Tuesday, November 29, 2011

You Could Win Tapena Wine!!

Raise your hand if you'd like to win some free wine. Perhaps that's a rhetorical question, because I don't know anyone who doesn't want free wine, especially good wine. With some help from the Tapeña group, I'm running a contest on this little corner of the internet. The winner of the contest will get a Tapeña party pack consisting of wine (duh!), a Spanish cookbook, corkscrew, those neat fridge magnets with words on them, and some other special goodies.

Now onto the legalese: By entering into this competition you are verifying that you're 21 years of age or older. You also verify that you're living in the 48 contiguous states.



Here's what I want to see from you:
1. Post a comment about Spanish wines and a favorite pairing to go with Spanish wines. That will get you one entry.
2. Post a recipe for tapas that is holiday-party themed, that'll get you two entries! Note: The recipe must be relatively simple and original, please don't cut/paste from a food magazine directly to this blog!
3. Submit a picture, via email, of some tapas you've cooked up, along with the recipe for me to post here. That will get you three entries. I'll then post the picture(s) and recipe(s) after I pick the winner.

Three ways to win, and on December 10th I will pick a winner using random.org and the corresponding entries I receive. All entries must be in by midnight Pacific time on December 9th.

To spread this competition to as many people as possible, anyone referring other wine lovers to this blog competition gets a bonus entry. The person referred must include the name of who referred them to this page in their entry.

I'm making this competition as easy as I can, yet still trying to retain a sense of fun and exploration for us all. I spent a week in Spain this past September and fell in love with the concept of tapas and the Spanish way of going from tapas bar to tapas bar, having a plate of tapas and a glass of wine at each. Call it a sophisticated twist on the British/American tradition of a pub crawl.

Some background will perhaps help to put this competition in the proper light. Tapeña group, the brainchild of the Ferrer house (they of Freixenet cavas), is a way of putting $10 Spanish wine onto American tables. The thing is, a lot of $10 Spanish wine is plonk, with too much oak and other manipulation that covers up what the grapes really are. Not so with the Tapeña wines, which come in four varieties; tempranillo, grenache, verdejo, and a rosado (rosé). All the grapes come from the middle of Spain, in the Tierra de Castilla region.

To learn more about the Tapeña wines, here are some helpful links:
The Website: http://tapenawines.com
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/tapenawines
Twitter: @tapenawine
Tapeña Blog: http://blog.tapenawines.com
Tapeña Rewards program. Details online at: http://www.tapenarewards.com

I hope you'll join in this fun competition and be inspired but what other people create, as well as create a tapas recipe of your own. It's all in fun and you could very well win a few bottles of wine and a cool cookbook, to say the least. That and the bragging rights that go with winning such a highly prestigious competition..

Let the games begin!

These wines were sent as samples for review purposes.

Beau Carufel

16 comments:

  1. OOH! Am I first?

    I am so excited about this giveaway because I love Spanish wines. I would pair a tapa of some small, fried fish like smelt with a nice tempranillo blanco from Rioja.

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  2. I'd love to try the Verdejo with goat cheese - it's a varietal grape I haven't tried yet.

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  3. I am a lover of calamari. So that would be perfect right?

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  4. I love to pair lighter wines (like the rose) with goat cheese, pretty much on anything.

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  5. This summer I grilled a lot of fresh Alaska Sockeye--a fish that once ran in abundance in the rivers of Oregon and Washington as it does still in Alaska. One of my best wine pairings with this marvelous fish was Spanish Tempranillo. The whole meal was grilled salmon with chipotle butter, spinach salad with tomatoes and onions (pesto dressing), 2009 Tapeña Tempranillo. The fruit in the wine, the spice and fat in the fish, the mix of herbs and onions in the salad all together created a sensuous experience.

    I posted a photo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2105122829173

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  6. Not too long ago I tried a Spanish rice dish with chopped up mushrooms in it. We paired it with a 2006 Marques de Caceres Crianza Rioja. It was quite a nice treat!

