You're Invited: Crisp White Wines from Spain and Portugal #WinePW

Since we've wrapped the July Wine Pairing Weekend, where we explored lesser known wine regions with Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm, I'm extending an invitation to the 51st event next month. Yep, we have been at this for a good long while Wow. So grateful to David at Cooking Chat for starting this group and for each and every blogger who pairs and posts. I learn something new every month. You can check out the list of past - and upcoming - events here.

In any case, I'm giving you plenty of lead time to play with different options as you uncork, pour, taste, and pair crisp white wines from the Iberian Peninsula. We have just under a month to plan, execute, photograph, and write!

You're Invited...

Last summer when friends from Spain returned to California, they gave me this bottle of Albariño when I had asked about the varietal. Albariño is a native Spanish grape grown mainly in Rías Baixas. As it's a region renowned for oysters, mussels, clams, and other ocean delicacies, I thought it would pair nicely with the abalone. It did! You can read my recipe for that here. And, since then, I've wanted to explore that grape and region more. So, I decided to rally the #WinePW bloggers and really dig in.

Crisp white wines from Spain and Portugal are dynamic and food-friendly. I like to think of them as enveloping your nose with summer blossoms while your tongue feels the salinity of a fresh ocean breeze.

The main grapes I can think of in Spain - for this topic - would be Albariño, Macabeo, Verdejo, Garnacha Blanco, and Treixadura. From Portugal, I'd suggest looking for Alvarinho, Avesso, Loureiro, Arinto, Fernão Pires and Verdelho.

For pairings, I would lean toward ceviche-style dishes or an array of other seafood tapas. But, they complement pork and chicken dishes just as easily. Can't wait to see the creativity from this group.

And, in the spirit of creativity, it would be interesting to compare an Albariño from Rías Baixas and one from, say, California! I found a surprising number of my favorite local vintners making Albariños. So, while the topic is crisp white wines from Spain and Portugal, I'll readily welcome any posts and pairings featuring those Iberian varietals...regardless of where the wine is made such as the winery near Jane of Always Ravenous that uses Touriga Nacional in a blend. Wait! That's a red wine grape. Okay, maybe I'll be really flexible in this event because wines from Spain and Portugal are fascinating. ¡Salud!

What will your pairing be? 

Details for participation

Are you ready to jump in and participate in the ninth #winePW? Here are the specifics…

Send an email to tell me you're in: Include your blog url, Twitter handle, link to your Pinterest profile, and any other social media detail. If you know your blog post title now, include that...but you can send me that a bit closer to the event, I'd like to get a sense of who's participating and give some shoutouts and links as we go. The email is constantmotioncamilla AT gmail.com.

Send your post title to me by Monday, August 6, to be included in the preview post. I will do a preview post shortly after getting the titles, linking to your blogs. When posted, your title should include "#winePW " (Note: I'd like us all to use the hashtag in the title to make it easier to see the posts getting shared on Twitter).

Publish your post between 12:01 a.m-7:00 a.m. EDT on Saturday, August 11. You can always schedule your post in advance if you will be tied up around then.

Include a link to the other #winePW participants in your post, and a description of what the event is about. I'll provide the html code you can easily put in your initial post--which will link to people's general blog url--then updated code for the permanent links to everyone's #winePW posts.

Get social! After the posts go live, please visit your fellow bloggers posts' to comment and share. I'll follow-up later with some specific strategies for that social sharing.

Sponsored posts OK if clearly disclosed. Please be sure to disclose if your post is sponsored or if you are describing wine or other products for which you have received a free sample.

Live #winePW Twitter Chat August 11, 11 a.m. ET: Participating bloggers and others interested in the subject will connect via a live Twitter chat. It's a nice bring way to bring in others interested in the subject who didn't get a chance to share a blog post. You can definitely still join the blog event if you're not available for the live chat.