La Rioja Wine region of Spain

Our drive from Madrid to LaGuardia was uneventful except for the fact the Car Rental agency was running out of cars.  We took what they had and were off.   We were being extra careful with speed limits and watching the traffic, but it wasn’t a problem.  It did really help when I changed the language for the car from Spanish to English so I could read the many messages on the dashboard.  

La Rioja is the most famous wine region in Spain.  We had been looking forward to this part of the trip for two reasons.   The wine and staying at Hotel Castillo El Collado which is located within one of nine Spanish Medieval Cities, LaGuardia part of the Basque autonomous community.  Yes, the signs are in both Spanish and Basque.  Basque is unrelated to Spanish or any other known language.  Fortunately many people speak English and others know how to make do.  

What a difference in climate.   We were sweating waiting for our rental car in Madrid and looking for a jacket when we arrived at cold and windy LaGuardia.  We learned its not normally this cool.  It warmed up a little each day of our stay, but that was just going from 60s to 70s and minimal wind.

Our host Javier, who is much older than me and is the owner rushes down the stairs to help with our bags.  His English is good enough to make us very welcomed through out our stay.  We are staying in what looks like a small castle with a torrent you can go up to for great views.  Built in the early 19th century on the site of the original castle, it has only 10 rooms and a restaurant.  It reminds us of the Restaurant with rooms concept in Scotland.  Our room “The Fable” is huge with an incredible view to the lands below our hillside community.  Across the way we can see the white granite mountains of Sierra de Cantabria.  This is great.

Our Hotel, great views from the top of the tower

Click above to see the 360 degree view from the top of the Tower

Sunset from the top of the Tower

We opted for the Hotel breakfast the next morning.  I should have taken a picture, the table was covered in plates of food waiting for us.   Fruit, meat, bread/toast, yogurt, jams, hard boiled eggs and more just for the two of us. We make a dent in it before heading off to visit Bodega Ysios.  Its a 30 minute walk down the hill and into the valley.  It’s not hard to find as it has a very distinguished architecture.  

Bodega Ysios
Note the wavy architecture

This winery is owned by a large wine and distilled liquor company that wanted to create an avant- garde boutique winery.  To distinguish themselves, they hired the famous architect Calatrava to design the building.  It’s both functional and expressive in design.  

We are taking the tour, which in most ways is similar to many other wine tours we have taken.   However, Calatrava has designed the building to both simplify some of the process and to bring in indirect natural light into the cellar.  In the picture below, the tanks above store the wine until its ready to flow down below into fermentation tanks.  Note how the beams above slope downward, first left to right and then right to left to create the distinctive appearance from the outside.

See how the beams angle townward above the tanks

After the tour, its time to taste the wine.   We share a table with a family from Athens, GA (Go Dawgs) The parents work for the University and the oldest daughter is a student.    We opt to buy a bottle of Ysios Blanco 2021 which is made from Viura, a varietal new to both of us.  It was a great afternoon learning about the wine and talking about UGA.  

Our next stop is back above the valley in the ancient city of LaGuardia to visit Bodega Carlos San Pedro’s.  The family claims to have been making wine for over 500 years, but just 300 years in the caves underground below the town.  We learn there are over 300 underground caves carved out of the rock.  Almost one for every home.  Built originally for protection, this one has been a winery for 200 years.   While today the fermentation takes place off site, the aging of the wine occurs in this underground cellar.

It’s just the two of us on the tour.   We start with a video showing how they made wine with stomping of feet up to 2002.   Now they have a modern fermentation process off site and the caves are used for aging both in stone tanks and barrels.  It’s time to go down several flights to the cellar.  They have a pipe to send wine from the outside to the cellar.  The barrels look quite old. They use their barrels for 12 years versus the 5 years we heard from the larger wineries.  Our guide invites to climb a ladder to look into the stone tanks, which I find filled to the brim.   He extracts a sample from the tank for us to try.  It’s a young wine, so not yet ready.   Again, our taste goes to a Tempranillo that has aged.  This one longer than most.  2011 Carlos San Pedro

Top is wine aging in barrels and bottles
Bottom is me looking down from the atop the ladder

We eat in a restaurant in the town and after dinner, our waiter invites us to visit their Cave Bar.  So we descend several flights and find a long twisty tunnel with many tables created from wine barrels and a large table created from a wine press.  Then it's off to wander the town, which has really come alive in the evening.

