Roast Pork and Anciano Tempranillo

Recently we had good cause to wander into the bit of Main Street history that is Windsor Quality Meats (AKA Windsor Packing Co, not to be confused with another shop in North Vancouver) and lighten their stock by the amount of one pork shoulder, skin on.

Rubbed with salt and pepper, it came out simply beautifully:
 

Note the big piece of crackling on the block. It was next under the knife:

Speaking of the knife, it is a special treat to ourselves that we splurged on when in Sakai, Japan, last fall.

Sakai was historically a steel town, manufacturing swords, and later guns, for the Samurai. After the war, arms-makers were forced to apply their skills to other kinds of manufacturing, and Sakai became famous for its bicycles and kitchen knives.

A good reason to slice up a roast pork is the opening of a bottle of Tempranillo like this one: Anciano Gran Reserva 10 year-old Tempranillo from Valdepeñas. Spanish winemakers take the risk and burden of aging their wine for us, releasing it only on a pre-arranged schedule.

This 2001, then, has been aging gently, developing wonderful flavours, and is now somehow available to us for the unbelievable bargain of $16. Still tannic when opened, it could continue to age for another 5 years at least.

We left it for about 30 minutes and it opened up beautifully, showing red and black fruit, leather, spice and nutty-earth. It was still developing as we poured the last drops.

We were tipped off to this under-valued treasure by the weekly e-mail we get from Canada's own Wine Access magazine. This one recommendation alone is worth the annual subscription. If we were under the illusion that anyone actually read this blog, we would be much more reluctant to post about this case-worthy wine.