Los Pueblos Blancos, Andalucía

Fast becoming a tradition, the following weekend I took off to Andalucía on another wine escapade. We staying in the beautiful Hotel La Fuente de la Higuera, a 10 minute drive from the small town of Ronda (West of Málaga). The hotel was tucked between orchards of olive trees in the rolling hills below Ronda and surrounded by rocky mountainsthat dominate the landscape around this area of Andalucía. We spent the first day being tourists in Ronda itself, which is the biggest of the Pueblos Blancos (white villages). Its cluster of white washed buildings bustle right up to the edge of the stunningly deep gorge that surrounds three sides of Ronda and cuts through the middle of the town. Some of the ancient buildings even overhang the gorge itself, giving dramatic views of the gaping space below. The two sites of Ronda are joined by its eighteenth century bridge which is supported by huge arches that drop into the vast gorge. Despite its age, you still feel slightly uneasy being on it, particularly as a notice tells you that it has fallen down three times in its history!

Even nearing the end of October, the sun was brilliant and it reached 30°C during the day. It was certainly still warm enough to sit outside for dinner, lanterns lighting the terrace and surrounded by the smell of the lavender bushes cooling down from the day’s sun bathing. And of course, a weekend in my Spain adventure would not be complete without a little wine research, this being one of the great pleasures in my new career choice.

So why wine? Six years in the legal industry had given me the commercial experience I wanted before changing to something completely new and this was the year to do it. However, there was the inevitable question to address: what do I do instead? At the beginning of 2009, I was knee deep in my decision matrix. Anyone who enjoys a good list will appreciate the joys of a decision matrix: it listed all of my aims in life and for my career, my passions, my skills and my priorities. It also listed all the possible career paths that I was considering, how well each one fulfilled my aims, as well as the pros and cons for each one. Having a passion for the industry I work in was top of my list of priorities, closely followed by the need for a challenge. The possibilities of travel and being able to learn new languages were also pretty appealing if I could find a way to make them part of the plan.

Wine has always been present at home where wine was for drinking with dinner, even with a little water for the children. I remember frequent summer camping trips to the Loire where my parents would visit the caves to try some of the Loire Valley wines. We kids were often allowed a little sip too. This seemed entirely normal to the locals. However, it was during various trips to the wine producing regions across the world in the past few years that I really began to look at it seriously as an option. Having put the wine industry through the rigours of the decision matrix and after many months of research, here I am - and now that I am underway, I am excited!

The countryside near Ronda also has a number of smaller Pueblos Blancos, which typically cling to the side of some precipitous mountainside or across a steep ridge. Often the streets wind around each other seemingly without pattern, each building painted a dazzlingly white and each window neatly shuttered. We visited Grazalema and Zahara de la Sierra both in the Parque Natural Sierra de Grazelema.Coincidentally, of course, our hotel in Andalucía had a wonderful wine list with a number of different regions in Spain featuring. It also had a good selection of local wines from Málaga DO, and not just sweet or sherry style wines. We made the most of these as it is fairly difficult to find decent examples of this region’s wine in other parts of Spain, let alone outside Spain. Some of the wines come from the region immediately around Ronda, Serranía de Ronda, as evidenced by the scorched vines in amongst the hillsides.

Grazalema lies in the fold of a valley, all of its streets radiating out from the central plaza and up the steep hillsides. Having braved the drive through the Parque, we were glad of the many street cafes and restaurants that cluster together in the small sunny plazas at the centre. The roads themselves are a good couple of feet thick of perfectly laid tarmac, but fall instantly away at the edges leaving the driver exposed to the massive vistas and gorges. Unsurprisingly, it is perfect country for a motorbike and the village was full of riders enjoying the area.

The road out of Grazelema zigzags upwards toward one of the highest points of the area (the Puerto de las Palomas) before falling away to the villages on the other side, including Zahara de la Sierra. As we drove into the village you can well believe that it used to be a Moorish outpost with its fortified walls and its castle looming over the white-washed and red-tiled buildings, designed perfectly to repel invasion. However , getting a car into and out of the very steep narrow streets is another matter!

What am I drinking?

Munia Crianza 2004 from Toro DO in Northwest Spain: An incredibly velvety example of the grape Tinto de Toro with lots of rich fruit and sweet spices. A little bit of a killer at 14.5% abv though!

Petalos del Bierzo 2006 from Bierzo DO in Northwest Spain: Made from 100% Mencia, a red grape similar to Cabernet Franc, this wine has lovely cherry fruits and soft spices.

Wine tasting – Zamora and Toro

OK, this is it. I mission is to get straight out there and taste some of the local wines. Zamora and Toro are both towns that lie North of Salamanca, on the Río Duero, about an hour from Salamanca. They also both have Demoninación de Origen status for their wines. On the basis that I can only visit one city at a time, I decide to see Zamora as the reputedly more attractive place despite the fact that Toro is more renowned for its wines. Step in my trusty PeñinGuide to Spanish Wine to help me seek out the best of the wines there. I even manage to enlist some friends from school to come with me on a wine hunting expedition.

