What is a Mistela? It depends where you look online* for the definition. We had heard that it was a cocktail made with wine. I’ve found a few websites that agree it’s a blend of unfermented grape juice and distilled alcohol but others do not mention wine being used. There are different wine grapes that are used including syrah, moscatel, grenache, and mollar. We tried it while we were in Ecuador but people have found it in Spain as well. Although we weren’t positive of the alcohol used in our cocktails we do know the fruits that were added.
This week’s WineAndCheeseFriday is Spanish with an Italian twist. When we were walking home from dinner last week we saw a small Italian shop with homemade cheese, Quo Vadis. We figured we should stop in this week to pick up some of their Queso Maduro to try with wine. After we paid for the cheese, we were talking with the owners and found out that they also make various fruit wines, limoncello, marmalades, chocolate, and smoked ham. It all looked so wonderful and we even had a chance to do some sampling. We figured we should go for the total package so we purchased an orange wine and marmellata de cebollas (onion jelly!) to have with our cheese.
At the beginning of the week, we took a trip out to Hacienda Chan Chan, http://haciendachanchan.com. They are a dairy farm that recently started offering lodging for people who want a day, or maybe week, out in the country. It is located only about 45 minutes from where we are staying in Cuenca, Ecuador and can be accessed by one of the local busses and then a short taxi ride up a dirt road.
We hit the road for WineAndCheeseFriday this week. While we were out a couple weeks ago, we walked passed a store called “Like Liquors and Lounge”, https://www.facebook.com/Like-Liquors-Lounge-223762377816761/?fref=photo. We decided to stop in that day and see what they had. It was a liquor store with a bar inside. We looked around and found some local whiskey to try and when we paid, the cashier told us you can buy wine, beer, liquor, etc and then sit down and drink whatever you bought. This seemed like a pretty fun idea so we headed there last night to grab a bottle of wine and check out the atmosphere! There was another store nearby that sold only wine and cheese so we picked up a cheese on the way there.
Today’s WineAndCheeseFriday entry has Andean Culture, song and dance, and a cheese-making facility! If you read about Viña Florida y Queso Amasado, https://wineandcheesefriday.com/vina-florida-y-queso-amasado/, a few weeks back, then you know that we found some cheese produced nearby, at a local farmer’s market. We were fortunate enough to be able to head out to Tarqui, the village where it is made, for a tour. Our contact that sold us the cheese, Miyo, let us know that there was a tour scheduled and that we could come out and join them.
This weeks WineAndCheese not only rhyme, they look like the same word. This was all coincidence with what we found this week in Ecuador. The wine is Chilean and it is sold at a place simply called “Winery”, of course it caught our eye when we walked by. There was no wine made there but a wide range of wines available, including Penfolds, Veuve Clicquot and an assortment of South American wines. We chose the Carmenere by Cono Sur since we’ve only tried this varietal once or twice before and wanted to learn more about it. We found the cheese at our local grocery store, Supermaxi. Although we are not familiar with the brand Floralp, it said it was made in Ecuador, so we had to try it.