The title of this post references the two wines we enjoyed while sampling some of the tapas on offer at Timón, a seafood tapas bar and restaurant located in Ship Street, Wan Chai.
Cava Rimarts image credit: Cava Rimarts
To start we had salted almonds – the only tapas bar in Hong Kong to offer this, which surprises me as salted almonds with a glass of cava or sherry is heaven! Sweet and salty flavours all in one little nut and with a glass of Rimarts Cava Gran Reserva 40 it was the perfect beginning.
Cava Rimarts was founded in the late 1980s by Ricard Martínez de Simón and continues to be run by the family. You can get your hands a bottle of these wonderful of bubbles from Aurora Fine Wines in Sheung Wan or contact Cava Rimarts Asia directly [1]. The focus at Cava Rimarts is on handcrafting the best examples of Spain’s sparkling wine, Cava. The Gran Reserva 40 has been aged on lees for 40 months and this gives the wine a nice richness to the texture, with the blend consisting of the traditional trio – Macabeo, Paralleda and Xarel-lo – as well as a small amount of Chardonnay. The acidity of the wine worked well with the nutty sweetness of the almonds and the salt of the almonds brought the green fruit notes of the wine to the fore. All in all, a rather lovely partnership.
Valdesil Godello Sobre Lias image credit: Victoria Wines
Next up was the white anchovy and piquillo pepper pintxo, which we paired with a glass of the Valdesil Godello. This white wine from the northwest of Spain is the ideal complement to seafood and a classic example of wine styles developing to match local cuisine.
Valdesil specialise in producing Godello and this family run business, located in Valdeorras, has access to some of the oldest Godello vines in the world. In all, they produce four different expressions of Godello alongside two expressions of the red grape, Mencia – the other star of the region.
The Godello made the salty seafood notes of the fresh and tender white anchovy burst in the mouth! Saline notes which often characterise Godello were easily detected with this food and wine combination. Additionally you might find some green fruit, citrus and white flowers on this mid-weight wine. And if you really enjoy it, the good news for those of us in Hong Kong is that it is available from Victoria Wines if you wish to have a bottle or two at home. Perhaps the perfect wine for a weekend junk?
The anchovy was followed with superb calamari and while I could eat a bucket full of these deliciously tender calamari pieces, the serving size is just perfect leaving space for a few more dishes to be ordered.
One of those dishes should most definitely be the jamon. We selected the Reserva Iberica Bellota Master’s Hand-sliced, aged for 36 months – silky and salty, it matched well with the Cava and we had cleared the plate in front of us before we realised it!
Being a huge fan of Spanish food I am thrilled to see the number of quality offerings available in Hong Kong increasing, with Timón sitting very comfortably amongst those at the top!
Happy drinking!
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