Top - view of the cloud shrouded mountains at night
Below - two odd art installations of everyday items from a recent past

The next morning, we opt to walk to a cafe for a light breakfast of Spain’s version of French toast (which we learned about on our food tour in Madrid), which has been soaked a long time and has a slightly gooey texture within a toasted exterior covered in cinnamon.  Next stop Haro, which is a nearby town with several wineries that have wine bars in the town center.   The first winery is Bodega Muga.  We go straight to the tasting room/wine bar.   Carol finally gets to enjoy a Cava, a sparkling white wine made from Viura and Chardonay.    I enjoy one of their 2015 Prado Enea Grans Reserva, which is another barrel aged Tempranillo which is better than most I’ve tried.

Bodega Muga

Our next winery was an impulse as we wanted someplace we could order some food.  La Rioja Alta fit the bill.  Carol ordered Lagar D Cervera 2022, which is made from another new varietal to us, Albariño. I try their 2019 Finca El Otero, which is a TInta del Pais varietal that is new to us.  It’s very good, but out of my budget, so we buy Carol’s white.  

Bottom right is a retired bottler used as a lawn ornament

We had a big finish planned for our day.  That is to visit a hotel designed by the famous architect Frank Gerry, the Hotel Marques de Riscal.  We had tried to get a dinner reservation the night before, but that was booked out to August.  So we decided to drive by and have some food and drink at the bar.  That turned out not to be, as they were not allowing anyone on property without a reservation.  None the less, we drove through the countryside to find the picture below.  We will have another opportunity to see his work when we visit the Guggenheim Balboa museum.  We first saw his work at the BioMuseo in Panama City years ago.  

The hotel is covered in bright purple, pink and gold metallic folds on right

At the end, we wished we had spent another night or two, three was not enough.  With each day, we discovered more to see and do like shown below: delicious bakery, automaton clock, tree’s sculpted to create a flat canopy, running routes through vineyards and always something around the next corner.

Segovia and Avilla Spain

 The last day trip we did from Madrid was a combined tour of the towns of Segovia and Avilla.  We first went to Avilla which is a walled city.  Saying it is a walled city is a little bit of an understatement.  It is one of the longest walled cities in the world with 8,255 square feet of continuous walls and 88 semi circle turrents.  It is also known as the Town of Walls and Saints.  The walls were heavily built from repurposed stones some of which were old tombstones from Roman Tombs.  The Saints part comes from St Teresa of Jesus who was born in this town and many pilgrims come here because of her.

Avilla

Jeff by one of the main gates to the walled city

St Teresa of Jesus

St Teresa of Jesus

St Teresa of Jesus was born in Avilla to a wealthy family who had bought a knighthood.  Her father bought the knighthood to help his acceptance in Christian society since his father had been a Jew at one time and converted to Christianity rather than leave Spain.  Her mother raised her as a devout Christian. Mom may have overdone the Christian upbringing because at a young age, her and her older brother tried to run away to help fight the Muslims or moors.   Happily, an uncle saw them outside the walls of the city and brought them back.  However, it was really the beginning for St Teresa.  She would later join the local monastery and become a nun.  She would become a mystic Christian and would also later push that the nuns should use less of their wealth on themselves and more for the people who needed help.  Neither of these beliefs were very popular with the other nuns and some clergy to the extent she was punished until a Spanish King befriended here.  She died on a trip to a neighboring town, so she was buried there.  Well people in Avilla felt she should be buried in Avilla, so the coffin was opened 9 months later and while her clothing was rotted her body was intact.  Someone took a finger then.  The poor lady's burial site would change several times over the years because of politics.  In the end, parts of her are still intact and in several locations.  Geez what a tough after life!   

