Geography – what do you know?

So the Ministry of Education in Ontario forces every student to take grade 9 geography.  Useful.  I want my children to know that Halifax is to the east, Vancouver to the west, and there is a little something called the Atlantic Ocean that prevents us from driving in our car to Spain.

Here’s a little map that can help you out if you know nothing about Spanish wine.  The keys to this map?  Look north of Madrid  to Rioja and Ribero del Duero if you want to spend a lot of money but you don’t care because it’s worth it.  Look high and left if you need a crisp white – Rias Biaxis makes me giggle for some reason. And look at the purple regions if you want a good deal.

I got this from the folks at Bodegas Altanza’s facebook page – who got it from someone else – who probably cut and pasted it from elsewhere.  Now it’s ours.  I love this internet!

Taste Memory

My two strongest memories from this summer’s Spanish vacation are of the delicious red wine we drank and the 15 dogs that barked me awake at 3:30 each morning. Perros estúpidos!

Taste memories are strong. So this week I’ve been blocking the dog/sleep thing by focusing on the red wine.  Problem is that there is no Mercadoña or Carrefour to visit where I can buy Rioja for 2 €. Sad, but I am up for the LCBO challenge of finding a great inexpensive wine from Spain.

After trying 3 “good looking” red wines the winner was clear. Beronia is a dry, hot summer in your mouth (in a good way). It just became this year’s house wine in Casa Oke.

BERONIA TEMPRANILLO RIOJA
LCBO 243055 | Price: $ 11.25

It happened in Spain

My brother lives in Spain. In Spain you can buy cava (Spanish Champagne) at the gas station while you pay for your diesel fuel.  My brother-in-Spain got up to the counter with his gas station cava – actually a respectable brand – when the young gas attendant said to him something like (and I translate from the original Spanish), “Dude. You can totally get a better deal on this other cava because it’s 2 for 1”.

Slightly taken aback, my brother-in-Spain initially opted NOT to follow the advice of the clerk selling petrol, gum, soccer scarfs, and pairs of fine Spanish sparkling wines.  Fortunately he came to his senses. “Of course I’m following the wine purchasing advice of gas attendant – I’d be loco not to.  Also, this feels like an SNL skit“.

When in Canada I buy  these cava.  They aren’t 2 for 1, and they’re not available at Norm’s Esso, but they’re good sparklers.

Freixenet

Segura Viudas

Drink this Wine – Part 2

If you don’t drink white wine then you’re either loco or stubborn – or being stubbornly loco.

When it comes to white wine, overly 0aked chardonnay is not my forté – besides that there’s always the risk of having a black fly ironically land in it.  You may recall that America’s founding fathers tried to pass a law against overly oaked chardonnay – apparently unsuccessfully.  What is my forté is a crisp refreshing drink.  This one, from Spain, is probably the best white in the $10 range at the LCBO.

MARQUES DE RISCAL WHITE
LCBO 36822 | Price: $ 10.90

Delicioso, fresco y ácido, servir a enfriarse ( gracias traductor de google)

And for those of you interested – Marqués de Riscal translates Marqués of Riscal. I did that without google.