The landscape between Salamanca and Zamora certainly approaches desolate countryside. It is dry, high up on the Castilian plateau and very rocky, seemingly extending in every direction. It is perfect wine growing country and achieves the gutsy reds that Zamora and Toro are known for. Zamora itself does not promise much until you are right in the centre of it. But it is here that it reveals its true self – surrounded by thick medieval walls from its ancient position as a defensive post, the old town spreads along a ridge which ends in an impressive cathedral and castle and abruptly drops back down to the Río Duero. We arrive just as siesta is about to begin and the streets are full of people meandering in the warm October sunshine.

The cafes and restaurants are beginning to fill up and we decide to go for some restorative tapas before checking out the sites properly. Tapas here (as elsewhere) is a particularly meat dominated affair, with all types of cuts in a marinade of rich tomato sauces, albondigas (meatballs), potatoes with spicy sauce – the list goes on. Delicious - as shown by my fellow wine-hunter’s photo!

After tapas, the streets are well deserted, and the shops shut up. Down a steep narrow street leading to the base of the ridge, one old lady has even put her cheeping birds out to enjoy their siesta in the sunshine. This is the perfect time to wander around the old narrow streets and Zamora’s numerous beautifully engraved Romanesque churches. All of the significant buildings seem to be topped with over-sized storks’ nests, big enough to make you think that storks really do deliver babies!

Another great pleasure to be had in Zamora is in the bodegas. The bodegas in Zamora act as wine tasting shops, allowing you to try a number of different wines from different producers. The bodegas are found throughout the old town and are well stocked with wines from both Zamora and Toro. The best wines here are red (although there are whites too), usually made from Tempranillo and its related grapes (Tinta de Toro in wines from Toro). They are intense in both colour and character, and , particularly with a bit of oak ageing, show dark fruits, savory notes and high alcohol levels. In fact, the character of the wines seem to reflect the unforgiving landscape and extreme heat of this vast rocky area.

In the end, I was too hungover from the previous evening to try any of the wines on offer in Zamora, except a small glass of vino de mesa. It was meaty and more than a little dusty. Where is a spacious disabled toilet when you need one? Needless to say, I bought lots of decent examples to try at home.

What am I drinking?

Cervezas and shots - it is fresher’s week after all!

And so to Spain – arrival in Salamanca in September

My chosen city: Salamanca, Northwest of Madrid. This is where I hope to learn to speak enough Spanish to get by in the vineyards and to get to know the wines of the region. In typical fashion, I fell asleep as soon as I got into the taxi from Madrid (well, it was midnight) and only woke up as the car slowed down off the junction for Salamanca. As we approached, we crossed the Rio Tormes to see the city spread upwards in front of me, topped with a huge cathedral, the spires of which were silhouetted against the night sky. It was a pretty dramatic start despite the time of night.

The next morning and back to school. My first impression did not disappoint. The streets all twist upwards towards the cathedral and around the hill on which Salamanca is built. It is incredibly easy on the eye: churches, convents, ancient universities and other historical buildings vie with each other to fill the narrow, predictably cobbled, streets (and the tourists’ photos). Each of them is a made of a beautiful biscuit coloured sandstone, which seems almost designed to reflect the fantastic early morning and sunset sunshine.

Our school organised a tour of the town to orientate ourselves and point out the top sights of Salamanca. The first stop was the true centre of Salamanca, its Plaza Mayor – the sandstone continues here in a large continuous terraced square, ornately shuttered and balconied all around. The only breaks in the square are to make room for stately arches which allow access into and out of the square. The Plaza itself is laid over with slabs of cobbles and stone benches to help out with the, almost compulsory, people watching. Around the Plaza are its cafes and restaurants, which really buzz after the siesta when all the families and students come out to play.

The Plaza also plays host to a clock, famous for being the meeting point of the town, be it a date, a group of students or los abuelos out for an evening stroll with the dog. We also visited the cathedrals (there are actually two of them, next to each other, of different vintages), the Casa de las Conchas (the House of Shells, which has a story reminiscent of Romeo & Juliet without the tragedy) and the numerous convents, including Convento San Esteban (my favourite, for its wonderful terraced and tree lined square leading up to the incredible engraved facade of the convent itself).

As the sun goes down, the sky fills with the sounds of the birds coming home to roost, perching in all the ancient gaps in the city’s buildings, the signal that twilight is coming. Night time presents a different city in Salamanca and really shows its true origin as a university town: there is a huge number of students here, almost out numbering the permanent residents. As I walked into town, I was reminded that it is September: time for fresher’s initiation. There was group after group of guys and gals dressed in all manners, led by their elders and betters. One particularly grabbed my attention – 30 girls in their pyjamas chanting through the street. As they arrived in Plaza Mayor their “mistress” instructed them to get onto their backs like beetles. All 30 of them started to trill louder and louder, wriggling around on the ground. That certainly stopped the abuelos in their tracks.