Walls - long and strong

The tour ended with a climb up to the top of the walls and a chance to explore.  Our guide warned us not to turn left at one corner, but to turn around or we would be gone too long/lost and left behind.  Something about a really long way around!

Lots of churches

Segovia

Was our second town for the day and all I knew was it had a really impressive roman aqueduct.  Jeff thought there would be a really interesting castle too.  Happily, we were both correct.  The first thing you see as you enter the town is the aqueduct.  It is tall and very long and built without any type of glue/mortar just stone on top of stone.  And still standing I should add.

As we walked around the town, our guide pointed out a unique building feature that is common in Segovia called graffiti.  No not the current version but a much nicer version.  It is where they texturized the walls/added patterns to the whole structure.  After showing us part of the town, the guide set us free to find lunch and then join him for the walk to and tour of the castle.

Roman Aqueduct

pictures of various forms of graffiti

Originally a Mosque, then a Synagogue and then Convento Del Corpus Christi
We couldn’t go inside, but the bottom picture shows the interior.

Cathedral De Segovia

 Alcazar

As I said above, Jeff was right there was a gorgeous castle in Segovia and it is called Alcazar.  Look closely at the pictures because you have seen interpretations of it for years.  Disney based Snow White's castle on this one.  The castle was in use till the 1700s when there was a fire and most of the interior burned.  We were told that one painting was original, one ceiling was the spare from the original structure and the rest of it was rebuilt.  I have to admit I saw this one a day or 2 after the replacement castle in Madrid and I kind of prefer the style of this one although the new one is much larger and quite impressive.  Like many old buildings in Europe, this one was added onto several times including one time so the king could impress his new wife.  If you look closely at the picture below you will see different types of stonework and different building styles.

Moats and Gardens below the walls

Due to a fire, the contents came from other castles.
The stain glass was commissioned during the renovation

The ceiling I really like is on the top left.  Bottom right is the chapel built for the wedding of a king

baby black storks in nest by castle

an old roman gravestone in the wall

Wine tasting in Ribera Del Duero, Spain

We went on a wine tour led by Alberto and joined with one other couple, Renee and Harvey from Florida.  We had a long ride (2+hrs) traveling across the Sierra de Guadarrama Mountains to reach our destination.  Ribera Del Duero is one of 69 recognized wine regions in Spain.  It’s primary varietal is Tempranillo which does well in a dry climate.   In the map below, you can see our destination Ribera del Duero (dark purple North of Madrid.) La Mancha (below Madrid in light blue) is where we visited a winery as  part of our tour to Toledo earlier in the week.  Next week, we will visit Rioja for three nights.  While on the ship, I had done a wine tasting that included a wine from the Ribera Del Duero region so I was excited to do a tasting in the region.

A few of the 69 wine regions in Spain are highlighted.

Our first stop is Dominio de Cair which has an impressive building with an entrance that resembles a wine barrel.  It is a modern new winery built in 2008, but with very old vines.  The character of this wine region is heavily focused on the age of the vines.  Old vines 25, 50, 75 years old with low production are highly valued.  Come September, the fruit is harvested by hand.  This contrasts with California where vines are replaced to keep production up.  Fruit often harvested by machine.  They own 33 hectares, and purchase grapes from other farming an additional 103 hectares under the supervision of the wine maker.  

This is the only winery that we experience “the tour.”   It held a couple pleasant surprises.   They had three different types of tanks for the first fermentation.   In the picture below, you see large oak tanks, stainless steel tanks and concrete tanks.   We had never seen or heard of concrete tanks, but they were quite proud as that provides a porous container in between the Oak and stainless tanks.  

