Spain Wine Tour
Rioja, Ribera del Duero, and Rueda
September 24-28, 2012
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Pingus
Pesquera
Jose Pariente
1* Michelin restaurant
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Roda
Remelluri
Alcazar in Segovia
Pesquera hotel
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Marques de Riscal
Lopez de Heredia
Peñafiel castle
Burgos Cathedral
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In collaboration with my friend Jeremy, we have put together another ALL STAR trip to the greatest wineries in Rioja and Castile. Soak up the rhythm of the wine harvest, visit stunning architectural wonders both ancient and modern and enjoy a Michelin dinner in a tiny Riojan village, along with a series of winemaker lunches at iconic estates.
Pingus, Aalto and Pesquera in Ribera del Duero, and Jose Pariente in Rueda. Roda, Marques de Riscal, Lopez de Heredia, Remelluri and Lanzaga in Rioja. You'll visit the best wineries in 3 dynamic wine regions that contrast modern and traditional wine styles side by side.
It will be a great way to learn about Spanish culture and history as well as its finest wines. Jeremy, our local guide, is an expert on Spain and will ensure that we experience the best of each region’s culture as well as their wines. James Cluer MW will also guide the trip.
This is a unique opportunity to experience the passion and the grandeur of ancient and modern Spain and appreciate the subtle shifts in the Spanish winemaker's soul across the regions.
We're taking about15- 20 people. So don't wait. Not only it is a privilege to have these appointments, we will be visiting at harvest time, appreciating the best wine experiences that Spain has to offer at the optimal time of year.
Price: $3,250 including tax
This price includes all accommodation, visits and tastings at wineries, all meals except one free evening, all wine at meals, and local transport. Flights are not included.
If you are travelling by yourself we will try to find you someone appropriate to share a room with, or if you want your own room there will be a single supplement of $600.
Why take a tour of Spain from Fine Vintage?
Most of these estates are not typically open to visitors, and if you can get in then you’ll get a very different tour and tasting... The only reason that we are able to visit these wineries is because I work for various corporations who buy large volumes of their wines and Jeremy has very close connections in the area.
THE PROGRAM:
All of the visits are confirmed, except one which is provisional. Here is the program.
MONDAY September 24th
Please make your flight arrangements to Madrid. We will leave from central Madrid next to the Westin Palace (5 star) and NH Paseo del Prado (4 star) hotels, which are the 2 hotels we recommend if you arrive the night before.
At 09.30
Pick up in front of the NH Paseo del Prado Hotel, at the back of the Westin Palace. Board the luxury bus and we're off, with a little cava to kick start the tour
We then drive to Segovia, about 1.30 hours away. Here we have a guided tour of the Alcazar, Segovia’s landmark fortress. Walt Disney modeled the castle in his logo on the Alcazar.
13.30 LUNCH IN SEGOVIA
After the alcazar visit, we enjoy a traditional cochinillo lunch (‘baby suckling pig’) in Jose Maria, currently reckoned to be Segovia’s finest asador restaurant. This is the first of our long Spanish lunches, fueled with delicious Carraovejas wine. Then we drive north to our first tasting at the Jose Pariente bodega in Rueda.
17.30 JOSE PARIENTE TOUR
Jose Pariente is one of the finest names in Rueda, a small but modern family winery run by mother Victoria and her daughter Martina. It's a chance to taste some excellent white from the Verdejo grape. This is a very unique varietal that is sometimes blended with Sauvignon Blanc, and makes delicious wines. http://www.josepariente.com/eng/index2.html
After the visit and tasting, we head off to the Hotel Pesquera, where we will spend the first 2 nights. This is a brand new hotel built by the icon Alejandro Fernandez, who owns Pesquera. It’s very modern, in stark contrast to the traditional winery. http://www.hotelpesquera.com/en/elhotel.php
21.00 TAPAS DINNER AT PESQUERA HOTEL
After check in and time to relax we’ll have a casual tapas dinner with a selection of top wines from Ribera del Duero and Toro.
