When we went to Geir Henning and Carl Johann’s house for lunch recently (Sunday’s post), we brought a bottle of wine for our hosts. Although I took a geography course in my junior year called Wine and World, I know next to nothing about wine (having taken the course solely for the wine tastings).
We had told the guys during our lunch at Meson Salvador that we tend to choose wines by their labels (or, inanely, by how expensive they are). I pointed out a label I especially liked in one of the wine cabinets at Meson Salvador. They liked it, too. So, before our lunch two days later, we picked up a bottle for them. It’s called Macho Man Monastrell.
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The other day, San Geraldo and I were back at Meson Salvador for lunch. When we arrived, we were told they had a gift for us.
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A FULL-BODIED MACHO MAN. |
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TOO BAD IT’S NOT FILLED WITH WINE. I’VE GOT TO BE A MUCHO MUCHO MACHO MACHO MAN! |
For those of you who care about more than labels (like my friend Lidia, whose motto is “Fruit Forward!”), Macho Man Monastrell is a Spanish wine from the region of Jumilla about 50 miles inland from the eastern Mediterranean port of Alicante (about 500km from where we live).
“Here, the vineyards are planted on light, sandy soils over a limestone bedrock, at altitudes up to about 800 metres above sea level; Monastrell is the main grape of the region. Hand-harvested grapes from very old vines provide the raw material for this big, boisterous, fruit-packed wine; four months in oak barrels provides a touch of softness and spice. The 2013 vintage was named in the top 100 wines in the Wines from Spain Awards 2015.”
The bottle we gave the guys is filled with the 2013 vintage. What the team at Meson Salvador gave us is filled with air (or nothing).
Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey! You had to know this was coming…