A packaging design for Portento wine.

Located in the southern Castilian meseta of Spain, some 60km from Madrid, La Mancha is not only Spain's largest wine region but is also the world's largest wine-producing area, with a total of 191,699 hectares planted in vineyards.

This immense plateau of arid lands once produced great quantities of quaffing wines with little thought ever given to improving quality. That has changed now. The most celebrated area, La Mancha DO covers about half of the Castille-La Mancha region.

At a tasting with one of La Mancha's producers, Romero de Avila Salcedo, I was impressed by the quality of wines from his Bodega Romero, which produces wines from both of Spain's traditional grapes; Tempranillo and Verdejo, as well as imported varieties such as Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah. The vineyards all are planted with 30, 60 and 80-year old vines.

Combining know-how and the latest state-of-the-art technology and operating a vertical integration management system, Romero is able to keep total control of production from vine to bottle, thus ensuring the end product conforms to his expectations.

He caters both to novice drinkers and more experienced palates by producing an aged top of the range - Testigo as well as two other categories: an easy-to-drink, stainless steel-fermented range called Galion; and the more sophisticated Portento range of wines that have been aged in new American oak casks.

As I've said before, there are two ways to tackle matching the wines to a particular cuisine: by contrasting the tastes or by emphasizing the flavors even more.

With Korean food for instance, there are many different types of traditional alcoholic drinks served, such as soju, makgeolli and dong-dong-ju (made from rice or potatoes) and not all Korean restaurants offer fair-sized wine lists or anything more than Korean beer to drink. Just so long as you don't drink wine as soon as you've eaten Kimchi (eat rice first), you can match most of the food with a good wine.

By searching diligently, I found a wine from Romero Bodega that stands up to one of the best-known Korean culinary temptations: barbecued Daeji Bulgolgi (marinated pork - not as spicy as Soot Bull) and Bulgolgi (marinated beef - usually brisket) often called 'fire meat'. But bulgogi can also mean the other kind of 'fire'; spicy!

The Portento Half-Crianza from Romero Bodega is a young, powerful, full-bodied and well-structured Tempranillo aged in new American oak wood. Aromatic and fruity with a persistent, complex bouquet, this wine shows extended flavors in the mouth along with subtle tannins that soothe the spice and encourage the food's robust flavors.

The Portento Crianza: The presence of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend means it's capable of very prolonged aging, and, with time, it will turn brick-red. In the nose, the subtle aromas of new wood emerge alongside fruity aromas of a perfectly matured Tempranillo. Good structure in the mouth and perfect blending have resulted in a well-rounded wine with good tannins and natural acidity that can accompany spiced dishes - except the very vinegary servings.

While the Galion Tinto and the Portento Tempranillo Joven are highly aromatic with flavors of red fruits, particularly raspberries, both wines have delicate tannins with up-front fruit making them the ideal companions for milder spicy dishes.

Top-end Bodega Romero Testigo has tremendous aromatic intensity and is an attractive cherry-red colour with ruby hues. A blend of three grape varieties - Tempranillo, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, it is made even more harmonious by an optimum aging period in new French and American oak casks. Powerful, with elegant aromas, this wine is balanced and silky in the mouth, leaving a pleasurable, persistent aftertaste that goes well with low to medium spiced robust meats.

Perhaps the most elusive but most rewarding match came with Bodega Romero's white Galion Verdejo. The up-front palate of white peaches and young mulberry fruit are fresh tastes that could easily be swamped by strong spice. But, because this wine has a rounded mid-palate of apricot kernels and pineapple with a light almond aftertaste and is dry with a well-balanced medium acidity, it cuts the oils in dishes such as Cha-dol-Behgi with a light soy cha-dol sauce and Dduk-boh-sahm, or even a Maeun tang (spicy fish stew) without detracting from the flavors.

(HK Edition 08/15/2009 page3)