Tourismus in Aranda de Duero: Monasterio de la Vid, Bodegas el Lagar de Isilla und Bodega Histórica.

Aranda de Duero hat eine abwechslungsreiche Weintourismus. Wir waren dort, um es zu beweisen und Ihnen zu sagen, dass dies weg.

La Esencia Del Vino visited by Aranda del Duero wine tourism, during which we visited the Monasterio de la Vid (in the village of La Vid, about 20 kilometers from Aranda de Duero), the winery facilities "Lagar de Isilla"(next to the monastery) and the restaurant and the historic winery of "Lagar de Isilla". We recommend this visit, it is a great way to spend a Saturday with friends entertained.

 

Visit the Monasterio de la Vid (Monastery of the Vine)

Next to the winery is the Monasterio de la Vid.

It is a Premonstratensian monastery of Augustinian and today, founded in the twelfth century on the site where, according to tradition, was found the image of the Virgen de la Vid (Virgin of the Vine), multicolored stone and unusual in terms of its size to be Roman.

The guided tour takes us through the Senate, the vestry, the church, ...

Very well explained by the guide, you can immerse yourself in the history of the monastery and observe its Gothic details.

Although certainly what caught our attention this monastery is the Virgen de la Vid, located in the altarpiece of the main chapel of the Church. This virgin is carved with mirrors around the image perspective to appreciate the great detail with which it was carved.

Finally we visit a small museum where you can find works of goldsmith, ivory collection, church ornaments, ...

The tour price is 3 euros. The tour lasts 50 minutes and is a good way to use the time before the start of the visit to the winery.

 

Visit the Bodega El Lagar de Isilla

Next to the monastery is the winery El Lagar de Isilla.

We entered the warehouse store, decorated with great taste. The room is dominated by a motorcycle WWII carved wood.

There we met Pilar, one of the daughters of José Zapatero, owner of the winery, and Naomi was our guide through the bowels of the cellar.

We started the visit. Our guide, Naomi, we explain in detail the entire winemaking process from harvest. We will not tell here the whole process of development that is counted in the visit because it will have our "Apprentice" in section :-).

Even if you say that is a fairly comprehensive tour where you will see the winemaking process in full:

• Grape reception
• Stemmer machine
• The stainless steel tanks, which explains the cold maceration, fermentation, malolactic fermentation, ...
• Breeding: oxidative and reductive
• Mixing or blending wine
• Bottling machine

As mentioned, a very complete circuit and quite well explained, we recommend you to be attentive to the "The Apprentice" to see all the details of the visit.

What if I tell are certain aspects that give the wine "Lagar de Isilla" personal touch:

To the old grape, which comes from vineyards between 40 and 100 years, the selection of the grapes is done hand in hand for about 5 or 6 people, ensuring that each grape selected meets the highest quality. This grape is used to upbringings, reserves and author wines.

The author wines made malolactic fermentation in barrel, not on deposit. After 9 months are left in these barrels. This makes creamier achieve this aspect.

Selected Harvest wines also perform malolactic fermentation in barrels, remaining after 14 months in new French oak barrels.

During the visit to the winery can not ignore the windows, where the bottles are melted with the glass resulting in something spectacular. Definitely a great example of the creativity of Jose Zapatero, his mentor.

But the winery is not alone here. Another idea of José Zapatero is the creation of what they call "Wine Theme Park". It will be attached to the winery, and will consist of a restaurant to celebrate any event (wineries, communions, ...), a summer terrace and a set of hotels where you can experience the essence of this winery.

Currently available is a small hotel "La Casona de la Vid" with themed rooms, decorated with great detail.

The purpose of the theme park will be: "Enter as a grape and out like a great wine", definitely coming back to check.

Finally, we went back to the store, where the tasting room. Here you can see a part of the team of "La Esencia Del Vino" preparing for the tastings:

We delight with three of their exceptional wines:

• Lagar de Isilla Joven
• Lagar de Isilla Roble
• Lagar de Isilla Crianza

Pilar and Naomi lead the tasting commenting all areas in which we need to look to taste the wine. Although you can also ask yourself do the tasting, in our case the tasting was led by our winemaker.

Finally we entered at 12:00 and left at 15:30. The price of the tour depends on who is hired, but have to say that I will go cheaper if you contract directly with the winery.

Restaurant El Lagar de Isilla and historic winery

Do not want to leave the cellar, this was a fact so clear that when we saw the clock discovered that we were late to the restaurant. Pilar told us not to worry, he had already advised the restaurant that we were going to delay. This shows the dedication they put in to treat every visitor as someone special.

The restaurant is located in one of the central streets of Aranda de Duero.

We decided to get the pig, it is the specialty of the house and take it with wine, of course, of "El Lagar de Isilla". To say that the waiters are really nice and the service is really good.

Below the restaurant is the underground cellar. It is a marvel, but if you also fortunate that José Zapatero teach you the experience is much more rewarding.

The stairs down are impressive, almost chopped down about 12 meters.

Inside, apart from the inn's own wines are different rooms where the wine elaborated and preserved perfectly.

There we could see ancient artifacts used in the process of the creation of wine and old wine fermentation tanks. They also have an exhibition of old photos on winemaking.

Finally, and to immortalize our visit, we took some pictures with José Zapatero.

Historic center of Aranda de Duero

Aranda del Duero is really cozy and has everything really handy, almost near the city center.

We were surprised to see the great wine culture that there is, very different from other places we've been. Definitely a good place to taste different brands of Ribera del Duero.

Hotel with Breakfast

For the night we chose the Hotel Aranda, a very affordable price (63€/night per couple with breakfast).

Although the hotel is somewhat dated, perfectly fulfills its function, comfortable rooms, good heating and fairly clean.

The buffet breakfast was quite varied where we could gather strength to return to our homes.

 

Other activities

There are more activities that we could not perform but we have recommended. Especially highlight the "Museum of flavors" that we have recommended and seems fun.

Maybe on the next visit we can tell you something about them.

 

Summary

In short, with our visit we found the excellent business vision that José Zapatero and his family have and the enormous effort that this family is doing to make your passion for wine your lifestyle.

Even in times of crisis, if they are good things and are careful to make no award and "El Lagar de Isilla" well deserving of this award.

 

List of Images

• Monasterio de La Vid: Images 1 to 9
• Wineries "El Lagar de Isilla": Pictures 10 to 16
• Hotel "La Casona de La Vid" (El Lagar de Isilla): Pictures 17 to 22
• Historic winery "El Lagar de Isilla": Images 23rd the 29th