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  7. Here is my Tapas recipe. Perfect for a Christmas themed party because of the red and green colors :)

    Stuffed Tomatoes with Rice

    3/4 cups long grain rice
    3/4 cup green olives
    3 tbsp olive oil
    4 large tomatoes cut in half
    4 tbsp chopped parsley
    Dash of salt & pepper

    Boil rice in water for 10 - 15 min and drain excess water. Mix rice, olives, oil together and season with salt and pepper. Cut tomatoes in half and scoop out the insides leaving a hollow tomato. Scoop rice and olive mixture into the tomato halves and sprinkle them with parsley. Enjoy!

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  8. Am so excited about this giveaway! I have not yet tried the Tapena wines... though I love wine ...my first wines actually were the Spanish wines from South America... Underagga and Concha Y Toro wines... I had the wonderful privilege of taking a several month tour of Chile where those wines are from.. The best pairing for Spanish wines are the parilladas (outdoor grilled meats and veggies), and also I love to have empanadas with spanish wines. Though... here in No America it is difficult to find a great empanada!
    Please enter me into thise marvelous giveaway so I too may check out these Tapena wines and give them some brand buzz!
    Cathy B pbprojecthope at yahoodotcom
    twitter @projecthope7

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  9. My favorite pariring with a Spanish Tempranillo is a Lime Keifer Garlic soup. Garlic and Temp are made to go together.

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  10. The easiest dessert holiday themed tapas is Drunken Oreos. Make a port reduction sauce from your favorite port 2 cups and 1/2 cups of granulate sugar over a sauce pan until warm. Place the Oreos is a smal dish 3-4 Oreos. Pour the sauce over them until saturated and top with Vanilla bean ice cream. Farnish with a rasberry and mint. Your done. Easy and impressive looking.

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  11. Aaaah Tempranillo! It's such a welcomed dinner guest with it's deep hues, robust nose and flavors that entice you to just crawl inside the glass.

    One of my favorite tapa treats is a good ceviche. If you make it, be sure to invite me over, OK?

    FISH Ceviche

    THE MARINADE:
    1 cup fresh lime juice
    1 tsp salt
    1 bunch lemon thyme
    2 chunked garlic cloves
    1 cerano chili
    BLEND IN BLENDER TO A SMOOTH PUREE.

    1 to 1.5 lbs. white fish (halibut, cod, or other white, mild, flakey fish), chopped fine.

    POUR MARINADE OVER FINE CHOPPED RAW FISH.
    LET SIT IN FRIDGE 2-3 HOURS TO "COOK" (I let it sit overnight)DRAIN OFF ABOUT 1/2 OF THE LIQUID.

    ADD 1/2 diced avocado shortly before serving.
    (I'd add a photo but can't find where/how to upload one on here. Oh well.)
    .

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  12. OK, duh... you said submit photo via email. :P

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  13. This was harder than I thought it would be, (#1 anyway) because part of what I love about Spanish wines is their versatility to go with a lot of things I make. I'm thinking of the garnacha and the tempranillo that are great options with so many dishes. But I'm going to go in another direction and say I love Albarino with seafood, especially scallops prepared simply--bit of olive oil, garlic and dash of lemon.

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  14. OK, here's a tapas recipe. Not traditional Spanish but you get the red (chopped tomatoes) & green (pesto) for the colors.

    1 batch of pesto (my recipe over on CookingChat)
    1 baguette, sliced into rounds 1 inch thick
    4 ozs. goat cheese
    grape tomatoes (optional), quartered
    olive oil spray

    Set oven to broil. Spread aluminum foil over baking tray. Spread baguette rounds on the tray (depending on size of baguette you should have enough for 2 or 3 trays). Spray with olive oil to lightly coat. Put tray in oven AND DON'T GO ANYWHERE. Turn that oven light on and keep an eye on things, it only takes a few minutes for the crostini to begin to brown, at which point you should remove them from oven. (alternatively, you can go off and do something else, and expect a visit from your friendly local fire people).

    Let the crostini cool for a few minutes. Spread a thin layer of goat cheese over crostini, then spread the pesto over the goat cheese. Top with the optional tomatoes if using.

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  15. Well the numbers are counted and it looks like Kovas from the 50 States of Wine blog is our winner! Congratulations to him and I thank you all for submitting your recipes and comments. I'm planning on trying them this holiday season!

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  16. Tempranillo with salt cod and chickpea stew - tons of garlic, a little chilli, tomatoes and loads of parsley - mmmmmmmmm

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