A Friday Night Cocktail that starts with Alvear Tres Miradas Vino de Pueblo 2018 and the Weekly Menu #WorldWineTravel

 When Martin of Enofylz Wine Blog invited us to join him in discovering the wines of Anadalucia I was anxious to read his invitation post and learn more.  I discovered that the main wines of this region are sherry.  

This reminded me that I had a bottle of  Pedro Ximenez from Alvear Tres Miradas that is considered to be the village blend from Riofrío Alto and Cerro Macho from Andalucia.

I had ordered this up after reading Around the World in 80 Cocktails intending to use it in a recipe.  When the wine arrived, I put it in my wine fridge and then completely forgot about it until Martin chose the theme for this World Wine Travel event.

While my husband looked up the recipe for the cocktail, I opened the wine and noted that it was a clear, golden yellow.  It smelled of yeast and reminded me of Fall.  I took a sip and was very pleasantly surprised with the dryness of the wine.  I don't know why I expected it to be sweet, perhaps because the area is best known for sweet, red sherry.

I enjoyed the wine as Frank made some simple syrup.  That's all this cocktail is.....3 oz. of sherry and 1/2 oz of simple syrup, shaken over ice and served chilled with a slice of orange.  I guess the fact that it called for simple syrup should have been another clue to me that this was not the typical sherry that I was expecting.

So I went back to my wine list on Wine.com and discovered that while this wine is, in fact, made from Pedro Ximenez, the white wine grape made to use red sherry, this bottle is not sherry at all but a still white wine that is aged in traditional amphora.

From the winemaker comes this description:

"The Tres Miradas project is the latest collaboration between Bodegas Alvear & Envinate. It represents a goal of the Alvear family and Envinate to express the terroir that has been historically known as the Sierra de Montilla, with a winemaking approach that focuses more on the vineyard and less on the ageing process in the cellar. The Tres Miradas Vino de Pueblo, classified as a village wine in the Burgundian classification, is a selection of grapes a variety of plots that are directly pressed without maceration and fermented in tinajas, traditional concrete amphora of 4800L."

This information was found on the Jorge Ordonez Selections website that is a group of eight wineries from Spain that seek out and preserve Spain's wine history.  

So while I didn't have the wine called for in the recipe, I did have the right wine for this event.  As for the cocktail?  It was wonderful....I enjoyed it completely as I sat and worked on my Weekly Menu that I am sharing with you today.

We are all getting together tomorrow morning at 11 AM ET as Martin leads us in Twitter chat and we talk about the wines that we discovered in this area of Spain.  You will find us by following #WorldWineTravel.  

Here is a preview of the wines we will be discussing. Salud!

• Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla offers Tapas on Toast: Spanish Montaditos + 2017 Sierras de Málaga Laderas de Sedella Anfora.
• Lynn of Savor the Harvest reveals Three Facts About Sherry and Why You Need to Try a Bottle.
• Terri of Our Good Life gives us A Beginner’s Guide to Amontillado and Spanish Tapas.
• Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm brings us A Friday Night Cocktail that starts with Alvear Tres Miradas Vino de Pueblo 2018.
• Susannah of Avvinare is Learning to Love Sherry One Style at a Time.
• Reggie at Wine Casual offers 10 Tips for Sherry Lovers & Wine Geeks Visiting Sevilla and Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.
• Jeff Burrows of Food Wine Click! asks Sherry is a Fortified Wine, or is It?
• Nicole of Somm’s Table dishes Bodegas Dios Baco PX and a Banana Cake.
• Gwendolyn of Wine Predator…Gwendolyn Alley declares Spanish Songs in Andalucía with Soup and Sherry: Oh My Corazón.
• Martin of ENOFYLZ Wine Blog serves up 2018 Jorge Ordoñez & Co. Moscatel Old Vines Botani + Trout Tartine with Stone Fruit.

Weekly Menu

Tomorrow evening we are going to a Tribute for Frankie Valli performed by the cast of the Jersey Boys.  We will be having dinner at the venue prior to the show.  The rest of the week is pretty quiet, some errands and doc appointments during the day but all the other evenings should be dinner at home this week.

Saturday

Dinner out before Show

Sunday Supper 

Short Ribs with a Chile Zinfandel Glaze

Mashed Potatoes

Chayote Squash au Gratin

Meatless Monday

Pumpkin Pasta Bake

Taco Tuesday

Short Rib Tacos (using leftovers from Sunday)

Wednesday

Sloppy Joes

Sweet Potato Fries

Thursday

Popcorn Chicken Salad

Fish Friday

Sheet Pan Paella