Ribeira Sacra, Galicia, Spain. Segundo dia.

As there were so many photos from this incredible part of the world, it ended up being divided into two. Here is the second part. A winery tour and a world of food, surprised? I didn't think so.

Windy roads, rivers and trails.

More twists and turns

Or a coloured version

The true stars of the valley.

Some other locals.

I may have borrowed these....

Albarino being made.

We stopped off for a tasting at Adega Vella a small family run winery in an unexpected setting.

Yes, it is right next to the town's cemetery.

On the recommendation of the winery family, we went to a local restaurant Meson Casa Lelo. It was fantastic! Like this fabada, which I couldn't stop spooning ladles of into my plate.

Some Razor clams.

A version of so bucco.

Some grilled fish. All was washed down with some delicious cooled local red and sparkling water.

Crossing the Sil again, and leaving Galicia for Castilla y Leon, the largest state of Spain.

The scenes remained the same, cliff faces covered by vines and the river poking up on occasions. 

But we are still on the camino.

Onwards into the dry interior we go!

Ribeira Sacra, Galicia, Spain.

The Ribeira Sacra translates as the "Sacred Shore". This related to the vineyards which are planted on the steep slopes of the valleys and canyons of the rivers Miño and Sil. It is some of the most beautiful, heart breaking, densely forested, precipitous areas I have seen, and nothing like anyone would expect coming from Spain. Dense forests of chestnut, oak, with rocks and vineyards scattered throughout. 

The authorised white varieties are: Albariño, Godello, Treixadura, Loureira, Torrontés and Dona Branca, though the first three are the most predominant. The authorised red varieties are: Mencía, Grand noir, Brancellao and Merenzao.

The roads are narrow, windy and beautiful, but probably a little scary in bad weather.

The houses are mostly made of stone, some from centuries old, many remain in tact.

We drove and then walked to a nearly dead village to a beautiful view point. The river is dark and moody here.

This hasn't been photoshopped it just has these amazing shadows and shades.

In winter you could imagine it is quite wet and cool here, the moss and lichens suggest it too.

The path from the lookout back to the village

Galicia is home of many dying villages, the most dead villages in all of the Spanish states. This village was just like the rest. You would find buildings in many states of death.

Left by families when older relatives died, there still remains morsels of their past.

Without maintenance the roofs often cave in.

As there are so many monasteries we landed upon this one. Santa Cristina De Ribas De Sil.

Grapeo is reborn

Some say the best time to harvest is by the light of a silvery moon, or at least when there is a full one. Biodynamic principles are linked to such fancy/fanciful things as lunar cycles. So we decided to hit the grapes last time we were in Sokolka as with the wedding approaching we had no idea what amount of time we would have free to return and pick.
Marty looks not only super skinny here but like she has the worlds biggest hands!
Behind every skin there is a fleshy lining. hmmmm that quote/analogy doesn't sound right....
They almost look wine worthy if you shoot them in black and white.
Actually in colour they don't look so bad either.
So about 8kg or so later we have all the grapes. It isn't enough to make any form of wine, and as we picked them a little early probably too low in sugar anyway. So we decided another liqueur this year would be the trick. Now to the bottle shop for Vodka and Brandy!
After some pruning earlier in the year, I was able to get quite a lot more grapes than last year. I have also since the picking and after all the leaves fell, I pruned them back really hard, I hope it increases the bounty next year. It was running through the car shed, the tool shed and into the nearby trees.... yes it needed it.

So we got home pulped the grapes and now they are stewing away, I have since added some brown sugar syrup to give it some sweetness as they were picked a touch too early. Either way come Christmas time we should have some nice tipples.

The brewing conclusion

Ok so the last post left you with the stewing stage. Where the grapes would leach out their beautiful flavours. Also I should mention at this stage I went and bought some cranberries at the lovely Hale Mirowskie as well, as I have always wanted to make a liqueur with them.

Over the next 2 months, these soaked and released their lovely flavours. I would assist them by shaking them fiercely on a regular basis, and also sampling them on odd occasions too. The grapes developed wonderfully in flavour. To be honest, they have the taste of an alcoholic Ribena! The cranberries had a fresh and wonderful smell, but their taste was really astringent. After tasting it, you would end up making the face as if you had eaten a lemon. So I was forced to add a touch more brown sugar. Not much, about a half a cup or so. This worked well, so then just before Christmas, it was time to finish them off.

First I needed to drain the liquid away to leave just the fruit.I did both the grape pulp above, and the cranberries below which I hadn't pulped like the way I had with the grapes.
So as we didn't have a press or any fancy muslin bags, we went and bought some sterile gauze from the pharmacy. I then squeezed away, releasing all the trapped liquid, and most importantly, lots and lots of flavour.
The end result is a much drier pulp than went in. And of course a delicious and dark looking liquid.
Finally we poured it all into some bottles we had saved from previous alcoholic "research", and of course, this is environmentally friendly, as we are re-using these bottles which is better than recycling!
The end products are really lovely. The grape is on the left and the cranberry is on the right. From a distance, you would think they are just a red wine and a rose. But they both have beautiful flavours to them, and the natural and brown sugars within have made them slightly syrupy.
Happy days!