On one of my morning walks, I did a one to one with Juan Ramon. He is a lover and life long collector of modern art. He has visited the Tate in London, MOMA in New York, among others, as well as being a member of the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid and the Guggenheim in Bilbao. We passed this interesting marker in town, as well as the far end of the central plaza.
The event everyone was excited about was the two hour excursion to Mont Reaga Vineyard and Winery. It costs eight euros per person and was worth every penny.
We started with a glass of a young white wine that was chilled. There was no tasting and spitting out the wine, this was all about the consumption of the wine.
The tour took us outside where they explained that they prune the vines twice per year so that there is never more than 2.5 kg of grapes on any vine - preferably less.
One of their buildings is covered with solar panels - Mont Reaga is noted for their care of the environment.
We learned about the various stages of production.
They have kept many historical artifacts in the winery, including some doors that date back to 1450 before Don Quixote as well as this beautiful chandelier.
The tasting room had tables with lights below the translucent glass plates. I learned that this is one way to judge the quality of the wine - tilt the glass at 45 degrees and the light from below will show a colored ring around the edge of the wine. The color tells a lot about the wine. In this case, it was orange and that was a good thing; purple would not be good (sorry about the slightly out of focus photo).
In all, we had three samples, including the Fata Morgana merlot.
I bought two bottles, one Fata Morgana and a bottle of cabernet sauvignon.
During siesta, I explored the town some more. While there are many nice homes, like any town, there are some that need help.
There are two sections of the wall that formerly encircled the town. These next photos were of the north side, and while the wall still goes from this tower all the way to the castle, it is not in the best condition.
In contrast, the wall on the east side is in great shape, in spite of (or maybe because of) the many houses that are built right up to the wall.
Of the three gates I have found, the Chincilla is in the best condition.
After wandering for an hour, I finally got back to our hotel.
The event everyone was excited about was the two hour excursion to Mont Reaga Vineyard and Winery. It costs eight euros per person and was worth every penny.
The tour took us outside where they explained that they prune the vines twice per year so that there is never more than 2.5 kg of grapes on any vine - preferably less.
One of their buildings is covered with solar panels - Mont Reaga is noted for their care of the environment.
We learned about the various stages of production.
They have kept many historical artifacts in the winery, including some doors that date back to 1450 before Don Quixote as well as this beautiful chandelier.
The tasting room had tables with lights below the translucent glass plates. I learned that this is one way to judge the quality of the wine - tilt the glass at 45 degrees and the light from below will show a colored ring around the edge of the wine. The color tells a lot about the wine. In this case, it was orange and that was a good thing; purple would not be good (sorry about the slightly out of focus photo).
In all, we had three samples, including the Fata Morgana merlot.
I bought two bottles, one Fata Morgana and a bottle of cabernet sauvignon.
During siesta, I explored the town some more. While there are many nice homes, like any town, there are some that need help.
There are two sections of the wall that formerly encircled the town. These next photos were of the north side, and while the wall still goes from this tower all the way to the castle, it is not in the best condition.
In contrast, the wall on the east side is in great shape, in spite of (or maybe because of) the many houses that are built right up to the wall.
Of the three gates I have found, the Chincilla is in the best condition.
After wandering for an hour, I finally got back to our hotel.
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