6 Alternative Ways to Enjoy a Rioja Wine(1)
I’ll be the first to admit that I can only take so much wine while on a business trip. After awhile, my eyes glaze over and I feel an intense craving to either down a gin and tonic, or at the very least, stay as far as humanly possible from a fermentation tank. And god forbid if I actually start dreaming about wine, like having the winemaker lecturing me on whether one should place a single row of grapes in a bin during harvest or two. Then, there is that one nightmare where I’m chained to a long wooden table adhering labels to each bottle as a raspy female voice sounds over a speaker, “You now have 981,872 labels remaining…you now have 981,871 labels remaining… Yeah, that’s when you know that you’ve visited one too many wineries in a day!
However, over the years, I have realized that it is not so much wine that I tire of, but it’s the way in which I am enjoying it. Sitting in a tasting room with a notebook in hand and my glasses propped low on my nose, a potentially remarkable wine loses its magic. It becomes something sterile and empty, one of the millions. Something I analyze and critique with the winemaker anxiously sitting in front of me wondering if I am giving his liquid child an “A” for stellar quality or an “F” for pure plonk. And when scheduling three wineries a day, this process can get tedious rather quickly.
Hence, on our last trip to Rioja, we decided to start incorporating new ways in which we could enjoy Spanish wine, rather than solely in restaurants, cafes or wineries. However, because our time was rather limited, we couldn’t explore the numerous opportunities we discovered in our research; however, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t benefit from some of our great finds! Here are the top six ways we suggest you break out of your traditional wine consumption habits to partake in a little adventure:
Horseback Riding with Oscar Ferrer Garcia at the Centro Ecuestre in Anguiano, La Rioja.
Imagine a stable overlooking a rushing river in the middle of the mountains. Beautiful horses neighing in the distance, the smell of fresh green grass and crisp mountain air, life just doesn’t get better. Having built both the stable and his house from the ground up, Oscar Ferrer Garcia is what you might refer to as the “Spanish Horse Whisperer“. Wearing jeans, boots and a floppy wide-rimmed leather hat, Oscar looks as if he belongs more in the mountains of Montana than La Rioja, but brilliant eyes and big smile immediately put even the most horse weary at ease. Without a lesson or a word of advice, Oscar put on our respective horses and began our journey. We spend the better half of a day basking in the sun, feeling our horses sway back and forth like a boat slowly rocking in the waves, and savoring the beautiful vistas. The sensation of the horses gate, that gentle back and forth, is mesmerizing and intoxicating. And despite the fact that my horse was keen on throwing his head back every two minutes, aiming his plentiful spit in my face - whereby having us exchange some rather choice words - I absolutely loved it. My only wish is that we had packed a lunch to enjoy on the mountain tops, sipping our wine against the brilliant blue backdrop. Well, there’s always a next time! For more information, call Oscar at +34 941 41 80 07.
From catavino.net
