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| A photo shoot about to happen in the merlot field. It's always the merlot field, never the shiraz. |
Joining me for the tour were these four ladies all originally from Cartagena de Indias, Colombia:
Actually, I joined them. They volunteered to serve as my translators for the Spanish language-only winery tour. They also bought me wine and cheese. How could I say "no," or, to use the Spanish, "no." Mil gracias!
This leg of the tour around Villa Del Leyva started with a drive up the winery driveway.
The tour started promptly because a big bus load of tourists was scheduled to arrive soon. This bus tourism seems to have caught on big here in Colombia.
Our tour guide provided lots of information on the history of the winery, which my translators (on the left, above) were able to tell me about.
We saw the processing room where the grapes are crushed, using machinery instead of women's feet. Women were the preferred grape crushers in years past because women weigh less and, therefore, were less likely to crush the seeds.
The scale is much much smaller than those giant Port cellars I saw in September.
It was a short tour, even with the translating happening for me, maybe because of the impending deluge of bus tourists. Soon we reached the point that is the highlight of every winery tour everywhere.
Tasting. It was not bad. The white had a nice tartness to it. The cabernet was as good as any Three Buck Chuck cabernet, maybe better. It won an award. In Israel. I know. Israel hasn't been much of a player in the winemaking field since the Wedding of Cana. But it was an award. The white did win a silver medal in Brussels, which may be a little more prestigious. Although Belgium is beer country. Just sayin'.
Cheers!
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