Spanish Wine - Now and Then

I came across some old guide books the other day. They dated from from the mid seventies and featured the best restaurants in London.
There was then just one award winning Spanish restaurant recommended by the likes of 'Let's Lunch in London' and 'The Good Food Guide.'

It was called Dulcinea and it was run by my now friend of six years, Luis Benavides Barajas.
I suspect I took some early teenage girlfriends to his restaurant. It will have made a change from the usual Spaghetti House style date!

On reading the books all I could conclude was, how times have changed. There are now so very many good restaurants in the UK serving Spanish food.
But it was very different back then.

We went through the books and laughed at the choice of wine on offer to customers in the 1970's and early 1980's. The choice was so limited.
Today wine lists in restaurants can seem endless. But are we any more educated when it comes to which wine to have with our meal than we were in the days when Luis counted stars such as Tom Jones among his regulars?

He tells me: "Oh yes, people know much more about wine now than back when I was running Dulcinea. People buy far more wine to have at home now than they did then so they are always experimenting with new tastes."

What then, I ask Luis, are the important factors when it comes to choosing and enjoying Spanish wine?

He says. "First it must appeal to the eye and the nose. We pay an excessive amount of attention to the colour of the wine when its bouquet and body are more important.
For the wine lover, food should simply be a frame for the wine. For example, a dry wine should never be served after a sweet dish, as the contrast makes it seem hard and bitter. Better to sample such a wine after cheese to appreciate its full bouquet.

"As most people now know, dry white wines go well with fish while red wines are better with roast dinners. Eating game demands you have a great red wine, as its flavour will draw out the full flavour of the wine.

"White wine should be a few degrees colder than the room, but not too cold, as this reduces the impression of the wine on the senses. Red wines should be drunk at room temperature since warmth develops the bouquet but, at the same time, they should produce a sensation of freshness in the mouth.
The heavier a wine, the colder it should be drunk."

So is the future of good wine production in Spain assured?

Luis says: "I worry that wines such as Rioja have become too popular for their own good. There are now too many bottles of wine carrying the name Rioja, and some
of their are dreadful. That does harm to the wonderful red and white wines produced in La Rioja by the many bodegas who have been hard at work for centuries.
"Those who run bodegas in Spain are determined to ensure the quality of what they produce just gets better and better. They produce fine wines in the north and south of Spain with the minimum of fuss and a surprising lack of self promotion or publicity.

"In the old days in the restaurant customers had to make do with the early Riojas or Italian wines such as Chianti or a bottle of Frascati.
Now were I running an award winning restaurant in London I would be able to serve only quality Spanish wine, so endless is the choice available to the public today."

And clearly, from reading the old guide books, Luis would be charging much more for a bottle today than he was in 1975, when Rod Stewart topped the charts with 'Sailing', microwave meals were unheard of and my first serious love, Barbara, broke my heart in a restaurant.

Clearly, I chose the wrong wine!