Rioja Sunday

Well we have no day beginning with R, so let's claim Sunday shall we? Rioja Sunday it is.. As I was telling you in my last post, I love Spain and feel right at home here, which is usually at least once per year. I'm not sure if it's the Spanish blood from Galway's Spanish Armada or what, but Spain always feels like a second home to me.

It's no surprise so that my favourite wines tends to be of the Spanish variety and as such when we are at the Supermarket or out for dinner in Spain, I'm like a kid in a sweet shop! Scanning the menu or the shelves for hidden gems and velvety red wine goodness. I don't drink white wine or Rosé wine, only red wine.

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It gets better. The prices are ridiculous here. At home in Ireland you'll get a grand bottle for around €10 to €15 and a very decent bottle for €20 to €50. Here in Spain €2 to €4 will get you a grand Rioja and for well under a tener you can pick up a fantastic wine. In fact I have often found fantastic wines for €4 or thereabouts.

I did just that in the first couple of days when I picked up this smooth 2014 Rioja Grand Reserva up for €4.75. 5 bloody euro, I felt like I was robbing a bank!

For a bottle like this at home, there wouldn't be much change out of €50.

Cheeses

Where wine goes, cheese follows. It is written. But seriously, some cheese and parma ham is always a good accompaniment to a nice bottle of red, so when in Rome, as they say...

Well truth be told I had already cooked us up a tasty garlic infused chicken and chorizo pasta dish, which I must admit was feckin lovely_{I'm usually modest but it was feckin lovely 😁}

I'll post about that another time and bring you through the recipe.

After we finished eating dinner with this lovely Rioja, I was still slightly pickish so decided to throw together a very basic cheese board to nibble on for another hour while enjoying another glass of Rioja.