Combados Galicia - Home of Albariño

Combados Galicia
Wednesday March 18th, 2015

We woke up to our now regular walk around the city.  We passed through the main plaza looking for the man, who last night, was mad at me because I wouldn't stop to talk to him.  Two nights now we had passed him and he would try to get us to go on a tour.  I would just move along and he would then yell in English "I am not pleased with you!"  He made us crack up  each time he did it.

Walking through town, we saw a store that had lots of wine in it an a large table with people sitting around.  It looked like they were doing a formal wine tasting, so we watched from across the street with envy wondering what secrets they were finding out about the region.  The next day we were walking by the store called Vide, Vide! (Vide, Vide!) and the owner was there and he was full of regional knowledge.  He was explaining that they were doing a Grappa tasting the night before, so we felt much better.  He confirmed that the bodegas we had planned for the day were great and he gave us a couple of recommendations for bottles.  If you are looking for a special wine or a special visit, it's the place to visit.

The sun was out and it really made for beautiful pictures.  One thing we noticed here in Santiago was that the flora is very similar to North Carolina.

Monument with Camellia bush trees

 They have an untold amount of Camellias that are throughout the city and their parks.  They trim them back so they look like trees, and they all seemed to have waited for us to arrive to go into full bloom.  There are also a bunch of Rhododendrons that were in full bloom.  Their parks provide a lot of respite to the pilgrims, and I can see in the summer that the benches would be filled with people resting from their long journeys.  The Camellia "trees" make a lot of sense because they provide shade year round, and they don't loose their leaves often.  Easy cleanup except for the flowers.

We returned to the hotel around noon and asked Lois at the front desk about the town of Combados and he approved of the choice.  It was an expensive tour, considering most have been only a couple of dollars previously, and this was about $55.  But this was the garden of Eden for the Albariño wine and where it all started.  He also said we should make a side trip if at all possible to the beach by there to visit the town of Combarro on the sea.  It has these unique granaries or grain cellars that are high above the ground so that animals cannot get into them.  It is still a fishing town, and it does have some tourists tendencies, but he said it was still way out of season for that to ruin it for us.  So we took his advice and made off with our Waze guiding us back out of the hilltop city and out to the coast. 

Combados Main Square

When we reached town, we were there about an hour early for our 4:00 PM tour , so we decided to grab a late lunch.  Right off the main square which was sunny and wide open we sat outside to enjoy Galician dishes.  I had grilled Calamari and Cathy had a bone-in pork that was pan fried with potatoes that looked awesome.

Bodega del Palacio de Fefinanes

Unsure of what she was ordering, the waiter took her to the back and cut a piece off from a huge slab of pig, and that helped make it clear.  The vegetables in their salads and all the side dishes that they brought were just made.  Most people were inside sitting upstairs, but the sun was too inviting to be inside along with a square with such history that was almost quiet at siesta time.  We finished up right at 4:00 and made our way over to the winery and met Carmen who would take us through the winery and give us its history.

Vines with granite support add warmth
on colder nights

Indeed, it was the first bodega to receive the accreditation of Albariño in 1928, but even before that they had been making the wine at the palace since the 17th century.  The bodega exists in a large square that has a central courtyard and an attached vineyard.  Some of the vines in the vineyard were 115 years old, while some others were newly planted.  There were men there tying the vines back to the wire guides to make sure that the branches were supported for the spring.  They had pruned the vines and then would use a small branch to tie them to the wires.  The branch is used as to not injure the plant, because a plastic tie will cut into the vine.  We returned into the bodega to see the barrels that were there - they use American and French Oak and change out the wines to make sure they achieve the right flavors.

We had a tasting of each of their whites, one better than the next.  This is where they do not hold back on their pours and 3 glasses go quickly as your tasting.   Make sure you account for your time to dry out.  And on top of that, they also produce several liquors at the bodega, one of which is the only other location for Grappa outside of Italy that is certified.  We did try each of those three that were offered, with the last one being the same taste as a good Cognac.  The wines were very good and I would have skipped the Grappa - not that it isn't good, but I'm not a big fan of it.

We left there and had intended to go on another tour in the same square only 25 meters away, but couldn't bring ourselves to drink anymore.  We had a glass at lunch that day, and then the 3 large pours would have made for a bottle of wine each.  So we walked around for a while and then headed to the seaside town of Combarro.  It was well on it's way to sundown, in fact the sun passed behind the hills just shortly after our arrival.  There were a few buses there, but they were heading out as we came into town.  We stopped at a seaside bar and had a beers and a glass of Albariño white wine.

Combarro Port

We wanted to use the WIFI they had to get us back to
Santiago as quickly as possible instead of by the back roads, so this bar had free WIFI.  The waitress ended up giving us a huge bowl of salted Virginia peanuts and then a couple of turnovers to go with our drinks.  When we got the bill, it was only 3.5 euros for everything.  We downloaded our driving directions and made our way out, after paying the unbelievable price of just 3.3 euros!  We left a 60% tip of 5 euros.  They must have thought we were crazy, but what a bargain even at 5 euros.

We made it back to the hotel just and decided we would only go for a walk and return to the room so that we could get our things together for leaving the next day.  Several people said that we should go to the Ribeira Sacra region to see the wineries there.  They call the people who work them the Heroic Vintners because they hang to the steep hillsides to select the grapes.  At the bottom of the mountains are rivers where you can take a boat through and see the vines on both sides.  The best time to go is in the fall when all the activity with the harvest is happening, but we were on track to get there.  So we picked a hotel and called ahead for a tour and planned to get out the next morning for the trip.

St. Francis at San Francisco Hotel Mounment