Brindisa Eatery Review

An occasional diversion to give you my thoughts on memorable meals. I have been a regular at the Brindisa stall in Borough market, enjoying their chorizo and pepper sandwiches and taking home the occasional ham ( yes, a whole ham). The arrival of some good news met my wife treated me to lunch at the Brindisa tapas restaurant. We started with a selection of iberico, Serrano and iberico de bellota ham, melting, creamy and salty, this was joined by a small plate of Bricks de Morecilla, small slices of black pudding wrapped in filo pastry and fried. The later was a new one for me and a wonderful mouthful of yumminess. I washed this down with a delicious Amontillado seco Napoleon, dry, rich and nutty, slightly chilled and very easy to drink.

Next up my wife opted for a signature dish, and seasonal, wild mushrooms on toast with truffle oil and shaved manchego cheese. Whilst the flavour, toast and cheese were generous, the mushrooms where not. I opted from the deep fried Monte Enebro goats cheese with honey and beetroot chips, it was utterly delicious but better suited to dessert as the honey emphasised the sweet creaminess of the cheese. I loved the balance of the salt cod and orange salad, with boiled egg and onions; salt, acid, sweetness all working harmoniously. The wine list has an extensive selection of wine by the glass (125ml) which mean you can play around with a different combinations, a small glass of a £50-60 bottle is not something you will see in many places. I chose a Pazo Senorans 2011, Alborino/Rias Baixas, full, aromatic and wonderfully balanced with great acidity and minerality.

It is fair to say that the generous portions would have made this a satisfying lunch as it was but the sight of black rice with fried squid and a further dish of pork belly with quince jam was too tempting and justifiable. I washed this down with a wonderful Valenciso Reserva Rioja 2005, soft and round but with strong dark fruit. You can eat quite modestly at Brindisa but go there with a sense of occasion and hungry eyes at your peril

Alizarin Wine Tasting

Unexpected Spanish wine

A good friend of mine has started a new wine business and held his inaugural client tasting this week. The aim is to highlight some of the lesser know regions bordering  the Mediterranean. His first batch are from Utiel-Requena near Valencia as well as couple of Greek wines. Here are my thoughts on some of the highlights

El Cava Reserva Brut Nature (2008) £18
This was truly excellent and a long way from the cheap fizz you might expect to have Cava on the label. Made from chardonnay and macebeo grapes with some of the wine being oak aged before secondary fermentation, this gives it a marvellous level of complexity and a slight reductive character more usually found in top Champagne. Yet is clear and fresh with a wonderful herbaceous edge, wonderfully refreshing now, I am certain there is more to come from this wine with a little bottle age.

Las Dos Ces - Blanco (2011) £9.95
"The two grapes" this is pretty much the house white, 89% sauvignon blanc and some macebeo, you don't get much of the character usually appreciated with SB instead its closer to viognier in style; crisp, peachy and herbaceous.

Mylonas Savatiano from Keratea, Attica Greece £11.95
The best of the white wines on show, the savatiano grapes is at its best on Santorini where it gives lovely crisp and flinty wine. Here the wine is more rounded, full and grassy with apple acidity. It was screaming out for a plate of fresh calamari.

The reds on show where generally typical old world food wines, lighter in style than you may be used to from the new world but packed with character

Casa Don Angel Malbec 2007-08 £16.90
The odd date in the name is due to this being a blend of two vintages though it is 100% malbec and has been aged from 6-24 months in American and French oak. This is certainly not the intense black malbec that we would expect from the Argentina or even Cahors, it is surprisingly light but with bags of flavour, cherries on the tongue and cedar and leather on the nose. It has great balance and complexity, again made to accompany food.

Vera de Estenas Crianza 2007 £12.60
One of my favourites from the evening, a mixture of 45% Bobal with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo. An excellent nose, lots of red jammy fruit with leathery notes, a mature flavour with clean fruit and a refreshing twist of rosemary, making a excellent choice with barbecue lamb.

el Cabernet F Chozas Carrascal (2009) £26
The top wine from Chozas Carrascal, a limited edition release with a signed label. Made from 100% cabernet franc and aged from 9 months in French oak, the flavour is deep and dark with a roasted chocolate, cedar and leather balanced with black fruits. A great finish.

Las Ocho (2008) £17
As wonderful as the Cabernet F was, the star of the night was Las Ocho, "The Eight", a blend of bobal, monastrell, granacha, tempranillo, cabernet sauvigion, carbernet franc, syrah and merlot grapes all aged from upto 14 months in French oak. The wine maker has managed to bring a great deal of complexity into the blend with a wonderful level of intensity of colour, smell and flavour. The wine is still young and closed but the mouth is clean and black, with mint and leather backed up with good acidity and firm tannins. Rewarding now but I expect some wonderful layers still waiting to appear.

Daily Telegraph

Victoria Moore

Val do Salnes Albarino 2009 Spain (12%, M&S, £10.99)
A wonderful, intense albarino that tastes like apricot kernels and the juice that drips out of a fresh white peach when you bite into it. It is fractionally off-dry, which you won’t pick up on except to notice that it seems very succulent. Drink with fat barbecued garlic prawns or crab with mayonnaise.
Finest Manzanilla NV Spain (ABV, Tesco, £5.29 for 50cl)
The Waitrose Solera Jerezana Manzanilla is tastier, and only slightly more expensive, but if you’re shopping in Tesco and want to pick up a bottle of sherry’s lightest, driest style – think sourdough and rime – then this is jolly good with salted almonds or chorizo, plus it’s in a smallish bottle so will stay fresh. Avoid its sister fino, which is too blunt and stodgy.
Châteauneuf du Pape: Elisabeth Chambellan 2007 France (14.5%, £24.95, Yapp in Mere, yapp.co.uk)
Wine cravings can descend suddenly and be as enveloping as an infatuation. I got one on reading my notes for this beautifully put together, elegant Châteauneuf, “from mature (80 to100-year-old) vines on La Crau plateau right next to Vieux Telegraphe” as Jason Yapp points out. It smells of summer’s heat and tinder-dry herbs.