Back to Rioja

Back to Rioja
Friday March 20, 2015

We headed out after a quick coffee and croissant at the Parador.  I packed the car full with stuff while Cathy downloaded our Waze directions again.  We knew it would be a long drive, but the weather was still sunny although a little chill had come in overnight.  I placed all my wet clothes in the back window of the car to get dry on our ride, knowing that the sun should get them dry by the time we arrived in Abalos.  We arrived around 4:00 and were greeted by the daughter of the owners who gave us our room.  She recommended that we take in the party they have on Friday nights here - Tapas and drinks.  That suited us fine.  We were getting hungry because all we ate was nuts and fruit since breakfast.   We headed downstairs to see what all the hubbub was, and it turned out that it was really a big group of locals at the hotel's wine bar.

Tasting Menu at Ostatu

We missed the chance to visit the Ostatu winery on the first visit to the Rioja Alavesa region.  It is almost directly across the street from the Baigorri offices.  We were delighted to have a quick tasting with 3 of their outstanding wines.  The bodega, like many in the area goes back generations.  This one goes back to the 16th century when it was a bodega and a hotel for people traveling through the area.  The family lost the vineyard during the Franco years, but bought it back from the government again and started to make 3 major restorations in 1986, 1995, and 2014 when they added the tasting room.  They hope to build a hotel too, which would complete the circle started in the 1600s with wine and hosting travellers.  We had 3 reds that all have Basque names - Laderas (slopes), Lore (flower) and Gloria (Glorious).   Our host told us that a common saying for the Basque is "This wine knows heaven" and Gloria plays on that saying.  40% of their wines are exported, so you may have seen them in the stores. 

Ostatu Tasting Room Samaniego

We dropped off our luggage and went into the next town over to San Vincente de la Sonsierra to grab a couple of things at the grocery store there.  As we were checking out, the cashier saw that we were talking about a bottle of Ane that we had bought in Valencia.  It was highly recommended and we told him that, and he said it was his brother in law's vineyard that was less than a kilometer away.  He called him up on the phone and arranged a visit.  He then left the store and we followed him to the vineyard and told us to wait for Eduardo Monge, that he would be there in a couple of minutes.  He arrived and said he was glad to get out of the vineyard because it was getting pretty cold.  His daughter's name is Ane, and so that's where the name came from for his winery "Bodegas Vina Ane".  The vineyard came to him when his father died and he built the bodega in 2004.  They produce about 30,000 bottles a year.  Some of his vines are as up to 100 years old, while the majority of them are over 35 years old.  We left soon after some of their friends came in for the weekend.   It was time to go for tapas back in Abalos.

Vina Ane Tasting Room

We counted over 100 people in two small rooms that have been rededicated to a tapas bar for Friday nights and Sunday afternoon and whenever you want to have a drink.  The prices for an excellent Rioja wine are about 2.50 euros.  Tapas were something like 60 cents in euros and they just kept bringing them out from the kitchen.  There were all kinds of fish, croquettes, ham, cheeses, and olives, but our favorite was the pizza on fresh toasted bread.  They sold out every time they reached the table.  We had our few tapas and retired around 10:00 PM to the room.  The party lasted until 11:00 or so, then moved to another bar in this town of about 200 residents.

We enjoyed the food and went to bed early to be ready for Carlos' arrival.  We needed to get up and update the blog and our records and see what would be a good trip in the rain.  Unfortunately, our first full day of rain would be when he arrived, but we were determined to make the best of it.  We met Carlos through the Ben Franklin TransAtlantic Fellowship program at Wake Forest University.  Each summer students from Western Europe come to the United States to exchange ideas on government and social issues affecting us all.  These extremely bright US and Western European students make bonds with each other that last a lifetime, as well as with their host families who get to know them over 10 nights during their stay.   It's a great program that builds bridges between cultures and future leaders.