A trip into the mountains to view a possible yoga venue turned out to be kismet! This is really a circular yoga story, beginning at Finca Los Pinos near Competa three years ago. We were running one of our retreats there in October and the owners were kind enough to do the cooking for us on the last night and brought out an unusual white wine. Now white is not my usual tipple, but I will try anything. They explained that it was stocked by Gordon Ramsey's restaurants and that piqued my interest a bit more! I will give you my thoughts on that very singular wine a little later. After the retreat was over we got a call from the retreat owners to ask if we wanted to go to the Bodega for a meal with wine, well yes we did! It never came off unfortunately, as there were not enough people to make it worth opening for. We had ideas in our heads of a rustic bodega, traditional Spanish food and tasting more interesting wines, so were obviously disappointed. Life went on, however, and it slipped from our minds, not being white wine consumers. Skip forward to 2019 and we found ourselves in Spain for Christmas for the 1st time. We decided - OK I decided! - to do Christmas dinner for our 4 closest friends in Spain. I shall do a post about this and link it HERE, because as you would expect it was Spanish themed. Not doing thing by halves, I started planning food and thinking about wine pairing for our seven courses, which is obviously nearly as important! My mind flickered back to that wine we tried years before as this would fit perfectly with my mojama and fennel based fish course. After lot of mind straining and internet research I finally found out it was Ariyanas wine. Hurray. Now I know we had seen it at a wine store in the beautiful town of Frigiliana so with a festive gift to pick up there I scheduled a trip around my preparations nearer to the day itself. Bugger! The Frigiliana wine shop was closed and enquiries to other local shops came up with a big fat zero. I knew I didn't have time to visit the bodega, so bought a very dry Rias Baxas from Galicia instead. Despite these 1st world setbacks the meal went really well! Come February 2020 we had made plans to visit a lovely venue that we hoped would be suitable to run more yoga retreats from. The visit went very well apart from getting my car stuck on the corner of their car park! We found out we had loads in common with the owners and that one of them used to live on the next road to me in Manchester. Small world! On the way inland what sign should we pass but that of Bodegas Bentomiz - producer of the now near-mythical (to us at least) Ariyanas wine! We would seek it out on our way back down towards the coast. We were stunned when we got to the end of the lane after taking the turn. Instead of a quaint Spanish bodega with terracotta tiles and rustic touches, we were greeted by stone-clad minimalist oblongs stacked into the terraces. Once we figured out how to get in, we went upstairs, bypassing the lower floors wine making and bottling areas. The dining / events room was enormous with light flooding in from floor to ceiling sliding doors - giving the most spectacular views over the valley and down to the sea in the distance. A small part of the floor is glassed, which gives a view down to the mechanics of the operation - obviously not in use in February! We arrived just in time to be able to tag into lunch with the twelve or so other people who had booked. We opted to share a wine tasting before and have the three course menu - with paired wines of course! Rose led the wine tasting and was wonderful and of course extremely knowledgeable. It was really interesting to hear the tasting notes and read the info. There was no rushing either, but then it is Spain! Our meal was cooked and served by chef and co-owner André. We started with a delicious tartare of avocado and marinated local blue fish, topped with pearls made of seaweed, capers and sauced with ajo blanco (a cold white garlic soup). The dish was paired with the Ariyanas Seco sobre lias finas. Yes, finally we get to the mythical wine! Produced 100% from the Moscatel de Alejandría grape, this wine is unusual because it is left on the 'lees' (that the 'sobre las lias finas' bit) for 8 months when maturing, which imparts really complex background tastes. The most common wines noted for this are French, especially Muscadet-sur-lie. The lees are basically the any bits of the grape that settle to the bottom of the wine and the 'lias finas' specifically are the fine white sediment of the remaining yeast cells. To begin with, this wine has an amazing nose for a white, totally unexpected. Fruity yes, but really complex and fragrant, honey sweet even. In the mouth is a complex explosion of dry flowers, citrus, herbs and really flinty finish, which is typical of grapes grown in this part of the mountainous Malaga region. The taste really lingers too, which makes it perfect for having with complementary food. The fruitiness enhanced the avocado and the dry minerality sets off the cheeky capers burst of acidity. If you get to taste this wine - and I really hope you do - you will want to stick your nose in the glass just as much as drink it. Next were some melt-in-the-mouth 'carrilledas de cerdo', Iberico pigs cheeks, that had been slow cooked, accompanied by some silky sweet potato puree and sautéed mushrooms. The cheeks were cooked in - and paired with - Bentomiz's only dry red, the Petit Verdot. It's a smooth drinking yet spicy, peppery affair, that was just tannic enough to cut through the sweetness on the plate. The whole plate was full of umami too, especially when I ate the mushrooms with the pork, and the wines slightly flowery, fruity notes contrasted really well with it. The chats with Andre were necessarily short but charming and insightful. He presented us with a wonderful chocolate brownie to finish, which was paired with their amazing sweet red from a Merlot grape. Their sweet wines are not fortified - as most are - instead, they allow the grape's natural sugars to develop by sun-drying before pressing. Although the Tinto Dulce is obviously sweet, it is balanced out with a pleasant acidity and light tannins. Despite a short four month ageing in French oak, that flavour is very much in the background, peeking out only with subtle hints of leather. It could be paired with a strong cheese - and I will doubtless try that at some stage - but it certainly went very well with the dark chocolate and fruits.
The service, attention to detail, ambience and quality of everything was truly top class, but really personal too. We long to go back in the Autumn, where the doors are open and you can dine on the panoramic terrace. For the moment we wish André, Rose and the whole team the best in getting through a difficult period, along with everybody in the hospitality industry everywhere. For those lucky enough to live in the surrounding area they offer home-made bread and wine deliveries. For those elsewhere a minimum 6 cases can be ordered for delivery in Europe. When I find out about stockists in the UK I will post it here! As I mentioned, I will be writing more about the fascinating Bentomiz story and further wine tastings in the future. You can find more about them now if you want, by visiting their website BODEGAS BENTOMIZ here. If you liked this post please comment below, join our email newsletter, let your friends know and follow me on Twitter @SpainOnOPlate
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AuthorAlex Gonnord-Luty, chef, aspiring good blog writer, Hispanophile, lives currently in France & Spain. Archives
September 2020
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