We drove there through typical Castilian countryside, in typical Castilian summer sun, and wound our way through the narrow streets of Colmenar De Oreja. The winery is right in the middle of town and Fernando our host pointed out that they are probably going to move out as modern commerce is not truly compatible with being in a street that is less than three metres wide.
The visit was a little more than just a winery visit, Fernando is an historian and writer, trained as a teacher, as well as being a wine buff, and hence added a little tour around the town with amazingly in-depth and knowledgeable commentary. Colmenar De Oreja has a rich and long history with the Romans really getting the place on the map with stone, tile and wine production making the most of the limestone, mud and copious sunlight. Even those of us with limited Spanish were riveted by his passion and knowledge.
As we walked around he kept digging into Spanish history and how it touched Colmenar: Romans, Muslims, Christians.......Reconquista to Spanish Civil War.....he had facts and anecdotes about each part of town. Somehow this place has not got on the tourist map, probably lack of air-space from the nearby Chinchon which was made famous by the 50's movie stars. The place though was really lovely....apart from the litter....Marjan is starting to wonder if jail time is enough!
A highlight was the town square, a very typical Catilian square. It was not easy to see as they were set up for their summer festival which will include bull fighting.
The particularly interesting thing about this town square is that it took 100 years to build as they had to fill in a canyon between two hills, channel a creek, provide fountains/water for drinking water for humans, drinking water for animals, washing water and then send the water through for the farms and provide a tunnel to connect the two ends of town .... then they build the plaza on top of that.....
We eventually got back to the bodega and went straight down to the caves where they keep the wine cool.... though now they use oak barrels ...
We had a white and an absolutely delicious rosé in the caves, before heading up for some cheese, a couple of reds and a bubbly. If I could I would get a couple of cases of the rose and the bubbly shipped over. Marjan called the bubbly 'dangerous' : perhaps not correct in viticulture language, but absolutely accurate in its moreishness.
Unfortunately, our time with Fernando came to an end. We headed off to Chinchon for a quick look and some lunch. The plaza, curiously a round one, was similarly set up for the summer festivals, and we had a short wait for lunch.
A slightly tense drive into Madrid, imagine coming into Spencer Street as a foreign driver, barely dampened another wonderful drive. Perhaps I should have drunk less and spat more. Thanks to eldest daughter for the wonderful calm navigation.
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