Before we headed to La Guardia, we went on a fairly long walk to a computer store in Logroño, so that Dave could try to buy the relevant cable to enable him to transfer his photos from his camera into his blog. We walked quite a long way and then there was a very helpful lady in the store. She opened the new bit of kit on Dave’s request to check that it was going to work. Just before we left, he asked her to check the old one and once she had rebooted the Mac, that one worked as well! Dave was a bit embarrassed, because he then purchased nothing. He had just saved €70, however, which as it turned out was the exact amount we spent on a wine tour later that day!! (Dave: very embarrassing! rule number 1 , power cycle/reboot it!).
When we got to La Guardia, I tried calling two wineries, but I wasn’t able to get through to either. We decided to drive to the Bodega Solar de Samaniego as we fancied seeing the artwork by Guido Van Helten. Unfortunately there were no tours available until Friday. We watched the online video instead!!!
We then headed to the Ysios vineyard, renowned for its unique design. Santiago Calatrava designed the building and it looked pretty spectacular set within that beautiful landscape. He also designed the City of Arts and Sciences in his home city of Valencia along with many other famous projects and bridges. We were very lucky because a tour in English had just begun. We were able to join it, and the guide was really enthusiastic and knowledgeable.
We know very little about wine. It was therefore easy to expand our knowledge. A few things we learnt:
1. Last year’s harvest started a whole month early due to the incredibly hot summer.
2. They had some very old vines, which had resisted the phylloxera insect pest. The resilience of these vines was attributed to the very sandy soil.
3. The Ysios labels reflect the colour of the soil, in which that specific wine was grown.
4. The ‘Grano a Grano’ variety is hand sorted and trodden by the employees and their children. The first collection was really done for fun – it was just 500 bottles and they sold in a flash! They got a double platinum medal for it, only 20 of which were awarded, two in La Rioja. So – they kept making it!!!!
5. They’ve introduced glass corks in the bottles of rosé. These have worked a treat as they are easy to put back in and entirely recyclable.
6. The barrels are mainly made of French oak. They get used five times and then they get sent to Scotland to be used for whiskey making.
There was a very nice wine tasting at the end, during which neither of us could really recognise the smells or tastes that the lady was describing 🤣. We did however, enjoy both wines and the accompanying snacks. We went back to the van and finished our lunch with a sandwich of leftover sausages from yesterday, followed by a siesta before going to explore the town.
In the evening we had arranged to chat to our next student and his Dad and we had to shelter back at the van between rain showers to do so. We had some tapas in a couple of bars and were about to retire for the night when we got chatting to an Irish couple. We then joined them for a couple more drinks and an hour or so later went to bed. So, all in all, it was a very sociable evening,
Words of the day:
CRIANZA
Quality Spanish wine is often graded Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva according to the length of bottle-ageing and barrel-ageing it has undergone. Crianza wines are in their third year, reds having spent at least twelve months in cask and whites six.
RESERVA
Red Reserva wines are at least three years old, having spent a minimum of one year in cask, and white Reserva wines are at least two years old with at least six months spent in cask.
GRAN RESERVA
A Gran Reserva wine is a top-quality wine. A red must be aged for at least two years in an oak cask and three years in the bottle. White wine must be aged for four years, with at least six months in cask.