Fino Sherry: Tio Pepe, Spain – Pairing Rating: 9.0 out of 10.0
Amontillado Sherry: Lustau Los Arcos – Pairing Rating: 8.8
Godello: As Sortes Blanco 2011, Valdeorras, Spain – Pairing Rating: 9.0
Gazpacho, said to have been brought to Spain and Portugal by the Romans, quickly became the summer soup (and drink) of choice for Andalusians in southern Spain . . . and Sevilla, in particular. The world’s first smoothie, perhaps. Now it’s on every restaurant’s summer menu. And for good reason: it’s healthy, cool and refreshing. No cooking involved, and blenders make haste of the prep. No pounding with a mortar & pestle as the ancients did.
The excellent recipe below is by Julia Moskin of the New York Times. It’s a contemporary version – omitting the soaked bread in the interest of “lightness”. After experimenting with several recipes, this has become our go-to recipe for gazpacho. And for a true Spanish presentation, we’ve topped the soup with chopped Marcona almonds.
Our first thought for a wine pairing was to look to the Spanish wines produced in the Andalucía region. Seems perfectly logical to conclude that, over the centuries, food preparations would evolve to pair with the locally grown grapes. That thinking led us to consider a Fino Sherry. Finos are very dry Sherries with saline, almond and herbal flavors, imparted by a layer of “flor” (yeast cells) under which the Fino ages.
The Fino we chose is branded as Tio Pepe and is made by the world-class Sherry producer, Gonzalez Byass. Vinified from the Palomino Fino grape grown on chalky soils, Tio Pepe is elegant, bone-dry and day-bright–yellow in the glass. The complex nose of almonds, saline and biscuits preps the palate for similar flavors, refreshingly delivered with zesty tang. Tio Pepe, served chilled, is an excellent aperitif, as well as an outstanding pairing for saltier foods and snacks. All Finos are fortified wines, meaning that a grape spirit is added to the wine to boost the alcohol (max 15.5%) and, along with cold stabilization, preserve the wine’s acidity. Note, however, that Finos can deteriorate under long exposure to oxygen. So drink up after opening! The wine will not be as good on day 3 or 4.
If you like this pairing and want to venture further into Sherry country, pick up a bottle of Amontillado. This is a sherry that starts out as a Fino, aged under a veil of flor for 5 years or more. The flor dies off and is removed by the winemaker, allowing the wine to age oxidatively in the cask for another 5 years or so before bottling. The result is an coppery-golden wine of striking richness, with notes of toffee, caramel, almond and assorted spices. We recommend the Amontillado made by Lustau called Los Arcos ($14) or the longer-aged Gran Barquero Amontillado ($26) In addition to this Gazpacho recipe, serve any of these Sherries with an appetizer plate of Iberico ham, Marcona almonds and black olives. It’s transformative, like reading Don Quixote for the first time.
It is not lost on us that a Sherry pairing may be a bit too adventurous for some. So we began a search for an unfortified white wine pairing, which took us to northwest Spain. Our first thought was to pair the gazpacho with Albariño, the crisp, white, unoaked wine from the Rías Baixas region. The wine, a 2015 from producer Columna ($14), delivered tart lemon/lime and a green apple finish, but was angular in its mouthfeel. We also thought the wine was a bit lacking in fruit complexity. A very refreshing patio-sipper, but not what we were looking for with this gazpacho.
We then looked east from Rías Baixas, about 80 miles, to a region called Valdeorras, where white wines are made from the Godello grape. We selected a wine made by Rafael Palacios called As Sortes ($58 for the 2018 vintage). Small plots of land are called sortes in the Galician language. We found this wine to have the crisp minerality of the Albariño, but with a velvety, creamy texture, no doubt evidence of neutral oak and/or lees-stirring. On the palate, the complex fruit profile was rich with lime and unripe honeydew melon. An excellent partner for the tasty Gazpacho. If the As Sortes is hard to locate, seek out the Avancia Godello Cuvee de O 2014 ($18), which is more widely distributed.
Godello is definitely the choice for those seeking a more crowd-friendly pairing. But for those looking for a stirring, dramatic pairing, go for the Fino or the Amontillado. The ingenious, knight-errant “Don Q” would have settled for nothing less!
Notes
This recipe was adapted from a NY Times recipe by Julia Moskin titled “Best Gazpacho”.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ripe, red tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks.
- 1 Italian frying (cubanelle) pepper, or an Anaheim pepper, cored, seeded and cut into chunks.
- 1 cucumber, about 8 inches long, peeled and cut into chunks.
- 1 small mild onion (white or red) peeled and cut into chunks.
- 1 clove garlic, peeled.
- 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar, more to taste
- Salt
- 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil, more to taste, plus more for drizzling.
Instructions
- Place the tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, onion and garlic in a blender. Note that you will likely have to do this in 2 batches. Process the ingredients at high speed until very smooth.
- With the blender motor running, add the vinegar and 2 teaspoons of salt. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil.
- If the mixture seems watery, drizzle in more olive oil until the texture is creamy.
- Strain the mixture through a strainer or food mill. Discard any solids.
- Transfer to a pitcher (preferably glass), cover, and chill until very cold, about 6 hours or overnight.
- Before serving, check seasonings for salt and vinegar. If soup is very thick, stir in a few tablespoons of ice water.
- Serve garnished with chopped Marcona almonds, tiny cubes of red pepper/cucumber/onion, or simply a few drops of olive oil.
Dolores Bilangi says
As I have Claiborne’s book, i just put the changes in it
Sounds delicious
Aunt Dolores
Steven says
Thanks, Dolores. I appreciate the comment and hope that you enjoy the pairing as much as we did!