Day 362 - El Mercado de San Miguel

One afternoon we stumbled across El Mercado de San Miguel, a fantastic market in downtown Madrid. The market is essentially an enormous tapas bar with a fine bodega that sells wine by the glass. And mist machines to cool down. Nice. The rest of the afternoon turned into an impromptu tapas/wine tasting.

The bodega had a good selection of interesting bottles covering broad price points. Staff were friendly and helpful, and let you behind the counter to look through their selection.

We settled on a 2007 Garnacha from Bodega Alto Moncayo. Located in Campo de Borja, Alto Moncayo is known for making high quality wines of limited production. This 2007 Garnacha had a lovely nose, intense and layered, bright fruit, long finish, matched a wide variety of food.

We secured a seat at a standing table (not an easy task) and took turns bringing back food. One surprise came in the form of a pickle stuffed with tuna and olives on the side. Basically, it was a tuna sandwich without the bread. Simple. I've never been a fan of tuna spread but this combination was quite good. The Garnacha and dill pickle were surprisingly compatible.