¡Hola todos!
Yesterday was AMAZING. I got an email from our coordinator, Amy, about an opportunity to go to a vineyard, learn how wine is made, harvest grapes, eat some really good homemade (and organic) Spanish food and wine made from the aforementioned vineyard, and I had a really neat opportunity that no one else received, which I'll mention below.
So my day started at a fresh 7:30 to arrive at the bus terminal and be on the road around 9:30-ish, as per Spanish standards. Since the bus got going a little late, we arrived a little after schedule, naturally. This changed our plans, so instead of harvesting grapes first, we went to the building where they ferment the grapes and basically make the wine. I'll abridge the process: the grapes are picked, stems and all, then transported to the place where they ferment for days to weeks. Each day, the grapes are crushed to maximize their juice output, and the liquid stays on top as the grape remains are stuck to the bottom. Over the course of the night, however, the grapes float back up to the top. I was awestruck when they told us that they still do it the "old-fashioned" way, by cleaning up, throwing on a pair of swim trunks, and crushing the fruit. How cool of a job would that be?! They also have to keep the grapes cool so they ferment correctly, so they have metal plates that they put in the vat that is hooked up to cold water, and the water is run through the plate to keep the liquid at about 16-20°C. After the fermentation process is complete, they take the grape remains and put them in a press, to squeeze whatever juice may be left in them out. The stems are then removed and sold to another person to make what's called Orujo (
Orujo), which we were told is basically pure alcohol.
After the remaining juice is pressed, all juices are mixed together and are left to mature for 9+ months (this amount of time depends on each vineyard owner and how much they want to mature the wine to sell) in French oak barrels. It is then bottled in the same facility and shipped out. 80% of all wine made in this particular location are shipped outside of Spain. We got to try a couple of different wines made there, including "piesdescalzados"-- "Barefoot" wine. Us Americans got a pretty good kick out of that. I'm not necessarily a wine connoisseur, but it was reeeeeeeally good.
After the tour of the facility where they process the grapes, we went out to harvest the grapes! This is a process that is done typically in September, so we caught it on the tail end. In Spanish, it's called La Vendimia, "The Grape Harvest." We were given knives, a bucket for groups of two people, and rows of grapes to pick. The grapes were amazing. They were equivalent to the color of blueberries in the States, but had so much juice and flavor to them, they're not even comparable. I think about half of what we "harvested" made it to our bellies instead. Oops! During the harvest, we'd go dump our buckets into trash-can sized barrels that they'd take and load up to haul to the factory. We all had a great time. Manolo, the guy who owns the vineyard where we harvested the grapes, was really funny and showed us how to cut the grapes out without slicing our fingers off. Needless to say, they had to break out the bandaids anyways.
Since we finished harvesting the grapes around 2:00pm, it was getting to be about lunch time, so we headed up into the more mountainous part of the city to a little place called "La Ventana de Guisando." OK, before I talk about La Ventana, I have to make a side comment: in high school, I studied history before Christ and learned about these things called the "Bulls of Guisando," or los Toros de Guisando (
Bulls Wiki). Since I was in the car with our guide, Richard, I said, "Wait, I know that name. Are the Toros de Guisando around here?" and he replied, "Yes, of course, they're about a kilometer from where we'll be when we have lunch and take a siesta." So naturally, I asked if instead of taking siesta, if we could hike out to see the bulls. I'll come back to this in a minute, I figure I should try to keep my timeline linear so I don't keep skipping around.
Anyways-- we pull into this Ventana de Guisando, "The Window of Guisando" which is the end of Madrid limits, and it's the "window" because it looks out onto Guisando. The town we were in for the day was called San Martín de Valdeiglesias, if you care to check it out at any point. It's an amazingly beautiful little city that houses many important points in history. This link is the wikipedia page in Spanish, but if your browser is set in English, it should offer to translate it for you-- the English one for the same city is very brief and doesn't offer really any of the history that would interest readers. (
Wiki link). As a quick sum: Isabel of Castile, the one who sent Christopher Columbus to the americas, got her brother to sign the throne over to her in this city, and from here she ran her kingdom until she married Ferdinand of Aragon. Pretty cool, right?
