The spoils from Spain

Another year at Villa Karin in Olivella was enjoyed by all. Despite the humidity and the mosquitoes (who were oddly rarely seen, but frequently felt post feasting) we spent a week eating, drinking, lounging, reading and catching up on the gossip.

With such a hectic timetable of activities, who'd have thought Miss J and Mr P would have time to get engaged. But they did! And little Miss SE got water wings and swam and Miss LM reigned her subjects with an iron paw from her favourite lap, provided by Mr DB.

So what wine did we drink. Well here's a run down of my top 7...

1) Tinto de Verano

So not strictly just wine, because we bought it in 1.5l plastic bottles and it contains La Casera (sort of like a less sweet lemonade). But this was the drink of choice by the pool, on hot, humid days. With loads of ice, slices of lemon and a cheeky slosh of vodka.

2) Estola Gran Reserva, 1999

Mr J bought two bottles of this and it was the most expensive wine of the holiday - a bank breaking €10 a bottle. On the nose it smelt of vinyl, but it tasted smooth, leathery, blackcurranty and it was delicious with the veggie chilli, bean dip and porcupine hummous* on the last night. Worth every penny. Or Euro cent.

3) Arribeño, Cosecha 2008, Tinto

Favoured by Miss SJ for its fruity, jammy character, this young, easy-drinking red from Ribero del Duero was a brilliant to serve before food.

4) Coto de Imaz, Rioja Reserva 2004

One of the staple Riojas of the holiday, oh what fun was had watching Miss SJ's face when she took a mouthful of this one, thinking it was the Arribeño! Although it had coconut on the bouquet (due to ageing in American oak), it was earthy with a hint of fruit on the palate. This one was a winner for most of meals - versatile enough to partner with feta or manchego, burgers or pizza. A bit on the pricey side for us at €7.80!

5) Comportillo, Rioja crianza (red and white)

The red was a bargain at €1.75 and provided us all with another great Rioja. A mix of 90% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha giving dark fruit with a touch of tobacco. Unfortunately we only discovered the white on Friday as Miss SJ was craving a white instead. So we parted with an extra 10 euro cents for it. Mr P said that if he had a restaurant he would serve it as his house white: light, grassy and tart. Great as an apertif and would be fab with grilled hake.

6) La Guita, Manzanilla

Two bottles of this were greedily drunk by a few of us. At €5.10, it made a brilliant aperitif, lovely with almonds. And salami. And Olives. Yum.

7) Anna de Codoniu, Brut Cava

Mr P says this is only available to the Spanish market. Shame on you Spain! Or should that be, how clever, how artful! We drank this to celebrate Mr P and Miss J's engagement. It was light, citrus-sy and I wish I could have drank more. Only I was driving. Boo!

* not really made of porcupines

Hello Kitty wine

Yes it exists! Check out the full story here.

Not sure if the producers have really thought through the implication of marketing this, given that it's a cartoon character aimed at CHILDREN!

I think we missed a trick not tracking some down for pink night. Or maybe not.

Kitchen bitchin' rocks

Miss SB held a dinner last night as it was her penultimate night in London - she's off to Croatia today, then heads to Spain for a few days at the villa and then back to London before heading home to Australia.

So I offered to be her kitchen bitch for the day!

In the past, this role was performed by Miss J or Miss S, but these days it mostly happens in Spain since we're no longer a group of girls all living in London, congregating weekly for Desperate Housewives Night. But I thought it would be fun to assist Miss SB with her epic Moroccan Feast.

And we had a blast!

Comedy moments with the cold tap, the mystery ingredient in the dessert, the lack of scales or rolling pin (necessary for flatbreads) and two minor floods resulted in some great food. We cooked two enormous legs of lamb in a Moroccan yoghurt marinade, couscous with 7 vegetables (actually 6, because TURNIP has no place in any recipe), houmous, baba ganoush, aubergine and roasted peppers as well as the bread.

And the wine? We had a lovely Anakena viognier and some easy drinking Casa Mia Fiano. But the highlight was a pomegranate bellini, made with Cava, fresh pomegranate and find of the week, a pomegranate dessert wine. The Rimon Pomegranate Wine was probably not intended for such use - it is amazingly fruity with good acidity and would be splendid on its own with dessert or soft squidy cheese.

But mixed with the Cava was phenomenal. Brilliant for a hot day with Moroccan nibbles. And it is apparently stuffed to the gills with vitamins and antioxidants. Yummy and good for the wrinkles! Check it out now at Waitrose.