TRAVEL REPORTS
From Diane Putnam - Travel Co-ordinator
YECLA BODEGA TOUR AND LUNCH- March 10th 2010
Our group of 35 set off from Calpe on a very bright and sunny morning for the two hour trip to the bodega of Daniel Castano in Yecla, south west of Alicante. Rod, the organiser, was pleased we all arrived early and had a very punctual start.
After our arrival Raquel, our guide, took us for a tour of their relatively new vineyard at Sierra Salinas, a short drive away. This is actually just inside Alicante province. We were shown round the top of three floors where, after being harvested in September or October, the grapes are all put in one of fourteen huge stainless steel vats to ferment. The liquid from these vats is then passed to the lower portion of the vats on the middle floor where the next part of the wine production process takes place. The final area on the ground floor is where the wine is stored in oak barrels, bottled and packed.
The vineyard has its own water supply, which is collected from rainfall. The vines do not suffer from disease as it is so dry and windy there. I learned that rose bushes are planted next to vineyards as these give early warning of the same mould that then affects the vines.
Afterwards we went back to Yecla where we thoroughly enjoyed a three course meal, chosen by us, and cooked by their staff on the premises. We also welcomed the heat from the fire roaring in the hearth; the Sierra Salinas had been a bitterly cold and windy area, and during our hour and a half tour round the inside of the bodega we became somewhat chilled.
The bodega has a good reputation and its wines receive high praise from wine guides. We tasted a variety from their nine wines on offer - mostly they use the monastrell grape and also a white chardonnay, a syrah, and a mixture of garnacha and cabernet sauvignon grapes. Our wines with the meal included Chardonnay 2009, Tinto Hecula 2006, Tinto Castano Coleccion 2006, Castano Dulce 2006 and an extra one called Mo, in honour of one of our group with the same name. One wine, Salinas 1237, is so named because that is the height in metres above sea level where the grapes are grown.
To finish the day we browsed the shop and bought our souvenirs (wine of course) to remember a super day out. I hope we can have another visit to a bodega later in the year when it is the busy time, and we see the start of wine creation in progress.
Diane Putnam.
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