There was wine, wine and even more wine!!

Sounds a bit like that old poem, water, water , everywhere, and not a drop to drink,   however, in this instance there were bottles and casks of wine, and plenty to drink.

Just returned home after a quick four day visit to the Rioja region of Spain along with eighteen other members of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland Licensed Trade Association.

We flew out on the early morning Ryanair cattle float from Edinburgh to Santander, were met by a private coach and driver who remained with us for the duration of our trip.

Will keep this bit blog as short as I can and give other stories and asn when I can manage later.

Monday morning we were taken to the Bodegas  Marques de Caceres,, where our hostess was Anne Vallejo,  and to say that we were looked after is just a bit of an understatement !!!

Day two (Tuesday) was to prove a long day,    First visit of the day was to the Bodegas LAN, hosted by Ms Trinidad Villeges, who led the tour, tasting and a awarded us with a lovely tapas buffet.

The weather at this stage decided to change as we left LAN, and we drove south along the Peage  through gathering rain and darkening skies until we reached the 11th Centuary village of Quel in the middle of a massive thunderstorm !!  BUT,  after about fifteen minutes the rain stopped, skies cleared and our hosts, Jesus Fdze and Manuel appeared.  this was to be a two part visit,  first to the ancient caves dug into the cliffs in the village and then, after tasting a couple of wines it was via the scenic route back to Logrono and to the Bodega ONTANON and Museum.    Once again a tour of this modern premises followed by more tapas and another three wines. 

Day 3 (Wednesday) and a long day is store as we were heading homewards later on.   Picked up by the bus and set off only to discover that the driver had forgotten that we had another visit first !!!  Npo worries, bit of a detour and despite being a bit late we met Sara Romeo at the Bodega  DON JACOBA, in the small village of Navarrete which is situated on the route of the Pilgrim Trail leading from all parts of Spain and Europe to Santiago in north west Spain. From where we were it was only another 576 K to go!!!

So, having said our farewells, it time to sit back and relax as out driver, and his co - pilot drove the 300 K to Santander where we flew back on he late flight arriving in Edinburgh at  midnight, all puggled.     More on our visit later.