First stop R. Lopez de Heredia the oldest winery in the area. Now having spent some time in South Africa we have been on several wine tours in the past but this one was completely different. Our knowledge of wine making was shown to be focused on the modern techniques, stainless steel and cold filtering etc where R. Lopez de Heredia utilise no modern techniques. All the wine is stored in wooden vats and this is where the fermentation takes place from the inherent yeast in the wood. Our tour consisted of 6 people and a tour guide and lasted 4 hrs and 6 bottles of wine, plus a gift of one red wine bottle each to take away. This tour changed our view of white wine as it was so fine in taste and appearance we actually preferred the whites to the red......gulp
If you look closely there's a bottle of wine here from 1900
Fermentation in wooden vats
Stored in the barrel for 6 to 8 years......
and then stored in the bottle for a further 4 to 6 years, hence the mould on the outside
Behind the mould there are hundreds of bottles of Rioja
The modern tasting room
Our tasting room
Mr R. Lopez de Heredia
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