Following our guided-tour trend, we booked a day through
Zaporeaz tour company. For this day, we opted for a private tour, so it was just us and our fabulous guide (and company owner) Ana. We highly recommend this company as well! We were picked up from our apartment at 0800 and off we went to explore the Rioja wine region.
First Stop:
Bodegas Lecea
Bodega is the Spanish term whose French equivalent is Chateau. Noting a theme for this trip?
This place was AWESOME because of the "secrets" it held. Their wine is prepared and aged in the old method of wine caves, which are located under the winery. This is how all of the houses in this region did it; each house having its own wine cave underneath. Also, the houses would connect their caves with tunnels, so these towns have entire networks of wine filled vaults running beneath.
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| Bodegas Lecea |
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| Bodegas Lecea |
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| Bodegas Lecea |
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| Bodegas Lecea |
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| Bodegas Lecea |
In the picture below, note the bright light in the top left/middle? It is the vent to above ground so you don't die from the carbon dioxide being produced.
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| Bodegas Lecea |
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| Bodegas Lecea |
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Sheep skin; an old but lightweight method of wine transport
Adam and Ana! |
While underground, we also connected to the wine caves of two other bodegas!
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| Bodegas Lecea |
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| Bodegas Lecea: Grape press |
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| Outside/Top of the wine cave vent |
One of the wonderful things about all of these wine vents throughout the town is that the air was filled with the scent of wine. It was heavenly!
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| Chorizo snack to offset the wine consumption |
After tour this old winery and small town, we were off to see what an "uber modern" winery looks like, to contrast most of what we had seen thus far in France and Spain. Along the way, we made a few stops, to enjoy to sites and journey.
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| These were medieval graves |
Second Stop:
Bodegas Bai Gorri
This place was incredible, but I am not sure that I meant that in a good way or not. Even 9 months later, I am still not sure. It is huge. It is clean. It is elite modern. It is minimalist and sterile.
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| Bodegas Bai Gorri |
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| Bodegas Bai Gorri |
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| Bodegas Bai Gorri |
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| Bodegas Bai Gorri: Destemmed and rejected |
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| Bodegas Bai Gorri |
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| Bodegas Bai Gorri |
You will probably notice that every time I have shown you grape vines you have seen roses. It is not to aesthetics...it is purely utilitarian. When a bacteria or bug is "going around" they will infect or infest the roses first, so they are used as an early warning system.
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| Las Vistillas Restaurant: Epic view |
And just when we thought the day could not get any better, our guide brought us to
Las Vistillas for lunch. It is a restaurant that also has a hotel attached. I will be looking to stay here if we ever return to this region. The entire establishment was absolutely beautiful. We also met the owner, who is just one of the most sincerely nice, classic older gentlemen that you will ever meet.
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| Las Vistillas Restaurant |
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| Las Vistillas Restaurant: Tomato tartare with sardine |
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| Las Vistillas Restaurant: Beef cheek with potato |
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| Las Vistillas Restaurant |
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| Las Vistillas Restaurant |
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| Las Vistillas Restaurant |
We took a leisurely stroll around the grounds after lunch, enjoying the perfect weather and views. The estate is filled with fresh fruit trees and gardens that the restaurant uses, so we were able to enjoy a handful of fresh figs right from the tree! So delicious!
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| Las Vistillas Restaurant |
San Savinte San Slovenia
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| It is a town of tiny (average) people |
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| Lots of detail and work for a walkway |
Third Stop:
Bodegas Teodoro- Ruiz Monge
GO HERE!
GO HERE!
GO HERE!
This was probably my favorite winery of the entire trip. It is a tiny winery run by a father and son team (as it has been for SO many generations, passing to the oldest son), and it is incredible. They had already harvested and were into the fermentation process.
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| Bodegas Teodoro- Ruiz Monge: The yeast are working hard! |
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| Bodegas Teodoro- Ruiz Monge: Father and son, feeling the heat being put off by the fermentation process |
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| Bodegas Teodoro- Ruiz Monge: Tasting the "fermentation juice", and it was delicious! |
We ended up spending more time here than planned, as it was just us and Ana, socializing with the father in son. We learned so much, talked about the politics of wine, and they shared almost too much wine with us. Their wine is delicious too; almost too easy to drink. Almost. It was such a wonderful time.
