Semana Santa, Part 4 - Winery/Bodega Visit

The next morning, we started by trying to find a winery I had found on the internet.  I didn't write down the address, so we wandered the countryside just a bit and found a few other interesting sites.  There was a city called, which was a tiny, pretty little town, but they unfortunately had Pereladra converted their cathedral into a casino.  Still, it was pretty enough to take a picture of!  They were also well known for their Cava - sparkling wine.  We picked up a couple of bottles, and we have yet to try them!  We're waiting for some special visitors from the states to come over so we can try them.

Although we never found the winery I intended us to find, we did stumble upon a bodega (wine cellar) out in the country.  This place was AWESOME.  Lining one wall were huge wooden casks full of wine, and along the other wall were large stainless steel containers with more wine.  There were these paper signs taped to each cask/container, stating the price of the wine.  The cheapest was 1 Euro/liter and the most expensive was 3.50 Euros/liter.  It was so cheap, and so delicious!

We walked around the place for at least 15 minutes watching other people, just trying to figure out what we were supposed to do, since it seemed like the place was not so much of a tourist destination, but just a warehouse-type spot for locals to come pick up some great wine.  Tons of people were just coming in and out, filling up huge bottles and getting their wine for the Easter celebration. Near the check out counter, we found small tasting cups, so first we tried a bunch of the different wines to see what we wanted.

There were people bringing in 20 liter plastic bottles and just filling them full, but thankfully there were smaller sized bottles that you could buy there to fill on your own.  We picked up a couple of one liter bottles, and decided on the wines we wanted to try.

I filled up the bottle for the sweet, white Moscato, while Brian filled up the other with a Cabernet.  

About 5 Euros and two liters of wine later, we happily went on our way.  

At the Bodega, they also had local olive oil, and we picked up a big jug.  It has been the tastiest olive oil I've ever had, and it has been really fun cooking with it since we got back!

We stopped at a tourist office and picked up a map of the surrounding area, with hopes of finding some other wineries or olive oil producers.  We didn't have much luck, and after a lot of driving around the countryside without much success, we ended up just pulling off on the side of the road to relax for a bit before heading that afternoon into Figures, the city that Salvador Dali lived in and created his museum in.  But that's for the next post...