Tapas Fantisticos; Indeed!

A fun-filled weekend for me, and there was no brunch involved.

On Saturday I attended the first day of "Tapas Fantasticos" organized on behalf of Spain's Rioja wine producers who got the chance to showcase their varieties of Rioja (and more) to London wine enthusiasts (and others). There were some 30-odd wine booths, each with 2-4 offerings, and about 14 tapas stalls scattered around Ely Yard to accompany all the drinking that was going on.

The deal was you spend £2 on a small wine glass that allowed you up to visit 8 booths for samples. Most vendors dutifully stamped each visitor's card but naturally if you were all stamped out it was only in their interest to give you a taste anyways, in the hope that you'd stick around, buy a full glass for £2-6 and make their brand that much more memorable on your next wine buying expedition.

I was honestly surprised that more vendors did not have any type of promotional material available to aid guests to recall their brands after they left the sanctuary of the festive parking lot. I know I certainly could have used more leaflets so that I would have a better idea of all that I'd tried... Most are a bit blurry 2 days later... oh well! Let that be a lesson to you, the organizers and producers.

The tapas were pretty darn entertaining as well, and lots of folks were into the flamenco performances and demonstrations, although I personally found it more useful to spend time checking on which booths were giving bigger tastings :) All in all I had 9 tastings, some as big as half a glass and others just a wee sip. Also had a lovely full glass, one of the first I tasted, but I kept my wits about me with the help of the tapas I tried: bocadito with serrano ham and some sort of cheese (good), bruschetta-type toast with tomatoes, goat cheese and anchovy (great), chorizo rice (not bad), and then (for balance) I had some Malaga ice cream. Don't know what made it 'malaga' per se but it was nice nonetheless given how much warmer the sun felt on Saturday after all the whites, reds and rosés.

Round of applause overall to the organizers. It was well worth the 30 minutes in line to get in.