Spain / New Mexico Wine Tasting

While it's hard to find Mexican wines to drink, here are a collection of wines from Spain and NEW Mexico for you to try to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

We had an assortment of wines with a low carb Cinco de Mayo menu, and found that the Spanish and New Mexican wines paired perfectly with our shrimp and beef dishes. Give these a try, and enjoy your celebration!

Sierra Cantabria Rioja 1998 Cuvee Especial

At $16.49/bottle, this was the most expensive of the wines on our menu. We figured a good Cinco de Mayo celebration should be fun and inexpensive! The wine was smooth and lightly spicy. This went really well with the grilled shrimp and just about everything else on the table. I'm a big fan of Rioja.

Sierra Cantabria Rioja 1999

In essence the 'little brother' to the Cuvee especial, this was also only $10.99/bottle. It was impressive how even wine newbies could taste the difference between these two Riojas - just one year apart, made by the same winery. This was more mellow, not quite as complex. Still quite enjoyable!

Darien Rioja 2002

At only $7.99, we're in the realm of Riojas that were not meant to age before drinking. This was very much a drink-now, fruity, fresh wine that could be perfect for sangria making.

Tres Picos Borsao Garnacha 2000

While Rioja is made out of the tempranillo red grape, Spain is also known for its red Grenache vineyards. This Tres Picos wine is made from old vines which have low yield but high flavor. Only $14.99/bottle, and a nice, rich flavor with berry and vanilla flavors.

Ponderosa Cabernet Sauvignon 2000

Ponderosa Valley Vineyards comes from New Mexico and has lovely images of hand-painted pottery on its label. We have friends bring this wine to us - it's nearly impossible to find New Mexican wines at most wine shops. Still, with our Mexican theme going on, we brought this into the mix. Quite smooth and rich, the Cab went quite nicely with our meaty dishes.

Note, too, that Spain and Portugal are well known for their fortified dessert wines. Spain's city of Jerez has created Sherry for hundreds of years. Likewise, Portugal creates delicious port wines as well as rich Madiera wines. This could be the perfect excuse for you to get a bottle of each, and see how these fortified wines differ from each other!

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