We’re excited to announce a P.R. Grisley Co. exclusive wine pairing dinner at Iron Chef Jose Garces‘ Chicago restaurant, Mercat. If you follow Food Network as much as I do, you are well aware of how Chef Garces has exploded onto the restaurant scene in the past few years, with seven different restaurants currently enjoying success. We are lucky enough to have eaten at several of Chef Garces’ restaurants in Philadelphia, as well as Mercat in Chicago, and each time the experience and food has been incredible. Needless to say, we’re VERY honored to be able to share the spotlight with Mercat’s chef de cuisine, Michael Fiorello, and feel he has put together an exciting menu that will surely pair well with the Spanish and Portuguese wines we will be featuring.

An Evening in Spain…

Presented by

Mercat’s Chef de Cuisine, Michael Fiorello & P.R. Grisley Company

Thursday, November 18^th, 2010

Reception 6pm-7pm

N/V Chozas Carrascal Cava – D.O. Cava, Utiel-Requena, Spain (Macabeo, Chardonnay)

2009 Quinta de Gomariz Espadeiro – DOC Vinho Verde, Portugal (100% Espadeiro)

Dinner 7pm

First Course

Fetge de Pollastre en una Olla

Potted Chicken Liver Mousse with Caraway-Onion Jam and Foie Gras

2008 Coto de Gomariz Blanco-  D.O. Riberio, Spain (Treixadura, Godello)

Second Course

Montadito de Atún

Sous Vide Blue Fin Tuna, Caper-Olive Oil Jam &  Spicy Red Cabbage

2006 Bodegas Ondalan Crianza – DOC Rioja, Spain (80% Tempranillo, 20% Graciano)

Third Course

Mar I Muntanya

24-Hour Pork Belly with Charred Baby Octopus,

Marcona Almonds & Smoked Green Olive Escabeche

2006 Bodegas Miguel Angel Muro Bujanda Cianza – DOC Rioja, Spain (100% Tempranillo)

Fourth Course

Pato con Peras

Grilled Muscovy Duck Breast, La Peral, Red Wine Seckel Pears & Confit leg Crêpe

2005 Bodegas Ondalan 100 Abades – DOC Rioja, Spain (100% Graciano)

Fifth Course

Butifarra con Judias

House Smoked Catalan Lamb Sausage with Ham Hock-Tomato Stew & Black Eyed Peas

2005 Bodegas Medrano Irazu Reserva – DOC Rioja, Spain (100% Tempranillo)

Dessert

Pastel de Calabaza

Pumpkin-Brown Butter Cake, Hazelnut Escabeche, Rosemary-Olive Oil Ice Cream

Porto Quevedo, N/V Special Reserve Tawny – DOC Oporto, Portugal (Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca)

$75 per person, non-inclusive of tax or gratuity

Reservations are Required

312.765.0524

www.mercatchicago.com

Please call or visit the Mercat website to reserve your seat today- We look forward to seeing you there and sharing a wonderful evening with amazing food, wine and friends!

Cheers,

Michael

We’re very excited to be attending this year’s Miami International Wine Fair, one of the largest wine tradeshows in the US. Approximately 500 producers from all over the world will be attending, and an estimated 1,500 wines will be available to taste through, so make sure your palate is trained if you’re planning on attending! We’ve never attended this event before, so we’re anxious to make it to Miami to take a look and present our wines at this amazing event. We’ll be pouring several wines from various producers- Quinta de Gomariz from Portugal, Domaine du Gros Pata from France, Bodegas Ondalan and Coto de Gomariz from Spain just to name a few. (We have to keep some surprises!)

If you are planning on attending, please make sure to stop by and taste the amazing wines we are fortunate to represent. We will be located at stand 400 and will be sharing the space with Bodegas Medrano Irazu from Rioja and J. Miquel Jané from Penedes region of Spain, so there will be a wide range of fantastic wines to try.

Hope to see many of you there, cheers!

- Michael

It seems Portuguese producer Quinta de Gomariz isn’t finished yet! After being recognized as one of the “Top Portuguese Value Brands” in the June issue of Wine and Spirits for their 2008 vintage, the 2009 vintage looks to be just as impressive. As reported by Decanter, Quinta de Gomariz swept the board at this years Vinho Verde awards, bringing home the “Best Of” awards for their Avesso and Branco wines, as well as six gold medals and two silver medals for their various other wines. Equally impressive is the fact that Quinta de Gomariz released their first wines in 2005, so this comes as a huge accomplishment for such a young producer. We’re very excited and extremely happy for the team at Quinta de Gomariz and can’t wait to see what the future holds for this amazing producer- Congratulations!!!

