In this post, I interview Jordi Paronella, the wine director of José Andres Restaurants. A native of Barcelona, Spain, he oversees all the wine programming for Chef José Andres’ restaurants. If you’ve ever been to a Chef José Andres restaurant, you know that you’re going to get great cocktails and wines, so I reached out to a pro for holiday wine tips.
1. Tell me about the holiday season in Barcelona from a wine and food perspective.
In Barcelona, we spend two days celebrating Christmas, the 25th and 26th. On Christmas Day, it’s a tradition to eat Escudella (a chicken soup broth) and Carn d’Olla (which uses all the meat and vegetables from the broth). Then we celebrate Sant Esteve on the 26th. And with all the leftovers from the 25th, we make canelones (stuffed cannelloni pasta.)
In our family, we’re cava lovers, so we just drink cava all throughout the holiday season. Normally, Reserva Cava, which has fruity aromas, nutty complexity, and elegant bubbles. For New Year’s Eve, there are two trains of thought. There are families who celebrate at home and buy the best ingredients and wines, a lot of seafood, caviar, foie gras…. and good wines like Champagne, Albariños, Riojas, Riberas, normally name brands. And then there are families who want to go out and celebrate in restaurants with their family and friends.
2. How do you plan to bring those food and wine pairings together in Washington, DC for the holiday season?
When I think about wine pairings, what make the most sense for me are the geographical vs traditional pairings. When a certain dish is typical from an area, I can’t help but drink wine from that same area. Some easy pairings are: Galician seafood, drink it with a Albariño, in Catalina, normally goes with cava, and in the South, Manzanilla. That’s the way to create a successful pairing.
3. For those entertaining at home, what are some wine suggestions that are easy to find in Washington, DC?
In Spain, there’s a growing list of bodegas getting brand names like Lopez Heredia, Álvaro Palacios, and Lustau, not to mention well-known grapes like Tempranillo, Garnacha, Albariños, Ruedas, and those D.O. like Rioja and Ribera del Duero which are pretty strong also in the market. Old-world wines are the easiest, like France (Bourdeaux, Burgundy), Italy (Barolo, Barbaresco, Chianti), and Germany Rieslings. In terms of New World wine, those from the USA, I like those from California and Oregon, Argentina (Malbec), Chilenean, New Zealand, and Australia. As for me, I am a big supporter of small growers and producers of Cava, so I try to buy those whenever I am entertaining so that I can introduce friends and family to these wines.
4. What is your favorite holiday tradition in Barcelona?
We love all the Canelones from San Esteve, cannolis filled with a mix of foie gras and minced meat of beef, chicken, and pork. Another tradition is Three King Day on January 6th. It’s really special, and not only about the food and wine, because it’s one of the only days of the year when the entire family can get together. For Three Kings Day, we eat aperitivos, plenty of seafood, jamon iberico…and, of course, drink cava.
5. Do you make special selections when it comes to the holiday wine list?
I do! This year, I got crazy with plenty of wines from Galicia and Albariños with a little bit of age. And Mencias from Ribeira Sacra. We bought a few cases of this batch called Envinate and also the 2013 vintage in Montsant and Priorat.
