Hello Spanish Table wine friends!

There's nothing like a steamy kitchen filled with Moorish freshly ground to stir the appetite & add allure to a pantry of winter root vegetables and dried beans... We've hit the in-between harvest month & while I await pencil-thin asparagus, artichokes & peas, our growing Moroccan cookbook selection has such wonderful photographs of thick lamb stews, tagines & that you feel as if you can taste the flavors just by glancing through the pages.

Enter Mustapha, a dynamo local importer, whose passion for the products of his homeland has provided us with a wealth of preserved lemons, & now an incredible line of exotic spices blended to his specification. With a whole new section of Moroccan ceramics to brighten your table & all the ingredients you need to put together an authentic dinner, I can hardly wait to show you all the new things we have in store to up your February routine!

Salud! Catherine

CHEESE OF THE WEEK: NEW! VALLEE D'ASPE a superb example of a tomme de chevre, This raw goat's milk cheese is crafted by basque artisans in the shadow of the pyrenees. firm, but not flaky, this cheese speaks of mountain terroir with nutty notes, olive-like savoriness, & a wonderfully grassy rind.

CHORBA WITH RAS EL HANOUT AND NOODLES from Food & Cooking of Africa & the Middle East by Josephine Bacon & Jenni Fleetwood Ras el hanout means "top of the shop" in Arabic, meaning the best blend a spice merchant has to offer. This heady spice can be rubbed on meats, used in , or to flavor couscous & , but it's also thought to be an aphrodisiac! We are lucky to have fantastic Moroccan importer, Mustapha, right here in Seattle & he had this blend specially created with 21 spices including , , , piment fort, , rose petals, & grains of paradise. This warming is a daily soup in & high on my list of dishes to try on drizzly days!

Serves 4

3-4 Tbs olive oil 3-4 whole 2 onions, chopped 1 butternut squash 4 sticks, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 8 large, ripe tomatoes 1-2 tsp sugar 1 Tbs tomato puree (paste) 1-2 tsp ras el hanout 1/2 tsp ground a big bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped 7 1/2 cups vegetable stock a handful of dried egg noodles or capellini, broken into pieces & ground natural (plain) yogurt, to garnish

Peel, seed & cut the squash into small chunks. Skin, & roughly chop the tomatoes . In a deep, heavy pan, heat the oil & add the cloves, onions, squash, celery & carrots. Fry until they begin to color, then stir in the chopped tomatoes & sugar. Cook until the liquid reduces & the tomatoes begin to pulp.

Stir in the tomato puree, ras el hanout, turmeric & chopped coriander. Pour in the stock & bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat & simmer, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes until the vegetables are very tender & the liquid has reduced a little.

To make a pureed soup, let the liquid cool slightly before processing in a blender or food processor, then pour back into the pan & add the .

Alternatively, to make a chunky soup, simply add the pasta to the unblended soup & cook for a further 8-10 minutes, or until the pasta is soft.

Season the soup to taste & ladle it into bowls. Spoon a swirl of yogurt into each one, garnish with coriander sprigs & serve with a freshly baked Moroccan loaf.

BARGAINS!

Bodegas Farina Colegiata 2003, Toro $6.99 (reg. $8.99) People who know Toro know Bodegas Farina... The magnificent colegiata in Zamora that appears on Farina's labels is a monument to Romanesque architecture & the political/economical importance that this area held in the twelfth century. What I like about this wine is that you get the riches of a Toro at a farmer's price. Typical of a Toro, Farina has classic cherry coke aromas with a pleasant muskiness & spice accents that adore cured meats & smoky chorizo. Plump fruit with cherry & plum juiciness and sweet tannins make this a stellar everyday wine at a price that let's you stock up your wine rack!

Lanzaga 2001, Rioja $16.99 (reg. $21.99) Telmo Rodriguez is one of the new wave winemakers that has shaken up the wine world both in Spain & internationally. After studying in Bordeaux, he returned to propel his father's winery, Remelluri, to a top Rioja house but felt the itch to venture off on his own. Always looking for unique sites, Telmo has chosen not to make overly oaked modern wines, but to extract every bit of terroir out of his vineyards. Now he's leaving the protective wing of Jorge Ordonez, so we got a deal on this while his wines change hands... "The 2001 Lanzaga is perfumed and charming. Aged 14 months in French oak and larger foudres, it is an elegant, Pinot Noir-like effort revealing notes of forest floor, sweet and sour cherries, and spice box in a medium-bodied, attractive style." -Robert Parker

LAST CALL! Bodegas Ateca Garnacha de Fuego 2005, Campo de Borja $8.99 case & a half left! This wine has caused a serious sensation amongst wine journalists... Right after Paul Gregutt of the Seattle Times called this "a candidate for bargain of the year", our phone started ringing off the hook. Unfortunately, the review came out after it was sold out, as we had already been hand- selling this to thirsty Grenache fans. Now that it's back, it's an allocated wine, & that means I had to fight the big boys to get our share. Read below & see what the fuss is about:

"This Grenache from Calatayud, one of Spain’s hottest up-and-coming regions (though wine has been made there for 2,000 years), is loaded with the taste of dense, juicy black cherry and licorice. Bodegas Ateca is a new joint venture between visionary wine importer Jorge Ordoñez and the winemaking Gil family of Jumilla, known for its Monastrell-based (aka Mourvèdre) reds." "Most Exciting New Wines of 2006" Food & Wine Magazine "Unbelievable value! This is old-vine garnacha from Calatayud — 65-year-old vines — and ordinarily a wine this dark and pungent, with its mix of ripe berry, crushed rock, white pepper and kirsch, would be priced at $20 or even $30. This is seriously a candidate for bargain of the year." -Paul Gregutt, Seattle Times

COLLECTOR'S CORNER

Descendientes de J. Palacios Petalos 2005, Bierzo $18.99 Back in stock! "Deep violet. Peppery, vibrant scents of dark cherry, cassis and tobacco. At once fleshy and focused, with sweet red and dark berry flavors showing a refreshing bitter quality and tangy acids providing lift and focus. This has excellent structure, with fine-grained tannins in balance with the fruit." -90 points, Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

Bodega Catena Zapata Alta Malbec 2003, Mendoza ARG 2 bottles available "Flashy yet seductive. Vivid purple and blue fruits are layered with exotic mocha and spice notes. Long and powerful, but creamy and pure on the finish, with fine acidity stretching it out. Drink now through 2011. 2,500 cases made." -94 points, Wine Spectator "Highly Recommended", Top 100 Wines of 2006

Catherine Reynolds Seattle Wine Manager

The Spanish Table 1426 Western Avenue Seattle, WA 98101 (206)682-2827