TUESDAY September 25th
Iberian legends
10.00 am Depart hotel
Breakfast, and then we'll drive a short distance along Ribera del Duero’s golden mile to Pingus and Aalto. As Pingus is so small, we split into 2 groups, one led by James and the other by Jeremy. Both groups will visit both bodegas but one group will go to Pingus first, then Aalto whilst the other groups goes to Aalto then Pingus.
At 10.30 am PINGUS (AALTO for alternate group)
Pingus is unquestionably one of the world’s most coveted wines. The visionary Dane who came to Ribera del Duero to make Hacienda Monasterio in 1993 saw huge potential in the old vines he came across at that time and started the project named after his childhood nickname – Pingus. Peter Sisseck created the legend when selling the first vintage en primeur in 1996, and has been flirting with Parker scores between 96 and 100 ever since. Tiny yields, biodynamic and tiny production levels and the smallest great winery you’ll ever see all add to the mystique (they don’t even have a website). The harvest demands will dictate whether Peter hosts us in person but this will be a barrel tasting to remember.
12.00 pm AALTO (PINGUS for alternate group)
It is a pretty tough challenge for a winery to go head to head with Pingus. Aalto (named after the Finnish architect of the same name) gives it a pretty good shot, a modernist bodega hidden from the road very close to Vega Sicilia and Pingus. Set up just over a decade ago by Javier Zaccagnini and the longstanding former winemaker at Vega Sicilia, Mariano Garcia, Aalto has 30 hectares of its own vines but also works in partnership with a range of local producers to make the purest local expression of Ribera tempranillo that it can. As at Pingus, 2 red wines are made and we will taste both the Aalto and the outstanding Aalto PS.
At 14.00 PESQUERA
Lunch at Pesquera. Alejandro Fernandez believed there might be more to Ribera than Vega Sicilia and in 1972 licensed his bodega in the village of Pesquera where he started to make 100% Tempranillo wines aged in American oak. Since then he has become known as El Rey (the king) of Tempranillo and his Pesquera winery is named by Parker as one of the world’s top wine estates.
We’ll have a typical Spanish lunch of lamb accompanied by wines from each of the Fernandez’s 4 estates. Last year lunch lasted 3 hours and by the end of it everyone was dancing and singing in Spanish… After
If you are up for it, then at 1730 we head off to visit the castle in Peñafiel, It was built in the 9th century and now houses the region’s wine museum. There’s a fantastic view of the surrounding countryside, as we are high up on a hill. If you were over-served at lunch, and don’t feel like this extra cultural excursion, then we’ll drop you off at the hotel and you can sober up in the spa or continue the fiesta on the terrace.
At 19.00 RETURN TO HOTEL
This is a free evening for you to relax and enjoy the hotel and the town of Peñafiel. There are a number of little restaurants close by, walking distance from the hotel.
WEDNESDAY September 26th
09.30 am Depart hotel
We leave Ribera del Duero (for now) and head north towards Rioja, not missing the chance to see one of the most striking buildings in Spain en route.
At 11.00 am BURGOS CATHEDRAL
We’ll have a guided tour of Burgos Cathedral. This Gothic Cathedral is a world heritage site and holds the remains of El Cid. It is absolutely spectacular, taking hundreds of years to build. We then make our way up to Remelluri, a wonderful single estate winery in Labastida in Rioja.
At 13.30 REMELLURI
Almost Tuscan in style, this is the family property of Spain’s most famous travelling winemaker Telmo Rodriguez. He uses French oak and a more terroir based approach than is traditional in Rioja. Last year many people voted these as the best wines, especially the Reserva and Gran Reservas. We enjoy the views and the wines over a slow paced lunch before heading to the central part of Rioja Alavesa (the Basque part of Rioja) to visit another icon. http://www.remelluri.com/ing/intro.html
At 17.30 MARQUES DE RISCAL
Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum established Bilbao as a tourist destination. He followed it up with the remarkable Marques de Riscal city of wine and hotel in Elciego. Marques de Riscal is one of the classic Spanish wines and we enjoy a tasting at the city of wine that includes a brief tour of the buildings. After our tasting, we head down the road to our wine themed Hotel Viura. http://www.marquesderiscal.com/index.php?setIdioma=2
At 19.00 CHECK IN TO HOTEL
We check into the hotel in Villabuena de Alava around 1900. This small boutique hotel has a remarkable design n the heart of Rioja Alavesa. We’re here for the 2 nights in Rioja. It’s a great hotel, with comfortable rooms and excellent service. That evening, we’ll have dinner together in the restaurant, and taste some old vintage white Rioja, and some classic reds. The dining room has barrels suspended from the ceiling. Riojan chic. http://www.hotelviura.com/english/index.html
THURSDAY September 27th
09.30 am Depart hotel
We head to the western end of Rioja Alta for our first visit of the day, at the oldest winery in Haro.
