Soups and creams: Viña Muriel Blanco Reserva

Soups, creams and broths are very appealing in cold days but it is always said that they are difficult to pair with wine. Is this really true? Rather than the ingredients, the issue lies with the temperature of the dish: a very hot soup is best not paired with wine as the sensitivity in our taste buds will be limited. Pairing options will be enhanced when food is served at a moderate temperature.

For classic dishes like Castilian soup (made with garlic, dry bread and paprika, plus optional egg) or pumpkin cream we recommend a full-bodied barrel-aged white with austere aromas and an intense, flavorful palate. And we have the perfect wine: Viña Muriel Blanco Reserva.

It's a classic wine with considerable energy. Made from Viura grapes painstakingly grown and selected in El Gallo, one of our best vineyards, in Elciego (Rioja Alavesa), this wine is delicately made. Grapes are pressed very gently to extract the fruitier part of the berries. Its expressive, round character is the result of fermenting the must in French oak barrels, where the wine is later aged for eight months.

Seeing and touching the Viura plants in El Gallo is something special. Few vines maintain such dignity at their notable age (40 years). Their long arms produce healthy, good-sized bunches and delicious grapes. And the wine is mouth-coating and complex, with a soft, crunchy feeling that calls for a moderately cool temperature, which is ideal for the texture of creams and the powerful flavours of a garlic soup. Muriel Blanco Reserva offers a very interesting contrast to this traditional dish.

Other legume recipes are likely to pair well with wine. We are thinking, for example, of a beans and clams dish: land and sea combined with a juicy, rich and persistent white.