What to Eat with Spanish Wines

The wines were very good, and the food was sensational.

This sums up the Ribera del Duero Spanish wine tasting last week at SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills.

I confess to spending as much time at the food table as at the wine displays. However, I did discover impressive Tempranillos, including a Monte Pinadillo Crianza 2007 ($15.99) and a Yotuel Viñas Viejas 2005 from Bodegas y Viñedos Gallego Zapatero.

The grapes for the Yotuel came from 80-year-old vines. Only 120 cases were made, and a bottle costs somewhere between $45 and $50.

If you are willing to pay more, look for Parcela El Nogal 2004 from Pago de las Capellanes, which spent 22 months in French oak and 4 years in the bottle. You can have it for about $80.

If  that is way beyond your budget, consider the Viña Gormaz Tempranillo 2009 and the Hijos de Antonio Barceló Viña Mayor Tinto Roble 2008, both retailing for about $12.

Now, on to the food. For clever cuteness, the winner was shrimp impaled on a pipette that contained cocktail sauce made with strained fresh tomatoes. As you bit into the shrimp, you  simultaneously squeezed the sauce into your mouth.

Pan con tomate  (in the bowl below) was "the best thing I have ever tasted," raved one guest, perhaps in a burst of wine-inspired enthusiasm.  But the soft, fresh-tasting mixture, which could be used as a spread or a dip, was very good.

The contents were grated rustic bread, grated tomatoes, garlic, Spanish olive oil and thyme, according to banquet chef Gemma Gray.

The effect was reminiscent of gazpacho, if you can visualize the cold soup minus typical gazpacho additions such as vinegar and cucumber.

Other tomatoes were roasted whole at very high heat until wrinkled, soft and barely recognizable. These were placed on toasted rolls along with burrata and a spoonful of herb pesto, not your usual Italian basil pesto, but a mixture of basil, parsley, tarragon, thyme, garlic, olive oil and salt.

Melon wrapped with ham was simple and refreshing. And so were watermelon cubes (right) topped with halved cherry tomatoes on a tray with dabs of balsamic vinegar for dipping.

For salad lovers, romaine took on a new look, sprinkled with Parmesan and stacked in glasses so that you could pull out one leaf at a time.

And there were individual bowls of premium tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella (at top) and a dash of the herb pesto. 

Other choices included cheeses, sausages and salted almonds, all good companions for the wines, even if they did lure tasters away from their work.