Virtual wine tourism in times of pandemic
Not a bad solution get started in the world of wineries and enter, literally, their production or aging warehouses, their tasting rooms... The pandemic has greatly restricted movement, but at least we, initiated and amateur winelovers, have the option of moving the mouse up and down and virtually visit some Spanish wineries.
Imagine for a moment that there is a global pandemic. That everything is paralyzed, fear floods the streets and governments decide to take drastic measures. Let's invent that they lock us up at home for days, without being able to go out unless it's to do the shopping, take the dog out or due to some emergency. Let's imagine that all our plans to travel, to visit towns, cities or unknown countries go to waste, because we don't know how long this is going to last.
Let's continue with our imagination awake and think that, with this scenario, we begin to drink wine at home, and suddenly, the bug bites us. This is cool, I want to know more, I want to visit wineries… visit wineries, hmmm. No, now you can't. But I want to visit some, see what's there, what the barrel warehouses are like... And we thought of searching the internet for information "for when this is over"... but this isn't over.
“Come on, you can still visit them from a distance. If I can talk to my parents on Zoom, it may be that there are warehouses that can be seen from the screen”, It may be that it gives us to think.
And it turns out that yes, there are.
It also turns out that the pandemic, the confinement, the boredom and giving a little more to the wine has not been a matter of the imagination. And neither has it been, of course, that some wineries have had no choice but to seek life to continue attracting the attention of the traveler.
Some visits are an authentic immersion in the winery, such as the one proposed, in a novel way, by Fernandez Rivera family, using a system that rides between virtual and augmented reality: It is possible to visit any of the three wineries of the group, and even your hotel, just by clicking.
The tour informs about each point where the visit stops, the wines, the aging, the tasting, the most special bottles of each house... and even the store, where, in addition to wines, you can buy its famous chickpeas or its cheese.
If the visit is to your hotel in Peñafiel, AF Pesquera, There is also the option to visit virtually its tavern, its restaurant and even the rooms, although sleeping in the form of augmented reality has not yet been invented.
In the restaurant there are tips for pairing with the house wines and even some recipes of the hotel's consultant chef, Óscar García. in his tavern there is a take away option to take a look at the menu or read information about the oil produced by the family of the legendary riverside winemaker.
When the wine bug bites you, a kind of wine alternative is to visit a winery in the Mark of Jerez, even if, for now, virtually. Y Barbadillo, in Sanlucar de Barrameda, is the place, with a nice walk guided by the mouse where you meet the imposing breeding sheds, full of boots, and even tasting two chamomiles from the hand of the winery's oenologist, Montserrat Molina.
You can recreate in its gardens observing closely how boots are distributed in the criaderas and soleras system, and dream a little about getting closer to smelling those bakery aromas from aging under a flower veil.
If yours is Rioja, Marqués de Riscal puts on the computer screen one of his most visited treasures, his bottle cemetery, the most important collection of old wines in the world, within reach of a click.
Imagine that you walk through these wineries and start planning your trip. Do not imagine. Do it.