Visit to the Winery Conde de los Andes de Paternina

Posted by: igsegma on: June 28 2010 • Categorized in: Wineries,Winerie visit

Last week I went to this Winery.

The more wineries I visit, the more I enjoy what I do. The wine sector is full of surprises –I rarely feel disappointed, and of course, this was not an exception. I told the owners of Paternina that I wanted to visit their Winery and they invited me to spend some time at their premises in Ollauri. The truth be said, although their great Winery is located in Haro, and it represents the efficiency while Ollauri´s recalls charm.

The Winery is located in a typical village of La Rioja Region. When I got there, I started wandering around the village but I could not find the Winery. This was one of the surprises I was about to have during my visit. I finally saw a young lady who stood up as I approached her who said hello to me. She was Beatriz, the person who would spend the day with me –a young nice, gentle and friendly woman, with whom I had very interesting conversations.

We started our visit by entering a very elegant room, which seemed to be used for company events. On the walls we could see all labels framed hanging. The Winery has been working since 1896, and you can feel the passing of time in the environment. We immediately went down to the winery.

During our visit, we went from 18 meters depth to 40, which took us to an exit located two streets far from the entrance.

This was the original Paternina Winery, but there was a moment back in time it was not large enough and they had to move to Haro in order to enlarge the business.

This is the Winery where Conde de los Andes Reserve and Grand Reserve age, as it is the place with the best conditions –constant temperature (11 degrees), absence of noise, and not much light; all these essential characteristics for wine ageing.

The product is not prepared until it is ordered and managed in Haro.

While walking we found a couple of wine presses –one of them is about 240 years old– which were in perfect conditions.

We started going down, down and down… there were many steps before us.

I have seen other underground wineries, but this one is impressive because there is a huge amount of product ageing perfectly piled.

As you move on, it is possible to see how hard and expensive it must be to manage their working system, which undoubtedly should be reflected in the price. (Surprisingly as it may seem, the price of their products is not too high).

Then Beatriz showed me the tanks where wine is fermented –one of such tanks is being used as the restaurant counter, which is located right above the winery. I saw the restaurant afterwards, and I can say it was as amazing as the Winery.

The Winery was founded in 1896, but the caves are more than 400 years old. Such caves were excavated by Galician quarrymen while they were not working in the field. If you look carefully at the rocks, it is possible to imagine how hard it was to complete such works. I guess those men were simply different from today’s.

Beatriz told me that the product Federico Paternina Banda Azul (Crianza) is a homage to those Galician men who worked there. For Reserve, they use the Banda Roja, which is sold in Spain under the brand Viña Abial.

Bottles used to be transported by wheelbarrows down the stairs we had just walked through, but this was tremendously difficult and many bottles resulted broken. Could any of them really reach its destination unbroken? (See the staircase)

Beatriz showed me the Conde de los Andes White Reserve. This wine is only produced after excellent vintages, such as 74, 82, 95 and 2001, which is the one currently being sold. It is an amazing experience to see how humidity (between 75 and 82%) makes mould grow on the bottles.

We walked around the barrels where the wine was ageing. These barrels are huge, and the idea that coopers had to manufacture them inside the winery comes to my mind. In this case, the “rule of thumb” worked perfectly.

We saw the breathtaking wine storage room devoted to Mr Marcos Eguizábal (the owner of the Winery who died last year), where there are more than 100,000 bottles. It is the largest room in the Winery. Before the Haro enlargement, there were barrels there too, which were transported to the upper floor every six months for all cyclic works. It is still possible to see the marks of the ropes used to lift the over-200-kilo barrels. It must have been impressive to see such a hard task!

As we moved on, Beatriz showed me a vine over 200 years old. It seems it was planted before the vine pest. This two-meter-tall tree is so alive that it seems it wants to talk. Simply impressive.

Then we saw some huge black-and-white pictures taken in the 1920’s or 1930’s. They are fantastic and they show the visitor the way works were performed in the Winery at that time. We can see one of the employees working while holding a cigarette in his hand. Times were different then.

Our visit then led us to the cages area, where works may be performed much more easily as machines may enter the premises.

And we saw the barrels. The are only 50 of them which are perceptive, according to the requirements of the Designation of Origin (DO). There were 3,000 barrels before they moved to Haro.

Then Beatriz presented me the Graciela wine, and told me the beautiful story behind it. Before us, we have a white, a crianza and a semi-sweet wine.

After that, I am taken to the place where vintage wines are stored. This area is understandably called the “Sistine Chapel”.

Then we moved to the wine collection and I tasted the Graciela and a red Conde de los Andes reserve wine from 2004. After the walk, I felt like being on cloud number nine while tasting such amazing products. Is there any better way to taste wine right after having seen all the process preceding such a great result?

At this Winery, they receive around 10,000 visitors every year, although they are trying to get more company events or marriage celebrations to be held at their premises, as they bring in better returns in comparison to small tourist groups.

And then they showed me the restaurant. The counter is simply amazing, and the restaurant in the whole is very stylish and elegant. They say the average price per person is 35/40 euro. I think it is a good value for money.