There are numerous enticing wines from Spain well beyond the most famous names of Rioja and sherry on El Meson’s wine list, though you will be amply rewarded with choices from those areas, as I was on a recent visit.
With a taste for a reserve Rioja, when the restaurant was out of my first choice, Jessica Garcia, the daughter of proprietor Pedro Garcia, made a very nice selection from a Rioja producer with which I was unfamiliar. The wine was Ontañón Reserva 2005 that showed nice very enjoyable plum and cherry notes along with the refinement, subtle earthiness and a long-lasting taste that you would expect with a quality Rioja Reserva. For what it’s worth, the Wine Spectator awarded it 91 points. One of the benefits of Rioja – and El Meson – you can drink a wine with over a decade’s age on it for not whole lot. The wine was just $52, a bargain by restaurant standards for the quality.
El Meson
2425 University (near Morningside), 77005, (713) 522-9306
elmeson.com