We had our first breakfast at the hotel. There was no buffet but they had a list of daily dishes whose details changed from day to day. Today we got coffee, orange juice, a small dish of yogurt and one of fruit, and two small boxes of muesli in the standard table setting. It would have been nice to have a bigger bowl! After mixing the fruit and yogurt, we next got a platter of meats and cheese which Richard enjoyed. Then we got some egg - I think we had scrambled today. It was tricky to catch the waitress's eye for more coffee, and we didn't seem to get any of the promised pastries. I had a small piece of toast with the jam of the day.
We soon set off to drive to Logrono, the capital of the Rioja region. We did our best with Google Maps on my phone and found an underground car park. We strolled along the wide streets and found a square, El Espolon, with a rose garden. After sitting in the sun for a while, we went off to discover the church of Santa Maria Redondo. I took lots of photos inside. It was very ornate.
Then we found Calle Laurel which was recommended for tapas, but many of the places hadn't opened yet. We eventually found a bar, Tivoli, where we could get a beer, and we ordered some pinchos to share: croquetas ibericas (ham and cheese), bacalao en tempura (large piece of cod in batter with peppers) and a portion of tortilla omelette. It was tasty but messy to eat, and cheap at 14.50 euros.
After lunch we went to see the old city walls, and I bought some stamps at the post office - fairly painless. We found our way back to the car and drove back to the hotel. We went through a very heavy shower on the way back.Back at the Marques de Riscal we went for our winery tour at 15.30. There was a big group at the Vinoteque. Our guide Inma first showed a video of the founding of the winery in 1858, and we heard that local materials such as sandstone, titanium and stainless steel were available to use for construction. We went out into the 5000 hectares of vineyards, but heard that the place also buys in local grapes from other vineyards in the area. The harvest is done on September to October. All grapes grown here are red varieties and some vines are over 100 years old. They produce five million bottles of wine per year including white wine from other local grape sources.
We then heard about the wine-making process from sorting, taking off the stems, crushing the grapes and removing the seeds, storing with the skins in large wooden vats. CO2 is a product of the fermentation. Fermentation in the large vats takes 7 to 10 days, and then secondary fermentation occurs in smaller vats when malo-lactic acid is produced. This stage can take two weeks to two months, depending on the quality required. Then the wine-maker tastes and blends the wines.
We saw another film of the workers sorting the grapes by eye, the de-stemming, crushing, documenting and placing in steel tanks, where fermentation occurs. Finally the barrels are labelled. The time taken to produce the wine in the bottle takes from 1 1/2 to 3 years.
We also saw the oldest building on the estate and the special collection of wines from each year of production. The quality of Spanish wines remains constant from year to year due to the settled climate.
After the wine-making lesson we had a tasting of one white and one red wine: a white Rueda Verdejo 2017 - fresh, appley, pale, young with a fruity nose - a good apero wine; then a red Reserva 2014 blend of tempranillo, graciano and mazuelo, 15 months in the bottle. It had a vanilla nose and was very dry.For dinner we decided to head to Elciego town centre. Many places seemed to have closed down, but we eventually found an open restaurant, Real Fortuna. We were the only people inside but the waitress was very friendly. We plumped for a bottle of Annua 2016 Rioja from Bodega Aurum in Elciego. We shared starters of salad caprese and an Iberico ham platter, followed by a tender steak solomillo with potatoes. For dessert I had chocolate pudding with icecream and blackcurrant. It was all delicious. The church was illuminated and looked beautiful on our way home.
