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WINE TALK with Stan Bliden
- March 07
Could you call this an obsession? I never knew a person could go crazy about anchovies.That little fish that rarely grows over eight inches long, can effect the normal thinking patterns of human beings, igniting intense responses -both pro and con.
When ordering a pizza with "the works" many of us say: "Hold the anchovies," while others enjoy a Caesar Salad or Spaghetti alla Puttanesca or Worcestershire sauce -all with that essential ingredient, the anchovy.
Would you go to Spain with a group of wine lovers and convince your traveling companions to carry a bucket of 140 whole anchovies packed in salt on the airplane back to the USA? We did! We brought back three buckets and cleared customs, no problem. I think we shocked them!
I also brought back a small jar of delicious anchovies packed in oil and tried them with some ice cold Lustau Light Manzanilla Sherry "Papirusa" ($14.99 750ml).
And now, I really must end this article as I need an Anchovy and Manzanilla fix!
Now this is an ethereal wine and food combination! The wine is powerful with a nutty, woody, green apple nose, and you can almost smell the sea air of Sanlucar de Barrameda from where it comes. The flavors continue on the palate which is cleansed by the nice acidity and 15.5% alcohol. I'd suggest that you throw out all your misconceptions about sherry and run to your wine shop to buy this wine. Word of warning: make sure the wine is fresh, keep it in the fridge and drink it quickly and ice cold before the flavor fades. The reason I chose Lustau's Papirusa, besides it being delicious, is that the bottling date is coded on the back label. On the top right corner there are four numbers, the first being the year (6 in this case) and the next three the day of the year (195 or July 14). Lustau is the only producer that I know of that does this. When making sherry, after the grapes are fermented, the wine is put in barrels and slightly fortified with wine alcohol. Fino sherry is unique in that the barrels used for aging the wine contain Flor, a layer of yeast cells that forms spontaneously on the surface of the wine. Manzanilla is a Fino only from the town of Sanlucar de Barrameda, where the Guadalquivir River meets the Atlantic Ocean in southwestern Spain. The influence of the sea moderates the temperatures here and the greater humidity aids the flor development, thus protecting the wine from oxidation. Put simply, the flor keeps the wine fresh and the sea air adds a refreshing bite to the finish. The wine is also subjected to the famous Solera system where fresh wine is added with each vintage to make a consistent taste or style. Manzanilla can also be served throughout the meal and goes well with roasted fish, calamari and langoustines. Olives, Spanish almonds and a bit of good Spanish Jamon also match well. But I keep thinking about the anchovies...
Stan Bliden, the second-generation owner of Midway Liquors on Pulaski Highway in Joppa, grew up in the wine business. His passion from early on has been wine and he is "continually amazed" by how much there is to learn about the subject. You can reach him at: winostan@aol.com
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