Love From The First Glass: Valentines Event At El Grifo

This is a guest article from our friend Tracy Monaghan. 

There are sadly not many events currently happening here in Lanzarote on level four restrictions but love will find a way!

We were delighted to book tickets for the event held at El Grifo winery on February 14th. Valentines day does provide the best excuse to stay within our restrictions of only having a table for two in public venues and the central patio at the oldest bodega in Lanzarote was the perfect socially distanced location. A rose petal entrance, love songs playing in the background and a warm afternoon in the shade set the perfect scene.
The event was a wine pairing of a selection of six noted wines from El Grifo’s range with six beautiful handmade chocolates from La Corona Lanzarote.

Master chocolatier Enrique Martin of La Corona chocolate shop, located in the Marina of Arrecife, was at the event to explain his creative process to create the exquisite artisan chocolates whilst wine expert Luca Torelli, sommelier at El Grifo gave us a fascinating background and tasting notes on the wine pairings.

As is traditional, the tasting started with Malvasia Brut Nature, which Luca explained is an aperitif to prepare the tastebuds however he did emphasize that we should enjoy the wines of our preference with dishes, the most important choice is to enjoy wine with good friends and loved ones.

This was followed by the very pale Rosado de Lagrima with a raspberry filled ruby chocolate, then the semi seco Vija riego, also known locally as the Diego grape variety, with a salted caramel using local Lanzarote sal de Janubio of course.

My favourite pairing was the Malvasia Lias with a yuzu chocolate, the citric flavour of the chocolate was really amplified by the citric notes in the wine. The next wine was El Grifo’s famous Ariana, which showcases how Lanzarote red wine is also deservedly winning awards paired with a bitter coffee chocolate. Our last wine was the Moscatel de Ana the superb “Canari” dessert wine with a golden chocolate flavoured with Tahiti vanilla.
After the pairings we were then invited to have a glass of wine of our choice by the bodega and also given a surprise goody bag chocolate gift on departure.

With many thanks to El Grifo & La Corona for such a well organised event made all the more special due to our current covid restrictions, we will be keeping an eye out for future events and hope to hear of an upcoming wine and cheese pairing.

Thanks Tracy – let us know when you’re going to the next one, so we can join you!

Read more about Lanzarote’s wine bodegas.