A fun aspect of the tour was the discussion of barrels.  They use both French and American Oak with different toasts.  The bottom left image shows the four different amount of toast for both American and French Oak.  Toasting is charring of the inside of the barrel.   After hearing how the type of Oak influenced the wine, our task was to taste the same young wine aged in both a French and American barrel of the same toast and identify the source of the barrel. 1 of 4 got it right. :)  

The demonstration of different Oaks and toasts was special

It’s time for a tasting.  They have set up a wonderful room with a gorgeous view of the vineyard.   Surprisingly, the table is full of food in addition to the tasting glasses.  I assume it’s the lunch that is included in the tour, but I am wrong.   Lunch is scheduled for the third winery.  

A Hobbit would call this second breakfast

We sampled three of their wines.  (Click on the links to learn more)  The first Selection “La Aguilera” 2019 was produced from vineyards over 45 years old.  Young by their standards.  It had 5% Merlot while the next two are 100% Tempranillo with much older vines.   We also tried: Tierras de Clair and Cruz del Pendon.  Carol and I have different preferences in wine, but we can always find something we both like.   In this case she liked the second best and I the third, so we compromised on a bottle of the first which we both enjoyed.  

Our next stop is amazingly different than the first.  The van stops in a residential neighborhood.  I ponder if the winery is in someone’s basement?  I then notice what looks like a storage shed, but instead it is the entrance to an underground tunnel.  We get out and meet our host.  She then takes us inside and down 12 meters, where in the 16th Century people dug out this Cellar.  There are 30 similar cellars in the area.  

The winery’s name is Nabal and it is operated by 3 cousins.  Our host is one of those 3 cousins. They use this old cellar for a tasting room rather than the modern facility depicted on their website.  It’s a great space that enchants all of us.   It’s a new venture for them.  The family is long time Vintner's, but the 3 cousins set out to try something new, Enotourism or Wine tourism.  Traditional winery’s in Spain don’t have elaborate tasting rooms.   They focus on selling to distributors.  The business is starting to change with a few medium to large winery’s taking a page from Napa and creating a destination experience.   At this stop we both agree on the Reserva 2016 Tempranillo from vines averaging 90-100 years old.   We also liked an unusual Rose, Rosado De Lagrima 2022 Tempranillo & Garnacha (Grenache)

16th century cellar

Though I’m still full from our first stop, it’s time for lunch at our third winery.   Alvides is another large facility.  They have a similar history, in that they inherited some small vineyards in the 60s, but launched a large modern facility in 2001 that then grew into wine tourism.  Our host is a Sommelier from Argentina with a British accent.  Everything in that sentence is unusual.   

• I expect a Sommelier at an expensive restaurant, not a wine tasting.
• How is it an Argentinian is working in rural Spain?
• Why does she have a British accent?

We are hear to taste wine not learn hear her history, so lets pour some wine and try to eat some food.  We both like Alvides Tercena Generacion (Three generations) and impulsively buy another Rose.  Alvides  Rosado 2022

Lunch

Our last stop is at Valdubon, one of four wineries owned by Ferrer Miranda.  They started near Barcelona in 1861 expanding into sparkling wine in 1914.   The family operates 3 wineries in Spain and another in Argentina.   

This should have been called the Food and Wine tour as we find plates of chocolate covered Strawberries and Cherries to enjoy with our wine.   Some (not us) may question Chocolate, but it was a perfect pairing with our clear favorite. The tasting notes Valdubon Diez describes the collaborative effort to smooth full bodied wine that has a taste of dark cherry.  This is a low production wine made in select years on vines averaging 75 years of age. 

After the tasting we had a chance to look at some vines.   Picture below shows what the flowers look like.  They had a slightly sweet subdued smell.   At the top of the page is a picture of the young fruit from a vine next to the one pictured below.  

Ancient city of Toledo & the plains of Castillia de La Mancha

Ancient city of Toledo

Our first out of town trip combined time in the old city of Toledo with a visit to a winery in the La Mancha wine region.  We met up with our guide by the Mercado de San Miquel.  From there our group of 13 that included a family of 5 were off to Toledo.

