AnuvaBlog

After two years of waiting, it finally took an earthquake to move the System enough to allow my parents (my father is my business partner), to adopt 3 kids from Haiti: Corinna 14, Rashaard 10, and Mumina 6.

Welcome to the family!

What irks me though, is why did it take 2 years and an earthquake to make this happen? It’s not as if these people were not suffering before. Haiti is considered the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

At least these 3 and several hundred others got out. But what of the millions left?

They say wine is a family business. Not the mafia type family, mind you.

Gabriel and Monica Blanco exemplify one of these families. They make a line of wines called Mairena that truly illustrates how important their family is to them:

The name Mairena is originally what they wanted to name their oldest daughter, but due to the military dictatorship at the time, this was not possible. The Blanco’s were told that the name “Mairena” did not exist in the book of names that were “acceptable” and “legal” to bestow upon a child and that they would have to pick another name. Reluctantly they did and the indirect result was that they named their wine Mairena and designed the label with the image of a young girl with lovely flowing hair, embossed in the background.

Their Bonarda has 90 points from Robert Parker and their Malbec is also highly rated. Soon their reserve Malbec/Bonarda blend and reserve Bonarda will win many awards as well. Anuva Wines has just introduced these wines to the U.S. market.

The Blanco’s live in Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza where they are surrounded by their family vineyards and make their wines.

www.anuvawines.com

In the interest of keeping the restaurant review theme going, I have a triplet of restaurants, all with the same theme and owners that I would like to recommend.These restaurants are NOT fine dining establishments. You will not find extensive wine lists, or cloth napkins, or waiters with bow ties.

What you will find is plentiful, delicious food for very little money.

Lourdes and I always get the “parrillada completa” when we go to one of these three restaurants. This is the traditional Argentine fair for meat: organ meats and many different kinds of steak and chicken in a quantity for 4 people for only 55 pesos! It also comes with fries! Now if you’re not into morcilla (blood sausage), or rinon (kidney), or molleja (sweet breads), then maybe the parrillada completa is not for you. But it’s an incredible value and I recommend trying it even if it does give you a little “asco” (grosses you out).

This is actually one of the only meat places in Argentina that has good vegetarian options that are not pasta. They have tamales (corn husks with meat or cheese inside), humitas (corn paste/polenta with cheese and corn inside), locro (traditional argentine stew), empanadas from Salta (with all sorts of different options for fillings), all cooked in a ceramic oven.

For wine here I recommend getting the house wine (vino de la casa) which is only about 15 pesos a bottle at the restaurant. They  do have some better bottles but they do not have wine glasses so in my opinion it’s better to enjoy vino on the cheap.

I recommend this for value as even with beer or wine you can get out of there for well under 50 pesos per person.

www.anuvawines.com

As far as we know, this has never been done: we at Anuva Wines applied the concept of a blind wine tasting to medialunas. For those who don’t know, medialunas (literally “half-moons”) are the Argentinian version of a croissant. Flaky, buttery, sweet and joyous. Well, usually…This side by side medialuna comparison was prompted by a visit to the ever popular and widely acclaimed Cafe Tortoni. While truly aesthetically gorgeous and historic, both the coffee and the medialunas at this establishment are extremely sub par. I ate there last week while meeting some people and the medialunas were dry, day-old and an effort to eat. If I hadn’t been hungry, I would have thrown them away.

Yesterday, however, to celebrate the new year, we had several friends over to sample medialunas from several of the cities top bakeries and cafes. Each medialuna was sampled without knowing where it came from and was judged on the following criteria: appearance, aroma, flavor and texture.

1. The winner by a nose was Maru Botana (www.marubotana.com). Although criticized by some for their “daring appearance”, Maru’s medialunas on the whole encompassed the desired qualities of the ideal medialuna: a nice golden brown color, flaky-crunchy outside crust, soft chewy interior, and a butteriness that would make even the French say “Oh la la.”

2. Just coming in second were the La Imprenta cafe. With the traditional moon shaped appearance, these lovely pastries stood out more for their sweet glaze and doughy interiors.

3. Still a close 3rd were the larger, Piegari medialunas with a commanding presence and lovely crunch corners. Not too buttery though.

4. Las Cortaderas were small but of good quality, texture and shape. The size in comparison to the others leaves one wondering, however.

5. In a distant 5th are the Bel Aria medialunas. Bel Aria is a chain bakery found in every neighborhood in the city and although I would never not eat a medialuna placed in front of me from them, after this tasting I will never seek them out again.Enjoy!

www.anuvawines.com