Last weekend we took a bus on a 2 hour ride to Aranda del Duero to do a complete wine tour experience, cleverly coined TinTour. Tinto refers to red wine in Spanish. The day was set for exciting things as it started out sunny and warm. The tour we were going on, TinTour,is organized by Bodega Histórica Don Carlos S. XV. The winery is located about a 10 minute walk from the busstation of Aranda del Duero. Upon arriving at the winery, we collected our TinTour Programme, consisting of a lunch, a historical winemaker´s tour,CIAVIN, and then later a visit of the Don Carlos winery accompanied by a theatrical act and to conclude the day a wine tasting session at the venue. Bring a jersey to the tour as the temperature of the cellars is consistently cool or even chilly depending on personal comfort conditions.
Now starting with the town: Aranda del Duero is a pleasant town to visit. It was surprisingly alive and buzzing with coffee and bar life, al fresco, and the towering church, La Iglesia Santa Maria la Real, is a must see attraction.
The other key advantage is the fact that the town is small, so quick sightseeing is not an exhausting affair, especially in light of tasting 4 wines from the region later in the day. Our lunch was in a modern restaurant, tastefully decorated called AITANA. The lunch started off with the region´s star appetitive Morcilla de Burgos. We were later spoiled with scrambled eggs and shrimps starter. This meal was accompanied by a local wine. The main dish was a delicious oven roasted lamb leg, and if this adjacent picture is anything to go by, you can all agree that it looks mouthwatering. We concluded the lunch with a chocolate cake and cheese cake dessert respectively and had to take coffee to ward off the overcoming urge for a siesta after such a heavy lunch.You can become their followers and learn more about them on theri Facebook fanpage here.
The good news is that the following activity in the programme was not until 5pm.The next activity was the CIAVIN(Centro de Interpretación de la Arquitectura Asociada al Vino-Centre of Interpretation of Architecture associated with Wine) tour. This association is located in the main square of the town, Plaza Mayor and its operating hours are Mondays to Saturdays from 9:30am to 14:15 and resumes from 15:30 to 19:00.On Sundays and holidays its open from 10am till 2:30pm.However,if you go on the TinTour the reservation will be done for you. CIAVIN offers guided tours.
This tour introduced us to the history and link of this region to wines. We learnt that historically people in this region made wine cellars just below their properties and from those kilometers of underground channels for wine making, there remain about 7km of routes and 120 wine cellars.
In fact, for every new infrastructural project in the town, a study and scanning of the underground routes and cellars is performed to avoid the collapse of buildings. The CIAVIN tour lasted 45 minutes and included a visit to the underground cellars near the church with the Gothican-Elisabethan façade, La Iglesia de Santa Maria la Real. The cellar has models of the various persons and roles in wine making at the time as well as real barrels from the period as can be appreciated in the adjacent image. The tour attendees can ask questions during the tour. After this tour we quickly returned to Bodega Histórica Don Carlos S. XV where we were to attend a tour of their underground cellars, be treated to a themed theatrical piece from the cellar excavation periods and start the wine tasting session. It is highly recommended to attend this second tour because it gives you a chance to assimilate lots of information given in the first tour and in the second tour, the information will fall into place. The first tour is an information rich session, while the second is an enjoyable and more interactive .Stories about the use of candles or birds to check, the absence of oxygen or presence of carbon dioxide, were told. Other anecdotes relate the role of the underground cellars in the Spanish revolution.
The tour at the Don Carlos cellars afforded us more anecdotes about the town, its people and its rivers with respect to wine as well as its importance to the economy of the city. After that we were treated to a Castilian one woman act which was really enjoyable and interactive with the tour attendees. It is believed that the best Spanish is spoken in this province therefore the level of your Spanish could determine your enjoyment level. The afternoon was concluded with a wine tasting session of 4 wines from the region. The course is accompanied by a booklet which highlights the most important elements of wine tasting and wine appreciation. However, it wouldn’t be a wine course without an expert sommelier and Francisco Javier Soler Alonso gave an entertaining and informative course. The course can be arranged in English and questions can be asked throughout the course. At the end, we had our pictures taken to remember our time and experience in the cool cellars of Don Carlos.
In conclusion, our complete and highly recommendable programme included:
• Transport to and from Madrid by bus
• 3 Course lunch meal at the Aitana which is considered Classic cuisine and varied, with some modern touches. Its specialties include morcilla (blood sausage), cooked pork sausage, roast lamb and duck from the region.
• 2 Guided Wine cellar tours(CIAVIN and Bodega Don Carlos)
• Themed Theatre Perfomance (Bodega Don Carlos)
• Wine tasting session with a Francisco Javier Soler Alonso, a finalist of Nariz de Oro(Golden Nose) in 2000 and a finalist of the contest Paradores
Nacionales in 2000. Organized by WINE & GASTRONOMY, The Golden Nose, is the most prestigious sommelier competition in Spain. Over 400 working professionals attend each year to become the new Golden Nose and winner sommelier.
The complete programme is worth €69.However you can purchase individual activities of the tour like the wine tasting course from €25 and the visit with the theatre only costs €5.
For more information, contact, Merche on:(+34) 947 510 914 or email [email protected]. Check out their blog here as well as their facebook page to know more details.You can also see photos and more details of their activities on their website here.
