Right. Back to the Rioja. This is the knackers. It is mostly Tempranillo.

Mostly.

It also has all the other essential herbs and spices that make a Rioja taste so damn well Rioja. Graciano, Garnacha, all that.  I equate it do Jersey Royal spuds. It doesn’t matter how good they are, or that, pound for pound, they cost the same as rump steak if they’re any good. You need salt pepper and a dollop of butter on them, don'tcha? Same here…

I always find myself every so slightly underwhelmed by a Rioja that is pure Tempranillo. It’s like that boring git at the end of a party that does an amazing impression of Alan Partridge. But it’s the only one he fucking knows. Over and over and..well, you get the drift.

Anyway Emperatriz Reserva 2007. Buy it. 14 quid. Daniel Lambert Wines. Somewhere miles away in a country called Wales, but he will deliver. So what did we eat with it? (France, at this stage, looks like they’re going to get a pasting, by the way.) Scroll down and see.

Pork Belly. Properly poached in a bain-marie first then roasted ever so slowly for 3 hours. Corr. This is the best cut of the best animal in the world to eat. Fergus Henderson is right. Now I know why that stuff on top is called crackling. One mouthful, and you need a trip to rehab to stop eating it. Smackling is now our preferred term. Especially when the super-talented Eleanor Smyly is cooking. (Thank you noodle-face. It was amazing.)

The end plate, with braised cabbage, perfect mash and roast carrots looked like this. Good god, I’ve got goosebumps looking at it again.

To finish, Ellie’s boyfriend, HongKongOllie provided us with home made rocky road ice cream to go with Ellie’s gargantuan pavlova. There is no picture. I was having a stroke at the time. Ahh Sundays……It was a draw. How nice.