So, this Ventana is owned by a friend of Richard's, and it consists of a huge plot of land on which there is a little lounge with a bar and stage for music and entertainment. For lunch, we had tons of tapas, wine, soda, and a traditional, home cooked Spanish meal from their organic garden. It was deeeeeelicious. After that, many went out into the field, or
campo, to take a nap, but the girl from my program who came with me, Bailey, as well as Richard and a couple others went on a hike to find the Toros. We didn't end up finding them, but we definitely worked off lunch-- we had to cross 2 streams with steep banks, and hike along the highway... then we had to return and do the same thing again. I'm just glad I wore pants-- over half of what we trekked through was basically just thorn bushes. Bailey wasn't so lucky-- she wore shorts, but went along with the flow and now has scratches and just a little bit of blood as a badge of honor. However, along the highway, we had the chance to see something really neat: yellow arrows pointing to the northwest, on a path called The Way of Saint James, "El Camino de Santiago" which is a pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, an autonomous community in the northern part of Spain. Here's the wiki article if you're interested in learning more:
Camino de Santiago . Below I'll attach the picture of the arrow that I snapped by an electric box where we came out onto the highway.
Once we returned to La Ventana, Manolo was there and was preparing to sing and dance for us. And yes, Manolo is the same guy who owns the vineyard. He's a man of many talents. So we danced, we had fun, we sang, and embarrassed ourselves without caring.
Nearing the end of the night, Richard found me and pulled me away from the group. It was around 7:45, 30 minutes before we had to leave to return to catch the bus home, and he told me that he felt so bad that we didn't make it to the bulls that once he realized we had a moment, he knew he had to grab me and show me them, because "I know that if you didn't get to see them, every time I drive past them I'd feel guilty." He drove us out to the site, about 3 minutes from La Ventana, and he was happy to see how excited I was to see them. Okay, so a little bit more about the bulls: there are four of them, and they come from anywhere between 5 and 30 thousand years ago by the indigenous people called the Vettones. They were carved out of granite to bless the people's fertility and harvest, and were sort of a lightning rod for spiritual energy to come down and bless the land. They would have been originally spread out, but seeing as they have latin carved into their sides, it's been agreed upon that the Romans gathered and assembled them all in one place. It's an absolutely life changing experience seeing them all and just being around what has been regarded for years as a spiritual beacon. Richard then had me come with him to circle them seven times (it's a sacred number) for luck and fertility in all aspects of life. I've had a lot of moments in life that have taken my breath away, but this one was truly special. He then took pictures for me, something for which I will always be grateful, and he thanked me for allowing him to see someone who has such in interest in something he sees almost daily, as that energy can revitalize others. It was truly a magical experience.
While on our way back to La Ventana, I looked out my window and my jaw dropped... the sunset was heavenly. I said, "Oh my God, look at that sunset." He slammed on the brakes and gave me a moment to marvel in it and snap a picture. Once we arrived, I got out and took some more-- I think it was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen, and we have some really nice ones in Indiana and Michigan. All of us were sitting or standing in the field, in awe of what was right in front of us-- I heard someone comment saying that we were seeing through the eyes of God, and I don't think I could have worded it any better myself.
On the bus back, I assessed my feelings. It was the most relaxed, revitalized, grounded, and content I have been in a long time. There's not a whole lot out there that can change your mindset and energy like nature and all its wonder. It made me remember all over again why I'm in Spain. Well, that and studying. (looking at you, dad, haha)
It was a truly magical day and I am so, so, so happy that I was able to go. It was wonderful, marvelous, and awe-inspiring.
Hugs and a million kisses from your girl who knows again why she's here,
Emma
Here's Richard, Manolo, and the guy who gave us the tour (we never got his name) just so you can get an idea of how big some of the vats are-- Manolo, the guy in the middle, is my height.
They then opened one of the smaller ones to show us the grapes:
Here's a better view of the fermentation room:
Moving onto the maturation room, here are the French oak barrels:
The pressing machine:
Bottling machine:
"Barefoot" wine (but Spanish. and better?)
The vineyard!
After we were done picking, we were able to wash our hands and get water from this little thing in the vineyard-- the water is 100% potable, as it comes straight from the springs in the mountain!
La Ventana de Guisando:
And how cute is this little bathroom?!
The arrow that points in the direction of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela:
Los Toros de Guisando!!!!
And the most beautiful sunset I have ever laid eyes on...
Thanks for looking! :) ¡Hasta la próxima!
