Amigos enjoy memorable wine experience
LAST Wednesday, 49 curious Amigos Costa Blanca club members made a memorable trip visiting Yecla. Many of us were not sure what to expect. What most of us knew about the area didn’t shed much positive light on their wines, especially Monastrell, the regions signature varietal.
Gazing out of the windows from our comfortable bus we couldn’t help but notice a remarkable difference in the landscape. Instead of lush green rolling hills the land resembles a desert in early April with a background of snow-covered mountains. But more importantly what we found was that Monastrell is an absolute hidden gem, worthy of attention.
Our bus took us to the vineyards 12 kilometres from Bodegas Castaño where we had a walk in the cold weather to see the monastrell and other different grape varieties. Yecla didn’t remind us of a typical 'wine country' and we were becoming increasingly curious to see how that would reflect in the wines as we were told that summer temperatures often exceed 30 degrees Celsius. Sun shines more than 300 days a year with very little humidity or moisture. For monastrell to survive in these conditions is impressive. But they do.
Our bus took us back to the winery of Bodegas Castaño for lunch and wine tasting. We tasted wines paired with food from the restaurant. We enjoyed three starters, barbecue meats and a dessert together with four different Castaño wines.
The members had an enjoyable lunch and wine tasting, with Raquel Ortuño from the bodega together with Hans Nilsson, our club member and wine expert – we learned so much.
Amigos Costa Blanca is an independent club in Alfaz del Pi for 350 Scandinavian members living in Alfas del Pi, Albir, Altea and La Nucía.
For more information about this group see the website www.amigoscostablanca.com