First in Flight - A Carolina Spaniard

Miguel Merino
March 9, 2015

We arose to another beautiful day in Spain.  The Villa de Abalos Hotel is so comfortable.  With their 12 rooms in the small town of Abalos, they are in the perfectly situated in the middle of the Alta Rioja region.  The top floor has windows that are smaller, but they have wonderful views to the mountains and vineyards.  They also have a unique way to block all light for you to sleep in past the sunrise - a sliding wooden external shutter on a rail that you can slide closed to block both the sun and sound.

Breakfast with eggs and chorizo, cheese, yogurt, fruit and breads are enough to load you up for the day.  A large coffee pot and another smaller one with hot milk may add the kick you'll need to get you moving out to the vineyards.  You can visit so many places in the area from here in just a few miles, you will be overwhelmed with the options.  Our experience has been to visit just a couple a day or you'll be overloaded.  We will provide you with a list of those that we prefer and have been to and enjoyed.  Use it as a guide and make sure to try some small ones too.

View from San Vicente de la Sonsierra

About 15 years ago a Renaissance or Bragging Rights competition was started by the Bodegas to see who could build a unique and over-the-top winery.  Millions of dollars courted world famous architects like Santiago Calatrava, Frank Gehry, Iñaki Aspiazu, and others are continuing to forge ahead in new and inspiring structures.  Also, older bodegas with hundreds of years in history are adding new areas to bring those tourists through their doors.  All this is good because as we know, competition brings better products to the market and the quality of the wine is the ultimate winner.

 

Loco mobile made by Marshall sons & Co. Ltd. in Great Britain; First quarter of the 20th century.

We began by driving to Briones to see the large working Vinvanco vineyard and wine museum.  It doubles in function and has a beautiful layout to start your visit.  Inside you'll find the history of the area and the wine, and outside you'll see the multitude of varietals that are grown in the Rioja region.  Dozens of them are lined up in the gardens that lead up to the museum.  In the middle of them you'll find the old locomotive engine that was used to help till the land.  Walls are painted in town with murals of wine artifacts and in the color of the deep purple of the Tempranillo grape which is King in Rioja.  vivancoculturadevino.es/en/

Miguel Merino's tasting room entrance.  

We went into town afterwards and met with Miguel Merino, owner and story teller extraordinaire.  He was an exchange student from Spain, and attended school outside of Charlotte in Mount Holly.  Miguel was there during the late Sixties when Franco was in Spain and the US was going through a radical time of change and experimentation.  Miguel told us that it opened his eyes to someone who to that point had lead a quiet, Catholic, conservative life.  He still has relatives who are in the US and friends that come to visit him.  With a career in marketing Spanish wines globally, Miguel left the corporate world in his 50s and decided to create a boutique bodega that would produce extremely high quality wines.  He has continued to do so with a strong history of quality wines that have won his wines many awards.   He shared his wine and his stories in his downtown location of his bodega.
Call ahead for times and schedules.  www.miguelmerino.com

We went back to Villa de Abalos after a great day of research, and then had a wonderful meal accompanied by a bottle of Empatia at the Villa de Abalos hotel.  Merche, wife of Jose Luis and chef, prepared for us a wonderful 3 course dinner.  Starting with a salad with toasted goat cheese and slivered almonds with tomato and avocado, followed by the entre of slow cooked beef cheek and poached cod.  We finished by sharing a desert of Molten Almond Cake that is like it's sister Chocolate Lava Cakes, when you cut into it they ooze out an crushed almond sauce.   www.hotelvilladeabalos.com

Life does not suck.