Cheers,

Michael

It has been a year this month since we first started importing the amazing wines from Quinta de Gomariz, and they are already making a name for themselves! In the recently released June issue of Wine & Spirits Magazine, both the 2008 Alvarinho and 2008 Loureiro were recognized as “Top 100 Values of the Year” and the winery itself was recognized as one of two “Top Portuguese Value Brands.”

This is quite an honor for such a young winery- the first vines were planted in 1999 and their first harvest was in 2004. We’re very excited to be working with such an up and coming producer, especially as the Vinho Verde region gains more attention in the media and the competition stiffens. We’ve been fortunate enough to be working with Vitor Mendes from Vinixa, who has been instrumental in helping to make these wines available in the US.

I will be in New York City next week for an event hosted by the Vinho Verde Commission and will be pouring these fantastic wines, so if you live or work in New York please register for the event and make sure to stop by and try the new 2009 vintage!

Cheers,

Michael

We’ve just finished tying up all our loose ends and are ready to set out for our third year attending the Pennsylvania Wine Week events- with a little detour in Chicago for a Vibrant Rioja event! the three events this year are again being held in Pittsburgh, Hershey and Philadelphia, and we always look forward to making the journey to Pennsylvania. While we have attended the Pittsburgh Wine Festival and Philadelphia Wine Festivals before, we are excited to attend the Wine Festival in Hershey for the first time. If you live, work or play in either area, these events are always a fun and informative way to spend your evening tasting some amazing wines from all over the world. More importantly, all three events will be benefiting great organizations such as the Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, UPMC Cancer Centers, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

This year we’ll be pouring some fantastic wines from Spain and Portugal. We will have several different red wines, such as crianzas from Bodegas Ondalan, Bodegas Miguel Angel Muro and Bodegas Ruiz de Vinaspre. We’ll also be featuring an amazing reserva from Bodegas Medrano Irazu, all from Spain’s famed Rioja region. (Click here for a great post on the Rioja classification system by Catavino.net) We’re also excited to feature the amazingly fresh, crisp and refreshing white and rose wines from the Vinho Verde region of Portugal. These are a real value and the region is receiving quite a bit of attention lately for it’s quality to price ratio- it’s definitely worth seeking out wines from this region! Quinta de Gomariz is a young producer from the region and is already making a name for itself by gaining 92 points for its Alvarinho and 88 Points for its Espadeiro Rose from Wine & Spirits Magazine – both were featured as “Best Buys” in the August 2009 Issue.

We’re looking forward to sharing all these wines at the events and hopefully many of you will be able to attend one of the three!

Salud,

Michael

We’re excited about an upcoming event featuring one of the Portuguese producers we represent, Quinta de Gomariz. The Vinho Verde region is quickly becoming one of the “go to” regions for value wines, as most retail for under $15. Wonderfully crisp, fresh and light, these wines are perfect with summer just around the corner. The event is for trade and media only, so if you happen to work in either industry, hopefully you are able to attend.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Charlie Palmer’s Astra

D&D Building

979 Third Avenue, between 58th & 59th St.

New York, NY

Walk Around Tasting: 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Seminar for Trade & Media: 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Seminar for Distributors Only: 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Hosted by Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos

Vinhos Verdes (CVRVV) and the European Union

Seminars conducted by:

Joshua Greene, Editor and Publisher of Wine & Spirits

and Bruno Almeida, CVRVV Oenologist

If you are able and interested in attending the event,  Please RSVP to 212-994-7576 or VinhoVerdeRSVP@rfbinder.com **Trade and Media Only Please**

We’ll be pouring the 2009 vintage of Quinta de Gomariz wines, which are projected to be even better than the 2008 vintage. They received great reviews from Joshua Greene from Wine & Spirits Magazine and we expect the same (if not better) for the 2009 vintage! We hope you can make the event and be sure to stop by our table to say hello and try these amazing wines.

