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Take a very smart restaurant and fill it with over 100 glamorous, bright women, all keen to know more about Rioja. Give them a wonderful, three-course dinner, and pair the food with no less than seven samples of the best wines the region can produce. Oh, and stick in a speaker - me - who has just returned from Rioja with all the latest news.
The result? Not one, but three very lively, fun, and (I hope) informative evenings, held at Harvey Nichols in London, Manchester and Edinburgh during September and early October. The theme of these special events was ‘The Girls’ Guide to Rioja’ and the evenings were advertised in Grazia. They were sell-outs - almost immediately after the glossy magazine came out.
And what a crowd, each time! Despite my microphone, I could hardly hear myself once the girls got chatting, laughing and (in the slightly more serious parts), comparing the wines and matching them with the inventive and delectable menus. We started each night with three wines - a lively, crisp, unoaked white, the Paternina Banda Dorada 2007, a more mature and rich, oaked white Reserva, the Capellania 2003 from Marques de Murrieta, and the refreshing, fruity, pink Faustino V Rosado 2007.
The starters on each night varied, but all had a seafood or fish theme, and many guests were surprised to find the oaky white made a great marriage with food, even if it wasn’t necessarily the favourite aperitif. Smoked salmon in particular went brilliantly with the Capellania, although a riotous show of hands proved that each wine had won its fans.
On to a lamb course at each restaurant, and four reds: Marqués de la Concordia Signa Crianza 2005, Viña Ardanza Reserva 2000 from La Rioja Alta, Marqués de Cáceres Gran Reserva 2001 and the fuller, maverick Allende Rioja Tinto 2004. Matching this wide range of styles to tender lamb was a fun challenge, and again each wine won many votes. But I reckon it’s fair to say that, across the three evenings, the Reserva and the Gran Reserva were considered the best partners overall for the meat.
‘Desserts’ ran the gamut from a plate of three chocolate puddings, and a fruitcake, to lovely selection of British cheeses. The red Riojas rose to the occasion each time, and this time the Allende, in my view, came into its own. But this wasn’t a competition, merely a chance for everyone there to find out more about Rioja. As I was careful to say at each event, the experience is highly personal, and every guest will take away their own, highly subjective, impression of the wines. Nothing wrong with that.
And the impression it made on me? First, a huge cheer to the chefs for fabulous food, and to the waiting staff at Harvey Nichols London, Manchester and Edinburgh, for their brilliant efficiency and friendliness. It’s not, I’d imagine, easy to serve 100 people simultaneously with three courses and seven wines each, but they made it look so.
Now, to the crowd of diners. On each night the girls were full of ideas, energy and sheer enthusiasm. Rarely have I given a talk to such a positive group - dare I say, was it because we were (almost) 100% female?! My other abiding memory will be one of an amazing din of happy chatter - great at the time, but definitely causing a few hoarse voices the next day, and not only mine. A refreshing glass of Rioja was definitely called for…
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