Tapas Feast

Tonight we had a couple of friends over for dinner. They wanted to come over, hang out and see our baby. Unfortunately for them, they arrived just as we put our son to sleep. Luckily for them, I had prepared a Spanish tapas feast for dinner. I made chorizo in red wine, string beans with pine nuts, mushrooms sauteed in garlic, tortilla de España, chicken in lemon and garlic and spicy shrimp with chili and garlic. I have to say, they all turned out pretty damn good. We had a fun night, and now I'm really full. We finished it all off with some nice Tiramisu cake our friends brought over.
With the meal I decided to serve both red and white wine, depending on your preference. Interestingly enough, my wife and I both had the red, our guests had the white. In retrospect, I wish I had tried the white. The red was a bottle of Finca Luzon 2005, Jumilla Spain. I've had this bottle for months in my wine fridge after reading some nice reviews of it. The reviews were correct. I thought this was terrific, and went very well with our meal. What's also nice is that I've seen it for as low as $5.98 a bottle in some stores. (I also used this wine to cook my chorizo.) The wine has a dark ruby/purple color with lots of blackberry and cherries. It has some acidity, but also very little harshness. I think this could be a great everyday wine at its price.
Unfortunately, the white didn't fare as well. After our guests had left, I decided to try the white since I hadn't had any with dinner. Well, whatever was left is now down the drain in the sewer system of NYC. I'm assuming the bottle was corked because it was bloody awful. For the record, it was Las Brisas Blanc 2005, Rueda Spain. I went to the wine shop today for some Spanish whites (I have a bunch of reds already) and the wine guy offered up some wines. To be completely fair, this bottle was not his first choice and I did also purchase the one that was. However this was the one we opened. I got a couple of different labels because I think it's fun to try different wines with a meal instead of grabbing a couple of the same thing. Anyway, a review I found on line for this wine says: "Intense, youthful nose of grapefruit, lemon and pepper. Delicious, with medium body and a penetrating finish." All I got from this wine was ass... lot's of ass. Again, my wife and I both think the bottle was corked, but we feel bad because our guests never said anything. They both drank a glass of this crap and said nothing. I guess they were too embarrassed to say anything. Next time, I have to remember to try what I'm serving.

NP: Mexico, Incubus