Well, we're back from Spain! 8 wonderful days of sipping red wine, having dinner at 11PM, and speaking very little English certainly does the body good...
Anyhow, one of the major themes of our trip was to visit Ribera del Duero and Rioja, as I indicated in my earlier post in this thread. We visited 3 bodegas: Cillar de Silos, Bodegas Mauro, and La Rioja Alta. The first two are located in Ribera del Duero (south of Burgos and east of Valladolid). At each of these places, we had a great experience due in part to having a "friend-of-a-friend" inside connection that we shamelessly used to get "VIP-type" treatment.
At Cillar de Silos, we arranged for a Saturday meeting when the bodega was otherwise closed. The vineyard manager met us and gave us a tour (in Spanish) of the grounds including their caves where they age the reservas -- very interesting indeed. We tasted 4 wines, including 2 not-yet-released wines straight from the barrels! The winery is located in Quintana del Pidio, about 10 minutes from Aranda de Duero, which is a town of approximately 300 people, 95% of whom are in the wine trade.
Then, last Monday, we visited one of my personal favorites: Bodegas Mauro, located in Tudela de Duero. The town was slightly larger, yet it still had a very wine-focused culture. The bodega is located in a restored 17th century house, that had an underground cave as well. Our guide, whose name was Mauro incidentally, said that back in the old days many of the inhabitants of the town made their own wine and stored it in their underground cellars. And, the taxes they owed would vary based on the quality of wine each person produced!! Sounds like a good incentive to me...
Here, we sampled 3 wines -- again, straight from the barrel! Their total production is about 100,000 bottles per year -- very small by most standards (the big Napa producers like Mondavi probably spill that much each year!) & their product is very good.
Then, on Thursday, we visited La Rioja Alta which is a much larger winery located in Haro. Again, we had a private tour (in Spanish -- they probably speak English here too, although I didn't ask) and we tasted 2 wines at the conclusion: the Arana and the Baron de Ona, both of which are excellent (not to mention cheaper and easier to find in the EEUU).
Haro is a great place to purchase wine -- there are many great wine shops located within a block or two of the main square. Rare wines as well as older vintages can be easily acquired. Also, el Corte Ingles in Madrid has a surprisingly good selection of wines & the prices were competitive. The one at Plaza de Callao has a supermarket with a gourmet section stocked with wine (they even had Mauro! -- although their inventory has gone down slightly due to my visit and a strong dollar!).
On the return flight, my wife and I had 17 (not a typo) bottles of vino in our CARRY ON bags...
Of course, we listed the wine on the customs form and amazingly we were not required to pay anything! They are so preoccupied with foot & mouth disease, I suppose they could care less about collecting a couple of bucks worth of taxes!
So, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions or are considering a visit to the areas mentioned above.
Saludos,
Rob