Cheers,

Michael

QUINTA DE GOMARIZ - 2008 ALVARINHO

Wine & Spirits Aug ‘09 - 92 POINTS (Best Buy)

“This starts off with brink peach flavors that last. With air, the fruit moves past the red cast of peach skin toward fraise de bois. The acidity has a granitic feel, keeping the wine’s richness in check while lending clarity to the fruit. For grilled John Dory.”

QUINTA DE GOMARIZ - 2008 LOUREIRO

Wine & Spirits Aug ‘09 – 90 POINTS (Best Buy)

“Powerfully concentrated, this wine is all plump fruitiness, its flavors of tart peach and gooseberries bringing sauvignon blanc to mind. A ripe Vinho Verde for grilled snapper.”

QUINTA DE GOMARIZ - 2008 ESPADEIRO

Wine & Spirits Aug ‘09 - 88 POINTS (Best Buy)

“Appealingly clean and fresh, from its light pink color to the pink grapefruit acidity, this has intriguing floral scents of pear and melon. It ends crisp, a summer picnic wine for grilled chicken sausages.”

It has been a great start of the week for P.R. Grisley Co. as news has been flying in from Europe on two wineries we import from, Quinta de Gomariz from Portugal and Baron de Montfort from France. Both wineries have received awards for their wine making in their respective countries and we couldn’t be happier for both wineries!!!

 Our good friend Bertrand de Sercey and the team at Baron de Montfort have been awarded two silver medals in recognition for the 2006 vintage of BOTH the Chateau Lagrange Monbadon and the Chateau de Monbadon in an annual competition held in Bordeaux. The “Concours de Bordeaux” is a certified organization that was set up to allow Bordeaux producers to compete with each other and all wines are blind tasted by wine professionals. We currently sell the 2005 Chateau de Monbadon and the 2003 Chateau Lagrange Monbadon in selected markets, but we look forward to receiving the 2006 vintage of these wines in the future. It’s encouraging to know that Baron de Monfort continues to produce award-winning wines and we look forward to enjoying these upcoming vintages.

 Quinta de Gomariz had a VERY big weekend, taking home five awards in two different competions for their fantastic vinho verde wines. The first competition was the annual Vinho Verde Competition and was held in the city of Braga in northern Portugal. Gomariz took home the “best of” award for their 2008 Loureiro in the varietal category, as well as the 2008 Espadeiro (Rose), also for the varietal category. The big winner was their 2008 Colheita Seleccionada, which took home the gold medal in the white wine category. The other competition was the Lisbon National Wine Contest, where the 2008 Loureiro and 2008 Colheita Seleccionada were awarded silver medals. We’ve been working very closely with our good friend Vitor Mendez from Vinixa, who helped make the Gomariz wines available in the US market. As a brand new producer whom we just began working with and recently visited in May, this is very promising and we can’t wait until the Gomariz wines are available in US, which will be in the next month and half.

So, congratulations to both Quinta de Gomariz and Baron de Monfort, keep up the good work and we’ll be sure to raise a glass to you both!!!

– Michael 

After wrapping up all our loose ends after nearly a month on the road, I finally found some time to sit down for a new post and edit the hours of footage to make a short video for everyone to enjoy. We had an absolutely incredible trip that began in Pittsburgh before moving on to Philadelphia for wine shows during the Pennsylvania Wine Week. The shows went well considering the current economic situation, and we were excited to show some new wines at both shows such as the recently available Alana-Tokaji Late harvest Furmint. This wine received wonderful responses in both cities and we were glad that everyone enjoyed it! We were also quite lucky to have Paul Sharp from Europvin join us in Philadelphia to help educate consumers about sherry, which also went over well with the crowds. I think with Paul’s amazing wealth of information we were able to change some opinions about sherry and hopefully expand some more palates.

After the Pennsylvania shows we headed to directly to Spain where we spent some time with friends in Madrid. They took us to some “secret” tapas bars around the city and introduced us to some new foods, which I’m sure we’ll try to recreate in our kitchens. I’m always amazed at the diversity of food Spain has, it seems every time I return I try at least 10 new items I’ve never had before.

