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| We have been on our travels again. We were going back to Spain to have the house re-rendered and repainted and just as we were about to leave we received an invitation from Bodegas Lecea in San Asensio in the Rioja region to an end of season grape stomping party. Who are we to refuse an invitastion like that? Also, the date of the party was 2 days before our ferry home so it was a perfect opportunity to catch up with José Camára who we had met in May this year just as he was about to open his own winery. |  |
 | Outside Bodegas Lecea tents and stalls had been erected selling food and locally made goods, a cross between a hippie fair and a German Christmas market. We picked up our engraved glasses and tickets for 4 glasses of wine each and had a wander around. |  Food or wine? Dilemna. |
 | A few wines, a bit of shopping and then onto the grape stomping. This was a on a much grander scale than our big red bucket but just as messy and as much fun. The grapes were piled in a huge cement vat and while we ‘trod’ from above some poor guy shovelled the vines below continually stacking and piling them back up on top. As the juice squished between our toes the stomping was messy and sticky on our legs we were having so much fun, but spare a thought for the poor man beneath us, he was getting covered all over! |  |
| Thank you Lecea, you put on a good show. It was a fantastic day. |
The following day we met up with José in his new winery Bodega Del Tesoro in Cuzcurrita del Rio Tiron. As we drove into Cuzcurrita all we saw were what looked like really small, really old, run down houses. We drove past several times before we realised that these were the entrance to the winery. These places really are unique. The house fronts disguised the entrance to caves and cellars. Inside they were huge! When José bought his winery it was derelict and in just a few months he has made a miraculous transformation. It is amazing inside and his wine is absolutely first class.
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José had just bought another winery next door which he plans to turn into a wine bar. It looks like we’ll be coming back. Good luck José, you really have created something very special.