Ugly American

On Friday we were going to make a final stop at a winery in Ribera del Duero on our way back to Madrid.  We'd planned to stop at Portia known for the architecture of its beautiful building, but they only had a late afternoon opening and we wanted to reach Madrid earlier in the day.  So I called a place that was not too far from the highway on the route back and she said sure I'm here come on by.

As luck would have it what a wonderful visit we had.  The winery is called Ferratus, meaning comes from steal, as the owners father owns a steal company.  The lady who owns and operates the bodegas, Maria Luisa Cuevas, was an absolute delight.  She currently has a very small production, but has the capacity to double if she has the sales and distribution.  She had such a passion for her wine operation, her wines and a love for her family.  We spent the afternoon sharing two bottles of wine with her, which in this travelers opinion, was the best we had tasted.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to get her wine in the states.  This is the ugly part, her and 7 other wineries sent bottles to a so called exporter in Chicago along with some money.  Well long story short he swindled them and now she is tied up in legal fees trying to get it back.  Does she blame him, no, she blames herself for being so naive.  The whole thing made me so mad! 

She is in talks with another importer here in the LA area.  We took his information so we will check him out and we will stay in tough with her and see what we can do to help her out.  Hopefully not too long from now you will be enjoying her wine without needing to go to Spain, although I highly recommend that too!

The Treasures inside Gothem

Wanted to share some of the beauty inside the big gothic Cathedral of Burgos.  I hope these pictures do it some justice.  There were so many side chapels that were spectacular in their own right.

The Food of the Region - Castilla y Leon

Everything I read about the local food talked about "hearty" meals of meat and soup. Salamanca known for its black pig, Segovia for it's roasted pig and Burgos for it's roasted lamb. I had a nice lentil soup with chorizo for lunch one day and of course all the various pork we eat in Salamanca, but once we reached Burgos I had to try the lamb. Now most people don't like lamb because it usually has a gamey taste, but this wasn't at all.  We later found out the reason is because they are only milked feed baby lambs that never eat grass.  Absolutely wonderful, and moist, which I credited to the roasting oven they use. 

We had the best seafood in southern Spain and were thinking we wouldn't find much if any on this trip so when we saw mussels and grilled calamari on the chalkboard we had to try. The calamari riveled that of what we had in the south, which was such a pleasant surprise. 

As for dessert, I was about to give up as I'm not much of a flan fan and the other most common option, rice pudding, was always too runny for my liking. Then last night I had fried custered with cinnamon and chocolate ice cream, to die for. Guess I'll have to keep trying to see if I can top that!

Last but not least, breakfast in Spain, churros. That fried dough dipped in melted chocolate, the only thing not to love is what it's doing to my waistline. 

The roasted lamb

Grilled calamari 

Pinchos - tuna paste with bacon on top and a fried zucchini with some jamon

Desert

Breakfast Churros & chocolate

Ribera del Duero wines

Onto the wine tasting part of our trip, where the wineries follow the Duero River (this is also true in Portugal as well where you will find Port).  The wines of this wine region must be at least 70% Tempranillo grape.  They follow the same aging rules (time in the barrel & time in the bottle) as Rioja in terms of being a reserve and grand reserve.  The climate goes through dramatic swings from very hot summers to very cold freezing winters.  There are actually four different areas with Ribero del Duero, some with a terroir of limestone (think mineral taste) and the other soil is of clay consistency.  This can give wide swings in taste for the same type of wine.

We visited two wineries (Tinto Pesquera and Condado de Haza) of the same winemaker, Alejandro Fernandez.  This 82 year old man is still very active in the wine making and said to be one of the people who put this region on "the map" for wine. He is well respected in the Spanish wine world.  

I'm not sure way he took a liking to Tony, but he gave him the biggest pours.  

Harvest is in another two weeks.  It's all hand picked and they have an all natural process, adding nothing during fermentation.  He uses 100% Tempranillo and American oak because he thinks it goes best with this type of grape.  Most Spanish wines are meant to age, a good 2003 can be found now, and could be aged for another 10 years.  They ship all over the world and their US distributor is out of Seattle!  They want us to talk to them about importing the single white wine they make.

Burgos

The city is dominated by its huge Gothic cathedral, you see it spires from almost every view.  There are so many details on the facade it's hard to take it all in.  It was built between 1200 and 1500.  The town itself is nice, it seems so quite after Salamanca, which I'm sure in part was due to the festival.

Just outside the city there is an excavation site were they have uncovered Homo Sapient remains from 800,000 years ago.  We visited the museum of Human Evolution where some of the remains and history of the dig are on display.  It's mind boggling to take in; thinking about what it was like in the 10th century is one thing, 500,000 years ago is quite another.  

Shots of the cathedral and the city:

Plaza Mayor (below)

City Arch into the Plaza

Views from our room 

Nightfall

Morning view 

Leaving Salamanca in route to Ribero del Duero

We enjoyed our stay in this lovely college town with the festival making it extra special. Here are a few shots from our hotel and the square. The Plaza Mayor was right around the corner. 

A little coffee and churro before heading to wine country. That's our car in the parking garage. The shot I missed was the day before when they rolled it out first before getting in and starting it because they had them packed in so tight you couldn't open the doors!

Architectural History

We day tripped to a couple of small towns. The first being Medina del Campo, noted for its fortress, the Castle of La Mota.  Construction dates back to 1080 during the waring with the Moors. The fortress was later fortified in the 1400s as the castle changed hands between the rival kings of Castile and Aragon.  

11th century architecture:

Our second stop took us to the town of Zamora. Near the Portugal boarder along the Douro river. It is known as the city of Romanesque with 14 churches and we heard one heck of a celebration during Holy Week. 

The skies look menicing but it only spat rain on us for all of two minutes. 

12th century architecture:

The Cathedral of Zamora is one of the finest examples of Spanish Romanesque architecture built 1150 to 1175. 

Another church - Santa Maria Magdalena

The Duoro

Back in Salamonca to conclude the architectural study with the New Cathedral which was started in the 16th century with a late Gothic style and finished in the 18th when they completed the cupola in a Baroque or Renaissance style.