Picking 2013 Pasanau Finca La Planeta from the wine list of Can Font restaurant in Portland, Oregon, wasn’t easy. There were several good choices, and we picked the wine with the most powerful profile.
How much the wine list matters when you choose the restaurant? What do you pick first wine or food when you there? How often do you ask yourself what wine would pair best with your meal? We always do, and quite often, wine is driving our decision to go to a particular restaurant.
Some of the best wine and food pairings happen when you combine wine and food from the same terroir. It’s especially true for Old World wine.
Thanks to our connected world and nomad nature of modern society, we no longer have to travel half the globe to pair wine with the dish of the place of its origin.
Nowadays, if you live in a major city, you can find wine from all major regions around the world and a restaurant that serves dishes from the same area.
Lucky for us, Can Font, the Michelin-recognized restaurant near Barcelona, just opened the second location in Portland, Oregon. It presented a perfect opportunity for us to pairs Spanish wine with tapas.
We were a bit torn in picking the wine for our dinner, and we agreed on the 2013 Pasanau Finca La Planeta from the Priorat region of Spain. It wasn’t easy to choose because the tapas menu was mostly skewed toward white wines, but the main course would be perfect for it.
Celler Pasanau Winery
Finca La Planeta came from a small family winery Celler Pasanau with roots stretching centuries cultivating vineyards in Priorat. The latest generation lead by Ricard revamped the winery by introducing new varietals and vine-growing and winemaking techniques that lead to producing high-quality wines and expanding production.
Today they farm organically, controlling weeds with mechanical utensils, using organical compost and pesticides based on sulfur and Bordeaux mixture. The older vineyards plowed by mule.
Pasanau’s Finca La Planeta vineyard (hence the name nf the label) located at 2,400 feet elevation, the highest in Priorat. This helps to retain freshness in the concentrated, late-harvested grapes, resulting in a uniquely tight-knit, albeit typically powerful, Priorat style.
Llicorella (decomposed slate) soils and a long, arid growing season, as elsewhere in Priorat, severely limit yields while packing the fruit with mineral extract and complexity.
The soil and altitude prompted Ricard Pasanau to plant Cabernet Sauvignon, vines now over 30 years old. As in the rest of Priorat, yields are minuscule, only 13,000 bottles per year produced from this site.
2013 Pasanau Finca La Planeta
Finca La Planeta is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Garnatxa (Grenache). The wine was aged for 34 months in 100% French oak barrels.
Aromas
Black currant, blueberry, red flowers, tobacco, leather, tar, and cedar.
Flavors
Prune, blueberry, cassis, strawberry jam with a touch of white pepper and with plum dipped in dark chocolate and black tea finish. It had well-incorporated tannin and refreshing acidity that was able to balance the ripe fruit.
Pairing Suggestion
Steak and filet mignon, in particular, will pair best with this. The tannin in wine counterbalances to fatty proteins. Dark fruit and leather notes in wine naturally complement beef flavors and vice versa.
Conclusion
At first, the wine was a bit tight, but it opened up throughout the dinner. We left some wine in the bottle for the next day, and it retained its structure and became more rounded. We suggest to decant it for at least an hour.
Distinctively clear-cut and elegant style for Priorat with dark fruit-forward character followed by slow-building tannins and sensible acidity.
Priorat is a premier region of Spain, and its wines can be quite pricey, and 2013 Pasanau Finca La Planeta presents an excellent value in this category.
Wine is a portal that offers an opportunity to explore the world. When you can’t just jump on the plane and spend an evening in Barcelona, Paris or Rome, there’s a restaurant that might work as a way out. We always look forward to our wine and cuisine exploring evenings like the one at Can Font in Portland.
What are your favorite wine regions and local cuisine combinations? Any favorite restaurants with an excellent wine list in your city?