At 10.00 am LOPEZ DE HEREDIA
A visit to this winery alone makes the trip worthwhile. I have never been to anything quite like it. This is traditional Rioja, to say the least. Many of the wines are aged for over a decade before release, often in barrels that are extremely old. In fact, the fermentation vats are over 150 years old. The underground cellars are several kilometers long, and it’s like being in a winery from the Middle Ages. The wines are phenomenal. http://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/arquitectura/tienda.html
At 12.00 RODA
Decanter recently voted Roda’s 2006 as the best red wine of Rioja in 2011. The winery is next door to Lopez de Heredia and could hardly offer a greater contrast to the homage to tradition at Lopez de Heredia. All the Riojan trademarks are discarded here to make magnificent modern reds that perhaps reflect Rioja’s future. Founded in 1987 by a Catalan couple, Roda relishes its points of difference, using French oak and making single varietals, showcasing an innovative floor heated malolactic fermentation room as the centerpiece of the winery. Innovation alongside tradition. There is also a small gallery with a photographic exhibition.
At 14:30 TAPAS LUNCH
After an amazing morning visiting 2 contrasting bodegas, we head off to have a tapas lunch in the hilltop citadel of Laguardia, in the heart of the wine country. Our trip wouldn’t be complete without the chance to sample an array of Spanish tapas in an old walled town at the Mayor de Migueloa posada, in business since 1619.
At 16.30 TELMO RODRIGUEZ
After the classics, we go to Telmo Rodriguez’s HQ at Lanzaga, back in Rioja Alavesa. The scenery up here on the hilltops is spectacular, and of course we should be there in the midst of harvest. After leaving the family property at Remelluri, Telmo spent time learning his trade in Bordeaux and now makes wines across the great Spanish wine regions. He has revived several grapes that were almost extinct in Spain. A floppy haired maverick, that all the gals fell in love with last year, he makes wines in striking contrast to the traditional and modern styles that we’ve tasted elsewhere. http://www.telmorodriguez.com/
At 20.00 MICHELIN * DINNER
We roll up to the smallest village in the world to possess a Michelin star. We end our Riojan trip with a private dinner matching Riojan dishes to a series of local wines. We have the chance to enjoy the views with an aperitivo on the terrace and then take our time (think slow food movement) to enjoy the best that the Echapresto brothers can concoct for us (one cooks, one serves the wine). We’ll try wines made from grapes you’ve never heard of. www.ventamoncalvillo.com
FRIDAY September 28th
10.30 AM Depart Hotel
There’s time to sleep in after the big dinner, or explore the village more before heading off for our last winery visit and lunch at Faustino.
Faustino is a well-known Riojan group. They have developed a Ribera wine (Portia) in Gumiel de Izan that cost over 50 million Euros to build. I’ve never seen anything quite like it in terms of a modern hi-tech winery.
It was designed by Norman Foster (Beijing airport, the Reichstag etc) in a style that minimizes the distance that grapes travel from vine to bottle. In a country full of world class wine architecture, this is perhaps the most striking of them all. We’ll have a private tour through the new building before a tasting, followed by a Castilian lunch at the winery.
At 16.00 TO MADRID
We set off for Madrid. We’ll drop people off at Madrid’s Barajas airport around 1800 before ending at the Westin and Paseo del Prado Hotels around 1830.
This will be another luxurious wine tour, hosted by James Cluer and a local Spanish wine expert, visiting the top estates with a small group of fun-loving people. To request the booking form please email me at James@finevintageltd.com