TWO FEMALE AQUARIANS + TWO ALBARINOS MADE BY THE SAME LADY = ONE FABULOUS BIRTHDAY BASH!
Every February, two dear and long time friends - wine and food professionals of a certain age - never miss the opportunity to celebrate their same week birthdays in style.
We always choose a great venue and a wine variety to explore. This year the wine was Albariño and its most natural pairing – seafood. Albariño’s birthplace is in the lush, coastal wine region of Galicia called Rías Baixas. Located in Spain’s northwest corner, this area boasts vast coastlines, broad ocean estuaries (rías) and a healthy seafood industry.
So last week, when The John Dory, one of New York City’s hottest new restaurants, took our reservations, we were very excited. With one of the best almost-seafood-only menus in town, a pedigree of ownership including Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich and big talent – April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig – in the kitchen, it promised to be a perfect venue for our Albariño.
Selecting a restaurant with a female chef was done on purpose. It followed the “female” talent theme as ironically, there are more female winemakers in Rías Baixas than in any other wine region in Spain. Historically in this part of the world, men took to the sea while their wives tended the fields, growing crops such as grapes for making wine.
The John Dory, tucked between Del Posto and Craftsteak on Tenth Avenue just opposite Chelsea Market, has been a smash since it opened in November.
The dining area is one long room with an open kitchen on one side and a couple dozen seats along the wall on an elevated platform. Fish are everywhere – on ceramic and glass tiles, as door pulls, just under the surface on the bar top, and – live – in a 900 gallon aquarium that divides the kitchen and main dining area from a small private room.
Chef Bloomfield has drawn on her English heritage and her culinary creativity at Spotted Pig, NYC’s first Euro-style gastro pub, to create an inventive menu, featuring a wonderful selection of fin fish and shellfish, seasoned and sauced with vibrant creativity.
Before even looking at the menu, we decided to toast ourselves with the two wines we have brought for the occasion. (Luckily, we received permission in advance from the restaurant’s very clever wine director David Lynch.)
As two feminists, we selected two wines from two different sub-zones made by the same amazingly talented female winemaker, Cristina Mantilla. Both wines for our birthday lunch were from the 2007 vintage—Pazo San Mauro and Albariño de Fefiñanes. Not only is Cristina one of the most prominent wine consultants in the region, but she is also the mother of two young children, is married to another winemaker and somehow finds time to be a fashionista. Encounters with Cristina always are a combination of wine and fashion experiences. She can be relied upon to create distinctive wine as well as distinctive shoe selections. Yes. If you ever meet Cristina, check out what is on her feet as well as what is in her glass.
First we opened Cristina’s Fefiñanes, a 100% Albariño from one of the region’s pioneer wineries owned by the dapper Count Juan Gil de Araujo. We detected the wine’s floral nose of paper whites and hints of fresh peach and apricot. Its dry, elegant style was enhanced by a bracing acidity and minerally backbone. We could not help but make the comparison between ourselves and the wine…if one had to personify the wine.
Then, we tried the luscious Pazo San Mauro, also a pure Albariño. From a different subzone from the first wine which hailed from Salnés—known for wines with a brightness, almost tingly quality on the tongue, and slight saltiness of the sea on the palate—the second wine hailed from Condado do Tea. From a warmer, dryer, more mountainous terrain than from where the Fefiñanes was produced, Pazo San Mauro comes from trellised vineyards planted along the Miño tributary. The Condado do Tea sub-zone typically produces wines which are minerally with luscious white fruit characeristics, a tad rounder than wines from Salnés. This one was no exception stylistically. Straw yellow in color, Cristina’s Pazo San Mauro, had a powerful citrus and light honeysuckle aroma. It also had the characteristic white fresh fruit characteristics of peaches, nectarines and ripe melon that one enjoys in the Albariño grape.
Both wines were bone-dry and had the structure, acidity and complexity to hold up well and complement Chef Bloomfield’s intricate cuisine. We were on the right path. Toasting ourselves with our two different wines, we were ready to conquer the food.
We opened with Kumamoto, Wild Fire and Mystic Creek oysters on the half shell, served with Grated Horseradish and Cilantro Mignonette dipping sauces. Next up was Escarole Salad and Creamy Anchovy Dressing, laced with Pickled and Grilled Escarole which added great flavor and texture.
In a shout out to her roots, Chef Bloomfield added the British classic Welsh Rarebit to the starter offerings. This British version of a single slice grilled cheese sandwich was brought to the table, lightly scored with a sharp knife, then drizzled with savory Worchestershire sauce.
Yum!!
Our main courses – Seared Squid Stuffed with Chorizo and Whole Grilled Sea Bream with Rosemary-Anchovy Pesto – could not have been more delicious. Each offered a rainbow of aromatic and pungent flavors.
Course after course, the wines were perfect complements. After a couple of hours of delicious food, wines and friendship, we returned to the real world. The John Dory – dubbed Le Bernardin in Blue Jeans – will be a hard act to follow when we head off to our annual celebration again next year.