We then bid farewell to our friends in Madrid, and met two purchasing agents from the PLCB at the Madrid airport and flew directly to Vigo where we stayed the evening in an amazing hotel right on the Spain/Portugal border as we all tried to recover from our jet lag. The next morning we spent an incredible day in Portugal where we visited Quinta de Gomariz in the northern Vinho Verde region of Portugal. Here we toured the winery and met the people behind these incredible white wines before heading south to the Douro region to visit Quinta de Carregosa, a small producer making excellent red wines. The Douro was an incredible region that was quite literally mountain after mountain completely terraced and covered with vines. The Douro was one of the most breathtaking places I have seen, I hope to return one day and spend some more time enjoying the region. We had an amazing dinner later that night courtesy of the hard work from the fine people  at Vinixa who had set up all of our visits to the various wineries. The family team at Vinixa has been an immense help to us since we began working together last February and we couldn’t have accomplished our tour of Portugal without them. Before and during the dinner, we met and tasted through the line of Quevedo Ports along with Oscar Quevedo. The ports were absolutely incredible with Portuguese dishes like grilled lamb chops, roasted veal, and an amazing chocolate dessert with an orange cream sauce paired with Quevedo’s LBV and Tawny 10 year- delicious! 

With our one day, one night whirlwind tour of Portugal over, we headed north back to Spain to the Galicia region in the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula. There we visited with our good friends and winemakers at Coto de Gomariz to try their new vintages of amazing red and white wines that really impressed all of us. Their red wines were quite a surprise as they are made with interesting local varieties rarely seen outside of Galicia, let alone Spain. Souson, Ferrol, and Brancellao are native red varieties that were almost lost to the region during many political upheavals that Spain has experienced throughout its history. Luckily, there are several producers such as Coto de Gomariz who have dedicated their work to restoring these native varieties and producing incredible wines with them.

After Coto de Gomariz we headed southeast to Ribera del Duero to visit the famous Vega Sicilia family of wines, which include Bodegas Alion and Bodegas Pintia (which is located in nearby DO Toro). We had an amazing tour of the facilities at both Alion and Vega Sicilia before sitting down to an incredible meal where we had the unbelievable opportunity to try wines such as the ’99 Unico, ’02 Valbuena, ’05 Alion and ’06 Pintia. This was the biggest lineup of wines I have ever had the chance to taste, surely one of those days I will never, ever forget for the rest of my life. After our tasting, we had the chance for some down time at the hotel, so we passed the time talking and enjoying a beer for a change on the patio with a cool river running right below us. The next morning it was on the road again, by this time we were getting good at the stop and go schedule we had lined up.

We then headed out to the Rioja region where most of the bodegas we represent are located. We had a few jam-packed days visiting the bodegas and sampling the new vintages and new wines that many of the winemakers have been working on. We first stopped at one of the most famous producers of classic Rioja wines, La Rioja Alta. We visited their amazing facility as well as tasted through their family of wines. I always love to try these wines as you are able to taste and feel the history of Rioja when drinking these delicate, delicious wines. We had fantastic meals at every bodega, and even had the classic Riojana dish “chuletillas a la parilla” (lamb chops grilled over last years dried vines) at both Bodegas Ondalan and Bodegas Medrano Irazu. We also had the opportunity to catch up with “Mr. Non-stop,” Miguel Angel from Bodegas Miguel Angel Muro. This man has more energy that anyone I have met and he has been busy creating a wonderful new reserva wine, which we were able to enjoy. We also caught up with the husband and wife duo of Charo and Julian from Bodegas Ruiz de Vinaspre, where we had the opportunity to try their new line of wines that didn’t disappoint. At Bodegas Santiago Ijalba we were able to try many of the new vintages, and I was most excited to try their new organic wine.  Even with all these visits in a short amount of time, we were also able to enjoy some free time in the village of La Guardia. This turned out to be absolutely chaotic as there was a huge soccer match between Barcelona and local favorites, Atletico Bilbao. People were partying in the street setting off what seemed like quarter sticks of dynamite based on the sound of the explosions- and this was even with their loss to FC Barcelona! Europeans are soccer crazy to say the least……There is always something new to experience in Rioja; I think that is what keeps us going back! 

Once our tour of Rioja had ended, we drove up north to one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, San Sebastian. This is still one of my favorite cities to visit as they have the most incredible gastronomy scenes in Europe, it’s unbelievable. From the hundreds of tapas bars and a visit to a traditional sideria, we experienced some amazing food and wine while finally being able to relax a bit as our non-stop schedule had finally come to an end. Our visit to San Sebastian was the perfect way to end our wine filled tour of Spain and Portugal and reflect on all the amazing sites and generous people we had seen and met.