I’ve been off-line for the past couple of days, which has been kinda nice. There has been plenty to write about and take photos of tho. When I was planning this trip, I was having a chat to Dougie from The Spanish Acquisition about his last trip to Spain, his highlight was a day or so in Bierzo. I had planned to go to Rueda and Toro on the way to Ribera del Duero, but Dougie was raving about this little town called Villafranca del Bierzo, ‘It’s a must do’ he said. Sign me up, I thought. And he was right, it is now another in the long list of my favourite places in Spain.

The day started off slightly off track when we got to the hire car joint, they didn’t have the car we requested, but in the end we scored an upgrade to a 3-series BMW (thanks to the very nice staff Sixt at Madrid Airport!). With that all sorted we started out on a quick 400km drive up the Autopisa to Villafranca del Bierzo with a quick stop in Medina del Campo and Rueda for tapas and a quick poke around. The prices for tapas are a bit of a shock after Paris. 2 jamon croquetas, a wedge of tortilla and two glasses of a very tasty crianza from Ribera del Duero comes to the grand total of 5.40 Euros.

The thing about driving on big highways like the A6, complete with its massive bridges over the deep, thrusting river valleys of northern Castilla y Leon, is that I never know what to expect when you take that off ramp. It’s always a bit of a surprise, in this case a very good one. I started to notice small plots of stubby old vines in little backyard veggie garden sized plots in random places on the side of the hills. Must be getting close. Over the old stone bridge, now we are in the right place. Villafranca has that great contrast that you find all over Spain: our hotel is a lovingly restored old house, complete with elevator and modern convinces. The roof of the place next door has fallen in, grass and moss thriving on the old stone walls. The town is a jumble of falling down old buildings, grand cathedrals, large houses either well kept or restored to the former glory plus the Camino hostels, obligatory for this part of Spain. All of this set around the joining of two fast flowing rivers and the very necessary three bridges.

Just two winery visits here, at opposite ends of the spectrum: Martin Codax, who are essentially a very large co-op of growers, and Decendentes de D.J. Palacios, at the forefront of quality, top end wine from the region. More on these two soon, but in summary this region has fantastic potential that is already being tapped by some producers. However, it is a complex setting where a careful balance between modernising wine production for profit and the tradtional farming practices need to find a happy mid-point.

So now we are on in our home away from home in Abalos in La Rioja, with just a thought that we should have stayed a little longer and explored a lot more in El Bierzo. Oh well, there is always next time for Bierzo and Rioja is a wonderful place just to be.

PS The internet here is a bit slow, more photos soon.