Happy Birthday Evuna #Blog

Briony Wilson
6th November 2018

Last week we were delighted to be invited down to Evuna, Knutsford the North West’s leading Spanish restaurant, tapas bar and fine wine merchant, to celebrate 15 years since the launch of its first restaurant on Deansgate, Manchester.  Since then, the award-winning restaurant group has also opened branches in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and in Knutsford, with a fourth Evuna due in Altrincham early next year.

To celebrate in true style, Evuna held a ‘Rioja versus Ribera Del Duero’ themed wine and food tasting with wines from two of its oldest vineyards, complemented by a range of tasty tapas. The evening was hosted by Roberto Santalba and Jesus Sanchez, from multi award winning wineries Bodegas Santalba and Bodegas Azuauga alongside Jane Dowler, one of the owners.

When Evuna began, its aim was to create an offering reminiscent of Spain’s culture of eating out and enjoy fabulous wine offerings; I may not have been back then, but I can definitely say 15 years on they have achieved exactly what they set out to do. Whilst each of the three Evuna’s have a core theme, they each offer slightly different wines and foods, to show off the skills of the individual chefs. Evuna restaurants are the only Spanish restaurants in the UK that import directly from source and all wines stocked are imported from family run vineyards that have several generations worth of experience.

During the celebrations we enjoyed tasting of 8 wines and several tapas elements to complement each wine. We started with a white wine Santalba Vina Hermosa Blanco of Rioja, this goes very well with appetisers: Fish and Cured Meats. It is made from the Viura Grapes and has a lovely acidity to it. Alongside this wine we enjoyed Manchego with Pear and Pecan on top of a crustini. We only tried two white wines across the evening, and the second was made again from the Viura grapes blended with Verdejo grapes, the Santalba Abando Blanco. This wine was darker in colour and due to fermenting in an oak barrel, has a buttery mouth feel, this wine can be enjoyed at warmer temperatures, so is a great winter white and goes very well with white meats.

Next, we moved on to our only rosé wine of the evening the Arzuaga Rosae, the first wine from our Ribera region, this wine is made from the Tempranillo grape, which grown at a high altitude enhances the freshness of the grapes. This is a very fresh fruity, wine with goes well with Seafood, vegetables, Pork and white meats. At this stage we took a pause from the wines and focused on the food when an-assortment of tapas arrived, including; Courgette and Aubergine Skewers, Wild Mushroom and Brie on Crustini, Gamas Skewers and Galician style Octopus. I love seafood and the Galician Octopus stole the show for me, perfectly cooked and full of flavor – I will be back again and again purely for this dish. The Gambas skewers were delicious and something different to the usual tapas offering in a crispy light batter and the rich flavour of the brie and truffly mushrooms on the crustini were something to write home about. All these dishes went perfectly with the Rosé and the first red wine of the evening.

Santalba Cotas Altas, was our first Red wine and as someone who primarily drinks white wine or Gin, I was surprised how much I enjoyed all 5 red wines across the evening, each went very well with the food on offer and I would happily drink again for the right occasion. Whilst still a red this wine was a lighter hue and so had a softer flavour, this could be said to be partially down to the changing climate of Rioja and with the high altitude less tannins are required in the wine, so it becomes a more pure product. This goes well with Lamb and Poultry.

Our Second red wine also used the Tempranillo Grapes mixed with Cab Sav, the Arzuaga Crianza is from the Ribera region and had a darker colour and richer more intense flavour and alcohol content, this is a full body red and we saw the contrast between this continental wine vs the Rioja a more Atlantic altitude. This wine is very fruity and goes well with Wine, we had it alongside a Mahon Cheese Tortilla, the cheese was rich and gooey that went brilliantly with the wine.

Back to the Rioja wines we tried the Abando Crianza a mix of Tempranillo and Viura grapes, this pairs wonderfully with Beef, lamb, veal and Poultry. I felt it had a quite oily character, and was slightly bitter, this is because it is a more acidic wine with less sugars, quite an oaky flavour overall. We had this with the Chorizo, potato and Paprika skewers and the bold flavour matched together well.

On to our last Rioja wine, the Santabla Ogga Gran Reserva, made in the Northern hills, this is an organic wine with a very oaky finish, that is quite dry with a medium body, due to its mixture of Tempranilo and Tinto Fino grapes.  This was quite similar to our final wine of the evening the Laderas Del Norte, both shared the same mixture of Grapes, despite the different regions they are grown, this would pair very well with Game or venison and we enjoyed it with the Iberico Pork and White bean stew, a very hearty taps to finish the evening on with wonderful flavours.

I would like to thank Evuna for inviting us to celebrate the successful 15 years of business with you and wish you all the luck for the new restaurant. The product here is fabulous and if you love wine or would like to learn more these wine tasting evenings are the perfect opportunity. The food and wines were both delicious and it was a great chance to try something a little different, these events run regularly at all three locations, so stop by to find out when you can take part.