
I've always like Albariños ever since...and when Noel told me that he was planning a local Albariño tasting, to rate them and see which one was the best of the locally available ones, I could not let this opportunity pass. Rules were simple: all of them had to be locally available. At firts it was supposed to be a blind tasting but we decided not to so as not to complicate things. Anyway..as Johnny said, we are all Men of Horror...ay ....este 'Honor' pala...
The 5 that we were going to taste and rate were:
2006 Pazo de Barrantes Alabariño - sold by Ralph's
2007 Burgáns Albariño - sold by Barcino
2007 Códax Albariño - sold by Barcino
2007 Laxas Albariño - sold by Terry Selection
2007 Terras Gauda Albariño - sold by Premium Wine Exchange
As we tasted and re-tasted the wines, we had an array of food specially prepared by Chef Xavi, ideal for this type of wine. For tapas, we had Suahe, Kokotxas de Bacalao al Pil Pil, Pulpo a la Gallega, Escalivada, Boquerones, Almeja and Pimientos Rellenos de Bacalao. All of these are our typical porders in la Tienda, so I will no longer elaborate on them, except for the Pimientos rellenos de Bacalao. Green Peppers filled with Bacalao and shrimp, covered with a thick sauce, probably made with pureed Pimientos.




By the time we were done with the Tapas and wines, Noel had tallied all the scores, which were as follows:
1st Place - 2007 Laxas Albariño with 28 points (4 votes for 1st place and 2 votes for 2nd place), Terry Selection.
2nd Place - 2007 Terras Gauda Albariño with 24 points (2 votes for 1st place, 3 votes for 2nd place, 1 vote for 4th place), Premium Wine Exchange
3rd Place - 2007 Burgáns Albariño with 17 points (1 vote for 2nd place, 3 votes for 3rd place and 2 votes for 4th place), Barcino.
4th Place - 2007 Códax Albariño with 15 points (3 votes for 3rd place and 3 votes for 4th place), Barcino.
5th Place - 2006 Pazo de Barrantes Alabariño with 6 points.
We had no doubts and it was almost unanimous that the preferred one was the Laxas and the least preferred, the Pazo de Barrantes. Will all that hard work done...we could now enjoy our reds and the main courses. We had a total of around 10 bottles to choose from...so that was another hard task...We decided to open Noel's Napa, a 2005 KAPCSANDY FAMIILY WINERY and Rene's 2001 YARRA YERING DRY RED WINE No. 1. Rene had brought this back from a recent trip to Australia, mentioning this was a Bordeaux style Australian. It was quite good, but as soon as we opened Jojo's 95 CHATEAU L'EVANGILE, all bets were off.
We then were served the main dishes: Besugo, Paella de Verduras and Chuleton. Food was great as usual, and the Chuleton was exceptionally good this time, including the fries. We decided to open Greg's 2002 SOLANES PRIORAT, which would be a great match for the Chuleton.
Many other red that we brought were spared and will probably have to wait for another good Spanish dinner to be opened. Many thanks to Noel for thinking about organizing this dinner. Thank you Jojo, Rene, Johnny and Greg for the fine wines and company. Nice meeting you Greg. It was unfortunate Johnny had to leave early but I'm sure he enjoyed as well.

Gracias Chef por la cena maravillosa y hasta pronto!!



