Ancient walled city of Toledo in background

Toledo was the capital of Spain at one time.  There is an old town and a new modern area.  The old town is what we explored.  The city has the nickname "city of 3 cultures" because of the cultural influences of the Muslims, Jews and later Christians.  It is a walled city and is located on the Tagus River with one of the key architectural sites being the San Martin Bridge.  Our guide walked us around for about an hour and then set us free to explore and to eat something before we headed to the winery.  One of the interesting parts of the old city is its "quarters" so there is a Jewish area with lots of Hebrew signs embedded in the road and walls and a Muslim area with former mosques and later a Christian.  Each area had a gateway and a note on the street.  If you were not of that religion, you could not enter that area.  

Walled city & San Martin Bridge

San Martian Bridge in background

The Christian section of the city has a gorgeous old cathedral - Cathedral Primada.  It is full of golden structures, and I do mean full.  We only did the short view at the end of our time so we did not get to see a lot, but what we did was quite impressive.  Our guide pointed out to his American tourists that all the gold there came from the Americas.  There is also a monastery for nuns in the old town.  Actually there were a couple of monasteries for nuns there.  We bought some marzipan (a Toldeo specialty) at a store selling items made by the various local monasteries.

Cathedral

Cathedral 

Cathedral 

Shop sold baked goods from monasteries

Left and top are Monastery, bottom right is adjacent church

There are many impressive old buildings in Toledo including former synagogues and mosques converted into churches and an impressive fortress plus several plazas.  From the trivia questions on the ship, we had learned that from Roman times to now Toldeo is the place in the world for sharp knives and swords.  We saw many shops with all sorts of swords and knives in their windows.

Toledo is famous for its knives and swords
They are capitalizing on the popularity of Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings

Old city streets of Toledo

On a softer side, the painter El Greco loved this area and painted many works of the area. He resided here 37 years until he died in 1614.  There was a famous sculpturer who too liked the area so some nice art was floating around too.

The plains of Castillia de La Mancha is the setting for Cervantes novel, The man of La Mancha.  Cervantes lived for a time in Toledo.  He is remembered with the statue below.

Statue of Cervantes who lived for awhile in Toledo

Finca Loranque Winery in the Castillia de La Mancha wine region

From Toledo we drove to the Finca Loranque Winery,   The last part of the drive was down a dirt road.  We are in the La Mancha wine region.  I didn't understand our guide completely, but there were a lot of restrictions on what could or could not be done with the countryside in the area which was the reason for the condition of the road and why we could not get out of the van to take pictures.  Jeff and I commented that our rental car said no dirt roads so we were hoping that not all Spanish Wineries are down dirt roads!  We get to the main buildings and are surprised to find very nice facilities including a building to host wine tastings and events.  

A representative from the winery shows up and he starts to proudly show us the winery.  We start in a modern room with large stainless steel tanks that we learn have refrigeration bans on them to keep the wine cooler to slow the fermentation process.  We then walk through a doorway and enter the old storage area.  This area is from the 1800s and was strategically built to keep a constant year round temperature.  The walls are a 1 1/2 meters thick and there are windows up high that can be opened for ventilation as necessary - seems very necessary at certain parts of the fermentation process.  We ask what some large clay pots that kind of look like oversized bee hives are for and learn that they were the vessels for wine fermentation at one time.  While there has been a winery owned by a single family here since the 18th century, the current owners have only had it since 1982.  When they bought it, they were determined to bring it back to high standards and to move on from local wine tastes to more international.  Their first vintage was 2002.  

Left is cellar from 1800s

One of the things they have chosen to do is to implement an ecological/organic process.  One thing that stood out to both of us was that they drop lots and lots of egg whites into each holding tank to pull out all the little pieces of debris (stems, skins, etc).  Neither of us had ever heard of egg whites in your wine!  Then it was on to the wine tasting.  We had 2 different tempranillo wines and one that was a blend of tempranillo and merlot.  We asked why they blended the tempranillo with merlot and the answer was that merlot is better known in the States so they hoped that would help sell the wines to the US market.