Grape Escapes vol 1
Superb evening with The Green Butcher Ldn down at Twickenham Cricket Club.
Summer BBQs and vino down on Twickenham Green cannot be beat!
3 courses of wonderful food from Nick Green and 7 great wines from Kate and Pen. Three native Spanish varieties in their home town and a new home were compared. Tough to say if Spain or South Africa was the overall favourite as they were all cracking wines !
Our kind of Barbie !
This is what went down:
The grilling of a delicious array of meats commenced whilst Kate and Penny from Play the Wine Card took everyone on a vinous journey of wines from Spain and South Africa by way of flight duos to compare, while enjoying Nick’s fantastic boards of BBQ’d meat. What better way to try new wines and find new favourites.
FLIGHT 1 - The Albariño Showdown: Spain Vs. South Africa
Who said Albariño was exclusively Spanish? Get ready for the face-off of the century as we pitted the Spanish heavyweight, 'Bodegas La Val Más Que 2' against the rising star from the Southern Hemisphere, 'Botanica Flower Girl Albariño'. Two different styles of Albariño, one for everyone.
Paired with herb marinated chicken with chargrilled baby leeks and herby creme frâiche
FLIGHT 2 - Garnacha Vs. Grenache: A Grape By Any Other Name...
Next, we had a linguistic duel. Spain calls it Garnacha, while South Africa prefers Grenache, but the question is, can you tell them apart? This round starred the sultry 'Cuevas de Arom Altas Parcelas Garnacha' against the gutsy 'The Foundry Grenache Noir'. There were subtle differences, both were favourites.
Paired with Pork belly & collar, fire roasted peppers, fennel & peaches
FLIGHT 3 - Monastrell Vs. Mourvèdre: Battle of the M's!
Last but not least, we shared a grape which we think is one of the best-kept secrets. The enigmatic Spanish 'Paco Mulero Monastrell' went vine-to-vine with the elusive South African 'Circumstance Mourvèdre'. Two different expressions of the same variety.
Paired with Bavette of beef and smoked cheese roulade with tomato salad and anchovy dressing
All accompanied by roasted jersey royals and Turkish flatbread
The weather played its part, the food was amazingly good and a great evening was had by all !!
