Contest: Taste of Spain Recipe Contest

With just one month to go in the Tarantas Taste of Spain Recipe Contest, a team of professional judges are gearing up to get cooking! Food and wine lovers across America are uncorking their creativity, submitting original recipes and wine pairing combinations for a chance to win a Trip for Two to Spain. Entries are being accepted through April 15 at www.tarantaswines.com/recipes.

Five culinary professional judges are set to pick a top recipe in each category as well as one Grand Prize Winner who will receive a trip of a lifetime. Categories and judges include:

1. Small Plates/Tapas - Nuria Farregut of Barcelona blogs about food, travel and photography on her site www.spanishrecipesbynuria.com. She loves creating recipes that are fresh, healthy and seasonal.
2. Main Dish – Food service industry consultant Steven Petusevsky served as the National Director for Culinary Food Development for Whole Foods and is the author of the 2002 Whole Foods Market Cookbook.
3. Side Dish, Soup or Salad – Derek Sarno is the co-founder and chef behind www.wickedhealthyfood.com. He and his brother Chad are on a mission to encourage people to "stay on the wicked healthy path."
4. Dessert – Caroline Edwards is a recipe developer and blogger who founded www.chocolateandcarrots.com as a way to create and share healthier recipes, especially desserts!
5. Wine-based Craft Cocktail – Elana Lepkowski's www.stirandstrain.com was a finalist for Saveur Magazine's Best Blog Awards in 2014 and 2015. Her writing, recipes and photography can regularly be seen on Serious Eats and NPR's Dinner Party Download.

One Grand Prize winner of the Taste of Spain Recipe Contest receives a five-day, four-night trip for two to Spain, including a private tour of the Tarantas winery with a special lunch, and two nights in the charming village of Requena, as well as a two-night stay in Valencia with food and historical tours of the cosmopolitan city. Four First Prize winners receive a $100 Grocery Store Gift Card.

All entrants are required to include a Tarantas wine pairing recommendation for their dish. Tarantas wines are available at retailers nationwide including Whole Foods Market and online  at www.organicwineexchange.com  and www.ecovinewine.com. Additional details about Tarantas Wines can be found at www.tarantaswines.com.

Recipe instructions and ingredients along with the photo should be submitted to www.tarantaswines.com/recipes no later than 11:59 p.m. on April 15, 2016. Creative cooks can find the complete contest rules on the website.

All recipes entered are posted on the contest website for public viewing. Viewers can vote one time for their favorite recipe in each category. The top five recipes receiving the most votes will automatically move on to the next level of judging along with five other entries selected by a panel of five culinary professional judges. Those top ten recipes in each category will be judged by the panel of judges and assigned points based on the following criteria and point system: Creativity (1-50 points); Flavor profile (1-25 points); Appropriateness of wine pairing (1-25 points). Complete contest rules and information can be found at www.tarantaswines.com/recipes.

About Tarantas Wines

The Tarantas brand name and label was inspired by the free-flowing, open art form of Flamenco song and dance of the same name, celebrated in Southeast Spain. "Pure wines capturing the essence of Spain in every glass," Tarantas Wines are made with 100% certified organic grapes. The wines are produced by Bodegas Iranzo, based in the old-world village of Requena, only a stone's throw from the historic and metropolitan city of Valencia. The winery produces some of Spain's Oldest Estate Bottled Wines, with the first recorded written evidence of the vineyard Cañada Honda Estate owned by the Iranzo Perez–Duque family dating back to 1335 as granted by King Pedro I of Castilla.