Monday, October 4, 2010
Today was all about why we came to Spain (great food & wine). We had one wine tour today at 11:00 am (Cambrico) and were told to meet Alberto & Ulla at the square. When we got into town, there were two people standing by a car, there wasn’t really a square but we figured it must be them and we were right. We followed them up a steap hill and into the vineyard. We walked through the vines while Ulla (a German woman) translated for Alberto. We learned about two new grape varietals that Alberto has brought back into existence (rufete & calabrese). We also learned the different leaves the grapes have and about the earth the grapes are grown in. Next, it was up to the tasting room to see where they make & store the wines, and then of course to taste the wines. The wines were outstanding and we had a fun conversation even if we all couldn’t understand what we were saying. We even taught Ulla the word “grafting” as this is the process being used to bring back some older grapes which are becoming extinct. In our conversation, I found out that Ulla grew up 5 kilometers from the town of Herde where my family is from (go figure!). Ulla liked us so much that she volunteered to take us to a winery in Rueda (Bodegas Antano).
Ulla & Alberto then recommended we stop into the town of San Martin del Castanar for lunch. No restaurant name was given just that it was in the plaza. After one misstep, I walked to a restaurant that clearly was not correct, we wandered around town eventually finding the restuarant and had a fantastic meal!
After lunch, we walked around the town some more than drove to a town called Miranda del Castanar and walked around to work off our lunch. This country does not lack in churches and there are one or more to be seen in every town. We are definitely finding towns where tourists don’t go as people will look at us funny since they don’t recognize us and wonder why we are there.
Back in Salamanca now. It will be an early night as neither of us feel like eating. Tomorrow we will meet up with Ulla and then we have an appointment at 5:00 pm at Bodegas Arzuaga.