rmb9 per sample (pjwine.com)

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By Jim Boyce

Beijing restaurant Modo has taken the bull by the horns and stuck an all-Spanish lineup into its two enomatic machines. Modo will rotate about 50 wines through the 16 slots over the next few months. To the best of my knowledge, this Sanlitun-based restaurant was the first to use cash card-based machines.

I joined a group of samplers on Saturday night and tried about half of the wines. I liked the Emilio Moro Finca Resalso 2009, a medium-bodied slightly spicy wine with funky aromas and a ghetto edge — rmb9, rmb28 and rmb55 for 25ml, 75ml and 150ml pours respectively. Several people liked the Bernabe Navarro Casa Balaguer Alicante 2007 (too fragrant for me) and the Pagos del Moncayo Syrah 2009 (rmb15 / 50 / 95; nice body). Cedar fans might try the Pagos de Moncayo Grenache-Syrah 2010 (12 / 35 / 68).

(On the other hand, one wine — I can’t remember which — had lots of youthful fruit that was quickly overwhelmed by the tannins. It was like seeing a group of toddlers gaily playing in a sandbox and being in the way of a runaway dump truck. Someone stop that truck!)

Modo offers a daily discount of 20 percent discount daily from 6 PM to 8 PM.

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