Dinner at Esquina

Tapas with the Missus.

• 2008 Agustí Torelló Mata Cava Brut Reserva 89 Points

  Spain, Cava

  By the glass from Esquina, this was a very pleasant Cava - a nice Friday evening after-work drink with some delicious tapas dishes. It had a typical nose of lemon zest and apple core aromas, with some kumquaty citrus notes and a little minerality. The palate was bright, fresh and zesty, with lots of lemon and lime accents at the fore, and than some lime peel over a deeper layer of red apple notes underneath, all this underpinned a fine mousse of little bubbles and streaked through with some of the minerality picked up on the nose. There was just that little aura of oxidative, browned apple flavours that hung around the entire body of the wine, adding an rather interesting nuance to the wine. Not altogether complex, but certainly not simple either, this was a nicely packaged Cava that went beautifully with a whole series of little fried and grilled dishes.

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• NV Emilio Lustau Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Fino Jarana Solera Reserva 89 Points

  Spain, Andalucía, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry

  Pretty decent for a mid-level fino. I actually thought this was a bit better than the last time we had it, perhaps because it was a fresher bottle, or just maybe because it was quite perfectly paired with our seafood-driven tapas dishes. It had a classic saline fino nose, with preserved fig skin and apple aromas seasoned with salt, sea-spray and and some smoky, mineral notes. With time, some white meat aromas came out as well. If anything, the palate was even more fino-ish than the nose, with the same preserved fig notes wed to some fruit peel and lemony flavours, all sprinkled with a liberally amount of sea-salt and touched by a bit of flint. This was a pure, bright salty fino - a bit on the one-dimensional side, but very pleasant nonetheless, and quite a perfect foil for the tapas.

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