At the Spanish Wine Dinner at Corkbuzz on Tuesday night, the labels alone were pretty intriguing, including one printed in Braille from a winery that uses blind persons, with their heightened taste buds and olfactory abilities, to test the wines.

An interesting slide show accompanied the meal, narrated by Kerin Auth, who owns the excellent Spanish wine shop in the East Village called Tinto Fino, and Justin Berlin of Spanish Wine Exclusives, which deals in such oddities as “I Think”, an export-only manzanilla named in honor of Darwin. Corkbuzz’s chef, Hayan Yi, provided a menu based on Iberian ingredients, such as shellfish, chorizo, lamb, and pork, but in non-Spanish preparations that included far more heat than would be typical. Indeed, the most revealing thing about the dinner, from a culinary perspective, was the pairing of wines that were to me distinctively Spanish in character (eminently drinkable no matter how sophisticated the flavor) with a very un-Spanish level of spiciness on the plate.

Conclusion: it works. Corkbuzz remains my favorite place for such indulgences. Next on the agenda: wine and truffles. Can’t wait.

For information on hours, menus, classes and wine dinners at Corkbuzz, click here.