Hola!!
I don’t know if anything is going to top today. We woke up early, but it was worth it. There was about an hour long bus ride until we got to the vineyard and winery; El Penedès Wine Region. Our tour guide’s name is Albert, and you can tell that he loves his job. He was telling us so much information, excited for us to learn about the vineyard. Albert even had laminated mini posters that showed pictures of the steps during growing grapes. He had us gather around the plants as he pointed out details and told us a little bit of history.
We learned that you can pick the grapes by hand, or use a big machine that shakes the grape vine to knock the grapes loose. He also told us about how at one point, Americans brought an invasive insect over and it was killing the original grape vines, so they grafted both plants to create a hybrid plant.
Once we went inside, we were shown where the bottles are kept, and how yeast would be removed; either by hand or with a machine. Albert gave us so much information and was very excited and happy with how interested we all seemed, as well as all the pictures we kept taking.
WINE TASTING;
Once the tour was over, we had a little picnic and a wine tasting! I expected little cups for the wine, but instead Albert pulled out two traditional glass porron wine pitchers (we had two bottles to taste). It was super fun to learn how to use the pitcher, and turned out to be pretty simple.
The pitchers had a long neck to pour the wine into and hold onto when you tip the bottle so wine pours out of the spout and into your mouth. Your mouth is not supposed to touch the spout, because everyone drinks out of the pitcher. I found that the key to drinking from it was to not doubt yourself. Just tip your head back and pour a mouthful of wine!
The picnic had meats, cheese, danishes, of course the traditional pan con tomate (or “tomato bread” as I call it). We had a little bit of free time for people to go into the shop to buy wine, porron pitchers, or anything else. Before we left for our next event, Arianna and I got a picture with Albert.
So once again, we loaded onto the bus and started driving again. Our next stop? Sitges!
