On June 18th my wife Patty and I arrived in Madrid --without our luggage-- and decided to not let it interfere with our trip so we headed north towards wine country. We spent the night in the town of Segovia. The view from our hotel room was the old Roman Aqueduct which was built starting in the 1st century AD. The evening was a bit cool - however from then on the weather during our trip in Europe was simply fantastic. If you ever are in Segovia you have to visit the beautiful Cathedral and also the Alcazar Castle on the edge of Old Town. Walk into Old Town to the Casa Mayor (Central Place) you will find vendors selling everything from olives, vegetables to clothes - which we bought since our luggage was still missing.
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| Aqueduct on right, Hotel below |
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| Veggies at market |
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| Olives at market |
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| Stroll in Old town |
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| Alcazar in Segovia |
After Segovia we headed north to the small town of
Valbuena near the Duero river. We were invited by
Grupo Mattaromera -headed by its President Mr. Carlos Moro - a true visionary who manages 6 wineries and has products from Non-Alcoholic wines, a fine selection of high end wines including Solano and Rento. One of the unique elements of this winery is the commitment to use all the products of the soil exemplified by a their high end line of cosmetics made from the the residuals high in anti-oxidants otherwise not used in making wines
This was my second visit and I was familiar with the company's headquarters located at
Emina Winery (we could actually see the building of the famous Vega Sicilia winery from there). This winery was built with the environment in mind. They are SIP certified and are the first winery in Europe with an Carbon Footprint seal on their European wine labels. Solar panels above carport provides shade, water is recycled in their own plant which is built in the Roman style with a center court yard, and the RD department is funded with $3-4 million. per year.
In front the the building Mr. Moro planted the vineyard of Spain that contains a row of EVERY grape variety planted in Spain. During a quick lunch at their restaurant we had to pleasure to meet Mr. Carlos Moro himself - he even remembered me from my visit 2 yeas ago.
Our Hostess at Mattaromera was Ms. Kristell Monot, Export Manager for the group - very knowledgeable and informed. Lucky enough there was a visit earlier this morning and we were able to taste an range of their high-end wines during lunch (typical Spanish Country Cuisine: Lamb). My favorite wine was the
Matarromera Prestigio Pago de las Solana 2001 (a Gran Reserva)...big lush, full of dark berries and sweet tannins - simply superb! I preferred it over the Matarromera
Anniversary edition of which only 2400 bottles
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| King's Wines |
were produced. After Lunch Kristell took us down the road to the building of the Matarromera Winery, up a hill overlooking the Duero Valley. After visiting the bottling plant we went downstairs into the cellar. Kristell producd a set of keys, opened a huge iron gate and invited us into the cellar where wines were stored for Juan Carlos I the King of Spain, All of the wines produced for him carry his own label.
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| Labels for a China shipment |
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| Ms. Kristell Monot |
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| Barrel tasting |
After our visit to Matteromera we drove a few miles to RENTO, a single vineyard produced wine. The winery is located in a beautiful 16th century monastery which was remodeled and now also contains beside the production facility a beautiful old barrel room and a large dining room where dinners on occasion will be served when the group or Carlos Moro entertains guests from all over the world. Rento Wine 2005 was honored with 94 points by Mr. Parker and we had the opportunity to taste some of it straight out of the barrel.
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| Old RENTO cellar |
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| Dining Room for Festivities |
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| Tasting RENTO with Kristell Monot in the Barrel Room |
The visits to these wineries of Groupo Matarromera were an experience that is hard to forget. Pretty tired and still in our clothes from our flight, we went to their
Guesthouse, then took a relaxing stroll along the banks of the Duero River. If you are ever in this area and you want to enjoy a quite, relaxing visit and learn about wine then this is the place in the Ribera del Duero area. It is is a 25 minute ride into Valladolid, the Capital of Northern Castilla Leon, famous for it's baby lamb cooked in hot clay ovens in the middle of old restaurants.
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| Ribera Duero River in the evening |
On June 18th my wife Patty and I arrived in Madrid --without our luggage-- and decided to not let it interfere with our trip so we headed north towards wine country. We spent the night in the town of Segovia. The view from our hotel room was the old Roman Aqueduct which was built starting in the 1st century AD. The evening was a bit cool - however from then on the weather during our trip in Europe was simply fantastic. If you ever are in Segovia you have to visit the beautiful Cathedral and also the Alcazar Castle on the edge of Old Town. Walk into Old Town to the Casa Mayor (Central Place) you will find vendors selling everything from olives, vegetables to clothes - which we bought since our luggage was still missing.
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