Rioja is Spain's most famous wine region about 4.5-5 hours from Barcelona, or 1.5 hours from Bilbao. I made a loop out of the trip; leaving from Barcelona you can split off the main route at the town of Lleida and head slight north towards Pamplona. From here you head south west down to the Rioja. On the way back you take the main route down through the beautiful city of Zaragoza and back to Barcelona. 
This way you also get to travel through the foothills of the Pyrenees, see some stunning rivers and lakes, and also experience the Navarra DO wine region that is just north of Rioja. I ended up staying in a cute small town called Aibar in a nice B&B in the old part of town. The next day it was on to Pamplona and then south west down to Haro for some wine tasting and tours. 
First stop on the self guided trip was Bodegas GOMEZ CRUZADO est 1886 in the heart of Haro. It was on a weekday with only one English group and one Spanish group, so they combined the tours into one. I didn't mind this as I could take my time checking out the equipment and taking lot's of pictures. 
After a full tour of the beautiful facilities and a nice detailed run through of their practices I enjoyed a flight of 4 wines. First was their Gómez Cruzado Blanco, a blend of 85% Viura and 15% Tempranillo blanco. Then it was followed by 3 different categories of their Rioja wines, the Vendimia Seleccionada (Vintage Select), Reserva 2006, and their Honorable a field blend dominated by Tempranillo with Garnacha, Graciano, Mazuelo and Viura in the mix all which are from over 50 year old vines.
Next stop was directly across the street at the oldest winery in Haro, Bodegas R. Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia est 1877. Here I got to try 3 of their Tondonia wines; their White Reserva, Red Reserva, and Red Gran Reserva. It was a good tasting, however the only wine that stood out was the Gran Reserva but it was out of my price range.
Our next tour wasn't for a few hours and knowing that Bodegas Muga was literally half a block around the corner I had to stop in. Not realizing they were about to close early so staff could participate in the pre-festivities for the wine fight, I promised to be quick if they could offer me a full flight.
The full flight starts with some sparkle with both their white and rose Cava's, both delicate and delicious. Next up was their white, which like their white Cava is based on the grape Viura. Followed by a rose and 3 of their Rioja reds; their standard Rioja, Special Selection, and Torre Muga. All superbly crafted, showing well, and easy drinking; making it easy to fly through the flight in 10 mins.
Last stop of the day was at the stunning Bodegas Eguren Ugarte est. 1870 in Laguardia. An absolutely stunning winery and hotel. We had a lovely English tour through the winery and their hand dug cellars. There was only one other person in our tour. A cute elderly Scottish man who missed the morning tour with his wife because he was too hungover :) The tour guide was super knowledgeable and friendly.
Their 2km worth of tunnels/cellars were all hand dug, mostly by Eguren and his son's as part of their weekly chores. Members of their VIP wine club can store their wine down there in allotted personal caves. There is even nice little tasting room like nooks throughout the tunnels to hold your own private tasting's. There is also one special area were the founders ashes are stored with his wife's and a few bottles of every vintage ever made. They will keep adding to it, but never drink from there in honor of Eguren.
The hotel on site looks wonderful and I would love to stay there one day. The tour finished off with a tasting in their shop of 3 of their wines accompanied with their own delicious canapes. I ended up buying their Reserva 2010, and their white Rioja made with Viura.
It was a great way to cap off a beautiful day of tasting, prepping ourselves for the upcoming wine fight. (I was going to go into great detail about the great wine fight, but I think it will easily become it's own post, so stay tuned for the follow up blog about the wine fight.)
Because the wine fight started at 7:30am and was done by 11:00am, we found ourselves back at our B&B bored, thirsty, and still smelling a lot like cheap wine. So I booked a last minute tour at the famous Bodega Marqués de Riscal. The hotel at the winery is world renowned and was designed by Canadian architect Frank Gehry. An amazing building to get to see in person..
Again being a weekday my wife and I were the only English speakers booked for the 4:30 tour so we got a nice in depth private tour. It started with a video about the history of the property, its wine, and the building of such an iconic, beautiful, yet controversial hotel (locally).
Our guide was fantastic and wasn't annoyed by my many wine geek questions. You get to see the entire grounds, the winery, bottling line, cellar, and is the only way to get close to the hotel without paying $350+ a night. The tour was followed by tasting their white, Rueda Verdejo, and their Rioja Reserva. Due to my charm or many questions we were treated with an extra taste of their 2006 Gran Reserva; which was excellent, and then instantly purchased.
Besides the winery tours we also got to drink lot's of great Rioja's when we were in the region. In Rioja 90% the wine you can buy comes from Rioja; when we were in the Navarra region 90% of the wine you can buy comes from that region. It was weird to see at first, but then I realized that some of these wines are only available in that particular town, and was able to find some true gems. Luckily for me my favorite Spanish white, Rias Biaxas was available almost everywhere!
I would go back in a heart beat, and probably will as there is way too much to see and taste in one trip.
Stay tuned for future Blog's about the wine fight, driving one of National Geographics Drives of a Lifetime through the Priorat wine region, and a comparative tasting of two BC Albarino wines tasted alongside their forefathers, Rias Biaxas also made with Albarino.
No comments:
Post a Comment