With the grape harvests in full swing this month, it’s a great time to try out a few wine cocktails, such as the surreptitiously potent Sangria, the unlikely combination of a Kalimotxo, or the refreshing summer red wine spritzer, Tinto de Verano.
But this week I’d like to share one that is typical of La Rioja province and especially enjoyed during the harvest festivals, offered free around the streets from chamizos (roadside stalls) and in bars and restaurants in the towns and cities.
Like sangria, there are many variations of this drink with fruits of choice added, such as peach, orange, banana…but the principle ingredients remain the same. In Calahorra, the second largest city in the region after Logrono, they hold zurracapote-making competitions and drinking contests from the traditional porrón.
A porrón is a drinking vessel made of glass or ceramic which is held above your face while a jet of wine dribbles into your mouth (if you’re lucky). The decanter has been used for centuries in regions of northern Spain, especially in Catalunya, Pais Vasco, Navarra, and La Rioja.
It was, and still is, a very communal form of drinking and a symbol of hospitality. The porrón is typically used during fiestas, shared among the participants, and it’s rather considered an insult if you refuse to partake.
The trick is to not have the spout touch your lips, and hold it at arm’s length with your head tilted back once the liquid starts to come out. To stop, lower it towards the face again, bringing up the spout quickly and hope to avoid spillage on that new shirt.
George Orwell, the British author of Animal Farm and 1984 described a porrón in Homage to Catalonia:
“…and drank out of a dreadful thing called a porron. A porron is a sort of glass bottle with a pointed spout from which a thin jet of wine spurts out whenever you tip it up; you can thus drink from a distance, without touching it with your lips, and it can be passed from hand to hand. I went on strike and demanded a drinking-cup as soon as I saw a porron in use. To my eye the things were altogether too like bed-bottles, especially when they were filled with white wine.”
Zurracapote is served chilled or with ice and can be made with red or white wine, though red or a mixture of the two is more common.
How to make Zurracapote
Ingredients for one bottle of wine. Adjust quantities for more.
Red wine 750ml
95ml water
70g sugar
2 small lemons
1 cinnamon stick
Heat about half the water on a low heat and add the sugar until completely dissolved and syrupy.
Put wine in a jug. Add cooled syrup to the wine
Simmer the cinnamon stick in the remaining water for about 2 mins.
Add to mixture when cooled along with the juice of the 2 lemons.
Add the peel from the lemons and the cinnamon stick to macerate in wine mixture for 4 days.
The longer you macerate, the higher the alcohol content and lower the sugar content.
Served chilled with chunks of fruit (optional)
Salud!!