Seven acts of wine love in Haro, La Rioja
...And they all have some proposal for you to have fun with this _wineloverismo._*
Here, in Spain, we have one of the corners that combines wine, culture and tourist attraction most striking in the world. Yes, and maybe you, drinker, oenophile, tourist , you do not even know it.
It is in Haro, in La Rioja, and it is called Barrio de la Estación . Why is it so conspicuous? because it is a unique, alive and kicking collection of five hundred-year-old wineries , which coexist in harmony with two others that were born in the 20th century.
This amalgamation, collected in just one square kilometer, allows a walk through the history of Spanish wine seen by some of its main witnesses, the walls and bottle racks that silently guard unrepeatable wines.
The streets of Haro, La Rioja
But not everything is drinking, and here you can enjoy the Riojan landscape that surrounds this essential corner of the country's liquid geography, so I'm going to give you some ideas so you can have fun in this wine theme park what is he Station Quarter.
Be amazed by the past-future architectural fusion in Lopez De Heredia- Viña Tondonia . Not only touring its almost mythical underground drafts , with wines that are coveted at auctions around the world, but, already on the surface, visiting their store, actually a stand created by Zaha Hadid as a "jeweler" of another showcase in a modernist style and built in wood that was commissioned by the winery… to take it to the universal exhibition in Brussels in 2010.
And then of course have a tondonia on your little terrace.
Lopez de Heredia - Viña Tondonia
Dive into a bottle rack with more than one hundred and fifty years in CVNE. And he cries with rage for not being able to open his Centennial Gate , which stores old vintages from 1879, when the winery was founded, until a century later.
And do not forget to contemplate the fabulous roof of the barrel warehouse built by the studio of Gustave Eiffel , supported by straps that cross the building and completely dispense with columns, where the star of the winery is now kept, Imperial Reserve . Amazing... and more if you think that it was conceived at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Discover **how the terroir is interpreted in Gómez Cruzado **. This little great unknown in the neighborhood is one of the oldest, and knowing his story full of ups and downs well worth a break (glass in hand, of course) .
But in addition, Gómez Cruzado has a 21st century philosophy and feet on the ground , never better said, because you cannot leave there without trying their terroir wines , made with grapes from unique and special vineyards.
And who knows, if you get too close to their directors, David and John Antony , they still take you to eat chops at one of their old vineyards.
The terroir reinterpreted
Learn what that is rack the wine at La Rioja Alta S.A. Here you can have a good time knowing how the wine was made in its old vats, perfectly preserved although no longer in use, and watch a racket live , a procedure that serves to clean the sediments of the wine that rests in the barrels and that the operators carry out handmade by candlelight.
those scents of came still young They will make you salivate, so you might want to reserve a traditional meal prepared right there by a great team of cooks that is served in a quiet dining room: Rioja-style potatoes, black pudding… and a good Viña Ardanza. Why else?
Enter the most classic modernity in Bodegas Bilbaínas- Viña Pomal. This winery is right next to the train tracks and has launched a beautiful project that involves young creators… that have little or nothing to do with wine.
And it is that a series of tattooists is leaving the posterity barrels pyrographed with his works , inspired by the wine that surrounds them. Authentic works of art in wood that are proof that yes, wine can also inspire groundbreaking and modern minds.
If you want to spend another time, ask for the manual disgorgement of its cavas, an authentic spectacle, a trade almost in extinction.
The modern of the neighborhood
**Fly over the Rioja vineyard with Muga **. One of the most amazing experiences and only suitable for wine lovers without vertigo is to fly in a balloon over the landscape that surrounds the Station Quarter : vineyards, hills, small villages, the fabulous Sierra de Cantabria in the background…
With a luxury captain, Oscar Ayala, at the controls of a balloon loaded with Cava Conde de Haro (which is wonderful in the heights), you can let yourself go for a good time and understand why this land has a special magnetism. If you are afraid of heights, you can take tours in segways or have a glass of Special Selection between huge wooden vats built in its own facilities.
soak up wineloverism in RODA Wineries . The youngest in the neighborhood (she has just turned 30) does not lose sight of the fact that the vineyard is what most defines the character of her wines, and she has launched a fun excursion in a horse-drawn carriage to Perdigón, the closest vineyard to her.
there you can snack with a spectacular landscape or you can go back to the winery and do it in one of the most beautiful corners of the environment (it is one of my favorite places in the neighborhood, I am not impartial): the draft that the winery has next to the Ebro . A 2010 Roda (to order...), some cheese and Iberian meats and... let the world stop.
The Tasting of the Station District . Wine for “pros”: **next June 16 the third edition of the Tasting of the Station District will be held **, a day where the doors of the seven wineries will be opened to taste two of the best wines from each of them (some for the first time) and have some tapas made by Francis Paniego (El Portal de Echaurren) and Ignacio Echapresto (Moncalvillo Sale).
_*Quoting Colectivo Decantado, which if not, scolds us (or charges us copyright, to wit...) _