Purple octopus rice with inflorescences
It was the natural evolution. What started on the table, had to return to the table. Even if it wasn't the same. Although they were not even close and between the two they measure the 93 kilometers of distance that separate and l José María de Segovia Restaurant of the Ambivium restaurant, the (pen) latest addition to the Pago de Carraovejas winery , in Peñafiel (Valladolid).
And it is that the 200 hectares of own vineyards that today make up this winery have their origin in the concern that in 1982 Jose Maria Ruiz showed by change the concept of house wine in his newly opened restaurant, leaving behind the typical flask and betting on the bottle with label.
View of the vineyards and Peñafiel castle from the winery
From that clear intention, these wines that today are exported from the Ribera del Duero to more than 40 countries and whose first harvest dates back to 1991, when the 25 hectares with which this adventure took its first steps were harvested for the first time. supply the Segovian restaurant with quality.
It is not surprising, therefore, that Marina de la Hoz, Head Chef at Ambivium, It was clear from the beginning that her proposal had to revolve around wines, both their own and other national and even international ones, which make up her menu.
The result of this turning the tables are two menus, one for tasting and the other for market, which they share the almost constant presence of the grill in their dishes and the prominence of the product, the same as always, respecting temporality and closely linked to the land.
To the famous terroir that takes on a new dimension in the Tasting Menu made up of eight passes, each of which represents a phase of work in the vineyard and in the production of Pago de Carraovejas wines. From pruning to enjoyment at the table, through flowering, terroir, harvest, barrel aging, bottle aging and labelling.
Each pass represents a phase of work in the vineyard
Each stage and its sensations condensed into dishes that taste, for example, like meat consommé with rosemary and cabbage noodles; roasted bacon ; stewed verdina, razor clams with their essence and pickled tendrils; egg, foie cream and mushrooms ; octopus purple rice with inflorescences; wild boar in red wine with chestnut cream and thistle ; and brioche, sheep's milk ice cream and hazelnut cream as the culmination of a journey that takes us through corridors of vines loaded with Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Ribera del Duero.
All marked by exquisite care of detail, from the preparation, whose process the diner witnesses thanks to a glazed kitchen that allows you to witness the prominence of the embers in the kitchen of Marina de la Hoz ; to service in a room captained by Luis de Miguel Aragonese , also responsible for the cocktail bar where this gastronomic experience culminates with views of the ravine through which the sheep used to travel and which served to give this winery its name. Because if, In Pago de Carraovejas everything is thought of, everything has a reason for being.
The open kitchen turns the diner into a witness of what happens in front of the grill
WHY GO
The Ribera del Duero has spent years shedding that ballast that identifies it as one of the black spots in our geography where (almost) nothing ever happens thanks, among other things, to the push and wine tourism initiatives of its wineries. Here there is new blood, eyes set on the future and desire.
Ambivium, without a doubt, is a good example of this: without forgetting the earth, from which everything comes, it breaks away from the usual and Marina de la Hoz, courageous, dares to commit to something new in an environment where change is sometimes difficult.
EXTRA
It is essential to dedicate time to the cocktail bar of Luis de Miguel Aragoneses. Let yourself be advised, but if you allow us some advice, ask for Bram-Vejas: gin, lemon, sugar and natural must with views of the castle-boat of Peñafiel.
Its cocktail bar, a must