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Published: November 14th 2007
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*Camera still not working right, so sorry for the small amount of photos
Last Thursday Iñigo picked me up from Segovia and we drove three hours north to La Rioja, Spain’s best-known wine region. We met up with his best friend Tiri and his girlfriend Alejandra, and another couple, Chema and Alicia at our two-floor suite at the hotel Los Augustinos. The hotel was located in the little hilltop town of Haro that overlooks the Río Tirón and the Río Ebro and is surrounded by some of the most renowned bodegas in Spain. We were all pretty tired from the drive, so we opened a bottle of wine and a great conversation. The next morning we set out to explore the charming 10th-century architecture and exquisite restaurants of Haro. As we hopped from bar to bar, I realized that all the tapas experiences I had had to that date were not the real thing. We started at a restaurant where we had the most delicious garlic mushrooms, and continued on to about 6 other bars sipping various red wines and nibbling tapas. Like always, we ended our meal with a tiny cup of espresso in a café, and chatted until
we could move again.
• Roasted mushrooms with garlic and olive oil
• Pickled peppers, olives, and onion atop baguette
• Spanish bacon
• Sautéed pork with cayenne pepper, paprika, and olive oil
• Squid in ink sauce
• Sautéed squid with olive oil, parsley, and garlic
• Squid stuffed with tomato, parsley, and garlic
• Manchego cheese
• Chorizo
After that we went to the Museo de la Cultura del Vino (Museum of Wine Culture) which was absolutely fascinating. I learned about the entire wine producing process, the influence of wine in Greek and Roman art, differences between various types of grapes, and the history of wine-making in Spain. Now a bit more educated, we went to a wine tasting at Dinastía Vivanco, where I found that it’s not that I don’t like red wine, it’s just that I’m a bit more particular about it. I always thought I was just a white wine person, but I found that I prefer a dryer, aged wine that the Spanish call “reserva” as opposed to a younger wine “crianza.” By then we were ready for a change of pace, so we drove to the neighboring town of La Guardia,
which is surrounded by a brick wall and has the most quaint streets and homes. Cars aren’t even allowed to pass through the town’s walls, it’s so small. We walked around the town looking at the little shops, sculptures, and churches, and then found a restaurant for dinner at about 11:00pm. We weren’t very hungry so we just ordered a platter of various cheeses. We made it back to Haro in time to go to a café and then to bed.
Saturday morning, Alejandra made breakfast for us in the hotel. We took our time getting up and out this morning, and set off on a drive through the countryside to see the incredible Marques de Riscal bodega designed by Frank Gehry. On the way we saw many travelers with walking sticks wandering through the vineyards on their way to Santiago de Compostela. Next we went to the capital Logroño we explored the city, which is a lot more animated than Haro, and ended with a walk in the beautiful Paseo de Espolón park in the heart of the city. With all that walking we worked up an appetite, and as Logroño is known for its tapas, we had
to take advantage of the opportunity. After another sequence of five or six bars, we were full to the brim and happy to hide out in a retro café for a while.
• Fried eggplant filled with pâté
• Fried eggplant filled with Manchego cheese
• Raw duck liver with onion
• Creamed clams served in a shell
• Sautéed squid with garlic cream sauce
• Grilled shrimp with garlic and bitter chocolate
• Morcilla (blood sausage)
• Bread with sea worm things that I have never seen
We had a seven o’clock appointment at Bodegas Bilbainas back in Haro, so we couldn’t stay long. This bodega dates back to 1859 and has become a benchmark for Rioja red wine, although, we only tried the crianzas, with which I wasn’t all that impressed. I liked their mosto (unfermented grape juice) better 😉 That night we hung around our suite playing cards and dancing to old jazz tunes, and Iñigo and I made a midnight dinner. We snacked on Manchego cheese and then He made pasta with zucchini, tomato, garlic, and sausage, and I made a mixed green salad with pomegranate, pear, and caramelized walnuts. Everyone was so intrigued
that we were to eat a sweet salad, as that’s not something they typically eat and they kept stealing my caramelized walnuts before I was finished. It all turned out beautifully!
We woke up pretty early Monday morning to make it to our last wine tasting at Martinez Lacuesta where I had my favorite wine of the weekend, a spicy 1999 Rioja reserva. I bought a bottle to bring back to my family in Segovia. After that we packed up our bags and headed back toward home. We made a stop in Burgos for lunch at a restaurant that looked more like a castle than anything. The place was packed, but the food was fantastic! After a round of goodbye kisses, Iñigo and I set off to Segovia and the others to Madrid. Driving over the mountains on our way home, we ended our trip just as the sky burst into a flood of color in the setting sun.
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