I was attending a meeting of the Connecticut Office of Tourism at the Heritage Hotel in Southbury
when I received an invitation to attend a wine event at Costa del Sol in Hartford.
Distributor Ibéria Wines & Spirits and wine shop Wild Vines were teaming up to present the Spanish wines of Bodegas Félix Lorenzo Cachazo.
I ran into serious traffic on I-84, bailed off the freeway, and was proud of myself for negotiating the route from the Capitol Avenue exit to Wethersfield Avenue flawlessly for the first time. I had made a mess of that one in the past.
I paused in the foyer in front of this culinary map of Spain, thinking how amazing and varied are the wine and food from this country roughly the size of California.
One of the first to arrive, I found the wine glasses all laid out
and white wines chilling under ice.
I took the opportunity to talk about the proffered wines
with handsome Eduardo Lorenzo Heras,
Bodegas Cachazo’s export manager whose family has had the winery some sixty years (with many vines that are twice that old) and whose sister (far left in this internet photo) is the current winemaker.
Costa del Sol’s owner, Pepe Feijoo,
and his family began readying a selection of help-yourself tapas to accompany the wine tasting.
It was quite a spread.
In the meantime, Carlos Mouta of Ibéria Wines was opening bottles for the event.
We started off with glasses of Carras Viñas Brut.
Mouta introduced Heras,
who provided background
about the family winery and its products to his rapt audience.
Heras also talked with guests one on one
when he wasn’t busy helping pour wines for seated guests.
After the sparkling wine, the wines that guests enjoyed included a Gran Cardiel Verdejo-Viura blend from Rueda,
a Gran Cardiel Verdejo also from Rueda,
a Caballero de Olmedo Tinto Joven from Castilla y León,
and a Carilles Tinto Crianza, also from Castilla y León.
The first and last were by far my favorites, the first a smooth lovely white blend, the second a vibrant, almost jammy, Tempranillo. As you can see from this sheet, the wines were being offered to guests at irresistible prices.
A great time was had by all.
(The individual standing in the photo above is Mouta’s Ibéria Wines partner Fernando Ferreira.)
Guests helped themselves to the many great tapas (click on photos to enlarge), which included toasts topped with house-cured salmon, cream cheese, shallot, parsley, salmon roe and aïoli,
toasts topped with chistorra sausage, Tetilla cheese, tomato sauce and caramelized onion,
empanadas filled with Ibérico ham, chorizo, pork loin and caramelized onion,
Valdeón blue cheese croquettes topped with aïoli,
tortilla Española (potato and onion omelet),
pizza with clam, garlic, parsley, black pepper and Parmesan that could give most Hartford-area pizzerias a run for their money,
tempura shrimp with a piquillo pepper aïoli,
and finally, served in their shells, mussels and minced bell peppers in a sherry vinaigrette.
Can you beat the freshness?
If this combination of wine and tapas appeals to you, consider visiting Costa del Sol on tapas Tuesdays. But any day (except Monday, when the restaurant is closed) is a great day to visit this fine Spanish establishment.
Costa del Sol, 901 Wethersfield Avenue, Hartford, 860-296-1714, www.costadelsolrestaurant.net
Ibéria Wines & Spirits, 179 Park Avenue, East Hartford, 860-291-8928, www.iberiawinesct.com
Wild Vines, Pope Commons, 1200 Park Street, Hartford, 860-951-7513
Bodegas Félix Lorenzo Cachazo, Ctra. Medina del Campo, Km. 9, 47220 Pozaldez (Valladolid), España, +34-983-822-008, www.cachazo.com