Dinner at Harvest Vine

I have been trying for a while to get Roy and Jason to check out this fantastic restaurant, so I was excited when we managed to find a night that worked for all three of us. As always, the food was spectacular, and the choice of Spanish wines is fantastic. This is really a can't miss type of restaurant.

Our first two waves of tapas were white friendly:

• Mojama con Caviar Mujjól (salt cured tuna, thinly sliced with mujjól caviar)
  
• Rilleta de Cerdol (pork rillette with fig compote)
  
• Plato di Chacinería (mixed dry cured meats)

Mmm, all fantastic, but my favorite is always the Chorizo on the dried-meat plate, spicy and loaded with smoked Paprika. Our second wave was more decidely focused on vegetables:

• Garbanzos (caramelized chick peas with a cumin tomato sauce)
  
• Alcachofas (artichoke bottoms sauteed with sweet peppers, ham and onions)
  
• Espárragos con Jamón (white asparagus with a creamy bechamel sauce and crispy serrano)

The asparagus were the most distinctive of this second wave, a nice contrast of flavors and textures.

• 2003 Pazos de Lusco Albariño Rías Baixas

  Spain, Galicia, Rías Baixas

  A bit of honeydew on the nose. Reasonable acid. Still fairly nondescript.

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At last we broke into the reds!

• Cangrejo (a pair of soft shell crabs, pan fried and finished with lemon over grilled pea vines)
  
• Ventreska a la Vainilla (pan seared tuna belly finished with vanilla bean infused olive oil)
  
• Txistorra (navarran style pork sausage with grilled bread)

Oh baby, you HAVE to love that sausage! And now we started to finally get into the serious proteins:

• Solomo de Cerdo (pan roasted pork loin with piquillo pepper and panadera potatoes)
  
• Venado (grilled venison denver leg with spanish lentils simmered with serrano ham and celeriac)

Tough to pick a winner of this wave. Finally we finished with some fowl:

• Pato Confitado (leg of duck confit with a mousse of potatoes)
  
• Ensalada Templada de Faisan (warm salad of pheasant studded with foie gras)

These were both a bit underwhelming, perhaps the only mildly disappointing food of the night.

• 1999 Cims de Porrera Priorat Classic 92 Points

  Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

  Mmm, this opens up beautifully with very bright notes of raspberry. On the palate this exudes lots of structure and is a bit chunky at first, becoming more and more lush on the palate with air. The finish never really did round though out and always showed some lightly chalky tannins. That said, this was lovely and only in comparison to the Mogador was this even the slightest bit outclassed.

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• 1999 Clos Mogador Priorat 95 Points

  Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

  Wow, I just love the Mogador style; a black, brooding, animal, this screams of minerals and ripe fruit on the lightly smoky nose. On the palate this is a monster yet manages to be seamless at the same time. The element that continues to surprise me is the intense minerality that elevates this from being just a deeply extracted, leathery, chewy, chocolatey wine. Of course, those rich elements help a lot, but this wine just manages to sing.

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I finished up with a nice flourless, chocolate cake, less rich and gooey than one expects for this restaurant standby and showing nice restraint.

• NV Gonzalez-Byass Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Matusalem

  Spain, Andalucía, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry

  Delicious sherry. The nose exudes nutty elements, but the palate is fabulously rich, very PX-like, loaded with caramel and loads of glycerin. The finish though reminds you what you are drinking, long, nutty, lightly oxidative and showing that distinct saltiness. Very enjoyable.

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