Una Bodega
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 @ 10:01 PM
A Bodega is a winery or a wine merchant. Our local bodega in Pulpi actually looks like someone's garage where he used to 'fix his mates cars to save them money' and from the outside looks so unlike a winery that you would drive past it if you weren't being taken there by someone in 'the know'.
We have had red wine from there before, they sell it by the percentage strength - 14/16/18. The 14% is a bit raw but the 16% is fabulous and you can buy a 5 litre container for about €6. One word of warning, don't leave it in the plastic container or when you go for a drink a couple of days later it will taste like vinegar.
Our local bodega sell more than wines though, and today one of our friends, who was going over, asked if we needed anything. Now, recently Neil has been making me a lovely cocktail of Cava, fresh orange juice and Cointreau - and in these credit crunch times that may seem a rather lavish drink - BUT I get my bottles of Cava from the supermarket for €1.50 and as we never drink the Cointreau neat we thought we would try some from the bodega. And so we got a litre of 'Cointreau' and a litre of 'Vermouth' which is also useful in cocktails, for a total spend of €10.50 - the Cointreau seems to be way stronger than the genuine stuff and way cheaper. Again it comes in re-cycled plastic bottles that you take back for re-fills which helps keep the price low so our shopping looks like a bottle of water and a bottle of Coke but is actually our litre bottle of Cointreau and a litre of Vermouth from the local bodega.
We just need to be aware of the measures we pour ourselves! Cheers!