRUM

  CONSUME AND ENJOY IN MODERATION

http://wowireland.blogspot.com

CELLARS,NAAS ROAD:DEVENEYS DUNDRUM:JUS DE VINE PORTMARNOCK:THE VINTRY RATHGAR

Ebano 6

So, when choosing the only red wine for the Spanish tasting this week I had to be careful not to pick something that would scare Lyndsay off and undo the work we've been putting into trying to convert her into a red wine drinker.
I decided to stay away from traditional Spanish areas like Rioja and do a wine region that has given Spanish reds a face-lift and totally modernised the sometimes staid style.
Ebano 6 is from a Northerly wine region called Ribera del Duero and is regarded as the of the top 5 wineries of this area.
In 2006, it picked up the award for ''Old World red wine of the year'' in the NOffLA Gold Star Awards.- A highly coveted Irish Wine Award. Apart from all of these high profiled awards, I give it my own personal favourite flag... Most importantly!!
Clare and I spent a week last July with friends in Barcelona. We used to eat in this Tapas bar just off the beach everyday for lunch.
They would serve us this dish of fillet steak, goats cheese and balsamic vinegar with a side of deep fried battered asparagus and horseradish and a couple of bottles of Ebano 6. More often than not we never made it back to the beach and more often than not it wasn't just a couple of bottles of Ebano 6. Probably closer to the number associated with the wine but there was always a minimum of 4 of us... Just for the record!!!
Every other Tuesday night I have this re-accuring food dream of that lunch where I wake up chewing my pillow and absolutely starving!! I am 100% with Evelyn on the eating my weight in Spanish food during breakfast lunch and dinner and managing to ''grow-out'' of my summer clothes within the 7 day holiday.
So I hope I've picked the right red to showcase what Spanish wines have to offer to a potentially new red wine drinker....
Ebano 6.
The colour is a black cherry almost liquorice dark.
The nose displays aromas of violet, blackcurrant, eucalyptus and ripe cherry.
The palate is really smooth and full bodied with ripe fruit, some black liquorice and a slight smokiness on the finish.
Drink me with almost everything. Chocolate desserts, steak, tapas foods like cured meats and good parmesan or the Spanish alternative manchego...  Love it!!
O&O
Ruth.