On Monday morning we skipped breakfast and headed to the bodega quarter of town. My spanish housemate had given me a wine shopping list: Berceo, CVNE, Muga, Cubillo, Tondonia, Ardanza, Alberdi with a recommended 3 :1 split of crianza to reserva.
Muga was the first to open at 08:30 so we booked on the English tour starting at 10:00. They had sold out of white and rose so we had to make do with 6 bottles of 2004 Muga crianza and 6 of 2003 Muga Special Reserve.
Next we tried the R Lopez de Heredia bodega but this was shut until 10:00. We then tried La Rioja Alta and they happily decided to open up early. I sampled the 1998 Arana Reserva which was a lighter than more famous Rioja Ardanza. I think M will like this. I also tasted some Galician white, 2006 Lagar de Cervera, a crisp, aromatic, melony wine, ideal for breakfast! I bought a dozen bottles of the white, 6 of 1999 Ardanza Reserva, 6 of the 1998 Arana Reserva and 12 of the 2000 Alberdi Cosecha.
We then tried the CUNE bodega but this was closed until 11:00 so we hung around until the Muga tour started at 10:00, see next post.
After this finished we dropped in on the Lopez de Heredia bodega which was now open. The shop was modern in design being shaped like a squashed decanter while inside it has a twelve foot high ornate raised bar. I tried the Tondonia Rose but found it a litttle bland so just bought 6 bottles of 1998 R. LÓPEZ DE HEREDIA VIÑA TONDONIA) and 6 bottles of the 2001 Vina Cubillo.
It was now about noon and we had a boat to catch. We took the motorway through the mountains up to Bilbao and then the spectacular coast along to Santander. We had about a half hour spare to drop in a local supermarket to buy some Cava and some San Miguel plus some fruit and water for the crossing.
For more on Spanish wine classification, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_wine#Classification
http://www.bodegasmuga.com/English/vinos-de-rioja-1.html#Reservase
http://www.riojalta.com/ingles/rioja.htm
