Help with menu matching for Spanish dinner

I'll play. Seems intuitive to go Spanish, but as you say you are short Spanish wines, I'll offer alternatices

Fried eggplant with salmorejo and sheep feta  Cava! or maybe Txacoli

Mushroom truffle empanaditas  Rose cava, or any like fragrant rose (still or sparkling) or lighter red

White grape and almond gazpacho with warm idiazabal toast  I think you want to go white here Godello, or a bigger Rueda Soave (I'm thinking Italian wines, if you were really lucky the nutty notes I often find in the wines might play well with the almonds)

Grilled halibut with garlic orange sauce and grilled spring onions  Good Rioja bianco White Burgundy

roasted duck breast with strawberry -Garnacha mojo  Rioja GR tinto - esp. LdH Bosconia (or Tondonia) Red fruited PN

braised beef cheeks with gold potato pure and  Cabrales tempura  Priorat Assuming the Cabrales isn't dominant (as blue cheese can be), any big red.

, I'll offer alternatices

es I often find in the wines might play well with the almonds)

Thanks Dale. This looks like a good lineup. Definitely starting with a sher ry but considering Tio Pepe instead of Oloroso.

appreciated.

Without a doubt I would recommend a Sherry at the fino end of the spectrum for white gazpacho. I usually go for a manzanilla, but I can easily imagine fino, manzanilla pasada or amontillado would work equally well.

If anyone reading this has not tried white gazpacho, do!

(Sorry Larry - did not mean to email you - still not used to Thunderbird as a newsreader!)

be appreciated.

You remind me of the time, about 35 years ago, when at a bar in my hotel in Madrid, I ordered manzanilla, and got a cup of chamomile tea. My Spanish was so poor and I was embarrassed enough that I just drank what I was given and didn't complain.

be appreciated.

No problem, appreciate the advice.

You remind me of the time, about 35 years ago, when at a bar in my hotel in Madrid, I ordered manzanilla, and got a cup of chamomile tea. My Spanish was so poor and I was embarrassed enough that I just drank what I was given and didn't complain.

"Anders.Torneskog" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@lyse.net:

Yes, that's true... Sherry went through an off-phase in Spain for the last

30 years or so. We are now through a rennaissance, but in most Spain, if you ask for a "manzanilla" you end up with a cup of camomile.

In fact, if you go to Sanlucar (where Manzanilla comes from), you do not ask for a glass of Manzanilla. You just ask for a glass of wine (un vaso de vino), and you will get Manzanilla de Sanlucar.

s.

My brand new laptop had to go to service so I could not read the group for a few days. Perhaps I am too late with my suggestions. Sorry for that.

Fried eggplant is very typical from Crdoba, where they top it with cane honey. There, you would have a glass of Fino de Montilla with it. Such as Alvear C.B. Feta cheese is of Greek origin.

Not very Spanish, I am afraid. A light red could go fine. Tondonia Reserva

2001, for example.

Difficult match. Very difficult. Perhaps with a sweet Moscatel from L'Axarquia such as MR by Molino Real?

Not very spanish, I am afraid.

We do not eat duck in Spain. Very french. A Garnacha wine will go fine I think.

Save for the Cabrales tempura (Cabrales is tough to pair), I would say that a wine from D.O. Toro would go fine. Termes from Numanthia Termes would be good. Or Pintia from Vega Sicilia. Maurodos "Prima", the second wine of San Roman could also be good and perhaps a tad cheaper.

Enjoy your tasting-dinner!

s.

theme so I'm a little limited on Spanish wines this time though I am likel y to start with an Olaroso Sherry to begin. Thinking about a Pinot with the duck but still having trouble with the rest especially the gazpacho. Any h elp would be appreciated.

Thanks Santiago. Good suggestions.

Ah, now when I recommended a fino-style sherry, I was thinking of a white gazpacho (white bread, almonds, garlic, with a couple of grapes). But I now see "white grape and almond gazpacho" is a different beast.

Steve Slatcher wrote in news:aqc9aeFm2e9U1 @mid.individual.net:

Hi Steve,

I think this is the case. But the white gazpacho is made with almond-milk and some white grapes are added. A difficult match and I thought that the dry Fino would not match the lactic almond notes and the sweet grapes. That's why I suggested the sweet wine. But I am not sure either.

s.

Thinking about an Amontillado.