Email Updates & Site Feeds





All Entries

Tasting Notes Only

Advert



latest on flickr

Photograph Showcase - © images by Andrew Barrow

Recent Posts

Categories

Latest Comments

Explaning the Scribblings Wine Rating (3)
Andrew wrote: What ever works for you I guess! But if you believe in ... [read more]

Willunga Creek Black Duck Cabernet-Merlot, 2005, McLaren Vale, Australia (1)
Nancy wrote: I see you use the 100-point scale for rating wines. A c... [read more]

Matching Cheese and Wine. (2)
Cindy Boney wrote: Thanks Andrew...my friends--the Blonde Mafia--will be g... [read more]

Pimm's and Pimm's Based Cocktails. (10)
ryan wrote: wow, just found this, and now I have Pimms on my list f... [read more]

A Great Collection of Pimm's Cocktail Recipes
Creative Commons License
This weblog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Cigales, Castilla Leon, Spain  Add/Read Comments



Related Posts:

Related:

Snooth Wine Search:

North from Vallodolid on a shorter trip than yesterday's 3 hours to Bierzo. We tumble down a hill and are faced with this majestic sweep of a view - past the Romanesque church and up to the walls of Cigales, pressed low to the hills brow by rain-laden clouds.

This is red wine country, although rose brought initial fame to the region. Tinto del Pais, a variant of Tempranillo dominates; roses must have at least 60% ('white' varieties comprising the remainder) and the reds 85% (Grenache making up the differences).

We halt by a vineyard, clamber up the slope by the side of the road, and wander amongst the vines. A mixed planting of reds our guide explains - Tinto del Pais and Grenache and he plucks a leaf from the nearest stump and another from further down the row. One is a brighter green than the other, while one has a furry underside. At first glance they could have come from the same plant.

I wasn't concentrating, admiring the vista and zooming my camera onto distant trees and closer for wide angled sweeps of the slope, to note which leaf was from which variety. The conversation back on the coach indicated that the others in the party were equally as confused!

Vineyard in Cigales, Spain

We didn't hang around the vineyard long; the ever present clouds were following us across the plain and then there was the anticipation of a 12 wine tasting as our next stop.


Cigales

Add or Read Comments ADD A COMMENT (4)
Previous Post: Bierzo, Castilla-Leon, Spain Next Post: A wine for Melon, Pecorino and Culatello Anti-Pasti
This entry Cigales, Castilla Leon, Spain is under General



Comments

What an incredible, beautiful pictures, Andrew. I have traveled through this country many times, even writing and living in Barcelona, and I really love it: your photos represent prety well the land's beauty. Cigales is the "clarete" / rosé's kingdom in Spain, as you very well know, but now they are seriously working with red wines (most of them with tempranillo) at an even higher level: Traslanzas, César Príncipe, Valdelosfrailes, Lezcano...
All the best,
Joan

I had a ball in Spain Joan. I actually found the reds much more interesting than some of the rosés I sampled - loads of notes to write up...

Did you walk the camino? I've only just discovered your posts on Spain. I have the same photo taken from the same angle almost. We walked the camino in May 2004 and that sky is so familiar.

No, I didnt actually Barbera - the trip was all about wine! More posts to come both here and on spittoon extra. So many wines... :-)

Add a comment

Comments are moderated and will take awhile before appearing under the entry. Thanks for taking the time to comment...