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Spanish wines to match Shanghai treats
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Who doesn’t love snacking? Authentic Shanghai treats like luwei, or assorted cold dish of food cooked in marinades, vegetable buns, Suzhou mincemeat moon cakes, red bean buns and other tasty local morsels make for perfect snacking. They’re also important culinary traditions in our city. While tasty alone, they’re eminently more delicious when enjoyed with a synergistic wine. Frankly, there exist numerous styles of wine that pair nicely with these treats but two of my favorite wine partners are rose and Crianza wines from Spain.
Rosato
Spanish rose wines — or rosato wines — as they are referred to in Spain have a heavier and more robust style than French roses. As soon as a glass is poured you’ll notice a decidedly deeper reddish color than seen in French or Italian rose wines. These wines may lack some of the sophisticated elegance of top French roses but they’re perfect with Shanghai snacks because they offer an attractive combination of fruitiness with good acidity that nicely augments the natural flavors of the treats while also facilitating digestion. Whether your Shanghai snacks are made of meat, vegetables or predominantly starch, a glass of rosato wine is sure to heighten your snacking pleasure.
Practically every Spanish region makes rose wines but many of the best come from Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Toro and Penedes. The former three regions are in the north of Spain and roses from these regions are almost always made from the Tempranillo variety or feature a blend that’s predominantly Tempranillo. As a result they tend to exhibit rich red fruit flavors and aromas with a touch of palate stimulating spiciness. Producers to look for include Marques de Riscal and El Coto.
Penedes is just south of Barcelona and has a Mediterreanian climate where the Grenacha and Mourvendre red varieties flourish. There are also many roses made from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape reflecting the predilection of this region to use international varieties in their winemaking. Rosatos from Penedes tend to be a little more lively and fresh than their counterparts from northern Spain, making them particularly appropriate for lighter, non-meat Shanghai snacks.
Crianza
For high quality, reasonably priced red wines that pair exquisitely with a wide range of Shanghai snacks, think Crianza. The term Crianza refers to quality Spanish red wines that are aged in oak. Most Spanish regions make Crianza wines. The winemaking process — and especially the aging requirements — vary from region to region but as a rule they’re medium to medium-full bodied reds with good fruitiness, freshness and soft tannins. Arguably the most refined Crianza wines come from Rioja.
Rioja is Spain’s most famous red wine region, located in the elevated and hilly north of the country. Winemaking in this region dates back thousands of years to the Phoenicians and Celtiberians, but it wasn’t until the mid- to late-19th century that the wines of this region reached global prominence. At this point in the history of wine, Bordeaux and other French regions were devastated by the phylloxera vine pest and as a result many top French winemakers settled in Rioja. They deemed the climate of Rioja to be very “Bordeaux-like” so they brought their considerable winemaking skills, including the practice of aging red wines in small oak barrels, to Rioja. As a result the quality of Rioja wines improved dramatically. Winemaking continued to flourish in the 20th century and in 1991 Rioja became the first region in Spain to receive the Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa), the nation’s highest designation of quality for wines.
All Rioja Crianza wines are principally made using the Tempranillo grape. This variety features a thick skin that results in plenty of tannins but is low in acidity and sugar. Therefore Tempranillo wines from Rioja and elsewhere in Spain are often blended with other Spanish varieties like Grenache and Carignan, and more recently also Cabernet Sauvignon, to increase acidity and structure. Typical aromas and flavors are red and dark berries, earthy leather, tobacco and minerals.
Rioja winemakers love to age wines and the Crianza wines of the region are aged for at least one year in oak then another year in the bottle before release. Most top producers age their Crianza wines even longer. Rioja Reserva and Rioja Grand Reserva wines are aged longer and technically are better wines, but the more lively fruitiness in Rioja Crianza wines makes them more appropriate for Shanghai snacks. Reserva and Grand Reserva wines are more appropriate for substantial meat dishes.
In Shanghai you can find a host of delicious Rioja Crianzas that are sure to elevate your Shanghai snacking pleasure. One stand-out is the Solar Viejo Rioja Crianza, a terrific 100 percent Tempranillo wine that offers lovely ripe red and black fruit flavors with intriguing notes of vanilla and caramel. Two historic producers are Marques de Riscal and Muga. Both wineries played important roles in building the reputation of Rioja as one of the world’s great wine regions and also make excellent Crianza wines that are still quite reasonably priced. Other wineries that make consistently good Rioja Crianzas include El Coto and Ibericos from the Torres family.
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