El Lagar de Isilla has been an amazing find for me.

I got to know this Project in stages. First I met Pilar, one of the owner’s daughters at the wine tasting in Aranda de Duero. I asked what job she did at the winery, and she replied that she was the owner’s daughter! She paused a bit and I was thinking that that’s not much of a job, but then she continued and told me all about her education and training, and I can assure you that its impressive.

Then I visited the restaurant and the underground caves/cellars on the main street of Aranda de Duero. The underground caves are absolutely amazing in their own right, but if you are lucky enough to be guided by Pilar the experience is even better. One of our group took a video while we were there. Two words describe my experience: Im pressive! The video of course doesn’t do it justice. An image may be worth a thousand words but it’s even better if you’re actually in the movie!

A few days later I had a meal in the restaurant. I had met the owner, José Zapatero, alma mater of the business earlier. He remembered and attended us personally, and even invited us to a special desert, made from peppers. And he insisted on visiting the winery. There were a few photos of the winery hanging on the walls, but they don’t really give you an idea of what it’s like.

The restaurant itself, its location, the caves are such that I now consider it a crime to visit Aranda de Duero without going to El Lagar de Isilla.

The winery is just as impressive as the restaurant and caves.

It’s about 20 km from Aranda in a colonial style estate from the 1890’s, very close to a spectacular monastery which reminded me of a small version of El Escorial. I was told that it was worth seeing inside too, but we were pushed for time. That’s the good thing about these trips, you always end up wanting to see more and want to come back!

First we went into the shop, which is very tastefully decorated. A wooden motorbike from the Second World War dominates the room.

The visit began; every detail has been thought out. The entrance, the gates, the patio, the vats, the machinery and installations in general. Many smaller details make the visit a pleasure. For example, the decorative play of bottles.

The barrel room is beautiful, and has a spectacular photograph of the underground caves in Aranda. Even the bottling line is shown off to good effect.

There is an area that has to be renovated, and there are photos of what it looked like before. It gives you an idea of José’s vision and business plans for the future. The whole family have made an enormous effort to restore and condition this amazing winery.

They want to build a little hotel in this area. If they do it in the same style as they’ve done everything else so far, its success will be assured.

Back to the shop, and into the tasting room. There’s a large flat-screen TV on the wall showing a short video of the most interesting moments during the year in the vineyard and winery: grape harvest, crushing and pressing, etc.

We taste the entire range of wines. Another detail: each glass comes with its own little mat in a different colour, so as to help you remember the different wines; and they are printed with the winery’s logo (which is very well designed).

In the tasting room we could see all the different prizes that the wines have won, and the prizes that José himself has won, in his capacity as an expert wine-taster. The message is very direct. It’s saying, you may like our installations, or our wines, or the prizes and points awarded to us by Parker and Peñín; but apart from making good wine we are very open to perceiving good wine too. Have you got any doubt about the quality of our wines? Not only José wins prizes, but his daughter Pilar also does.

Their project is overwhelming!

It’s all run by José and his two daughters, who apart from knowing a lot about wine, also do something else, that’s even more important: they work hard!

I ask them if business is growing, and they reply that it is, and quite considerably.

I come to the conclusion that there may be times of recession, but for those who know to do things well and work hard at it, there’s a prize!

El Lagar de Isilla certainly deserves a prize. And they’re winning it!

Cheers!

PD: They have told me I should also mention Betariz and Pilar´s mother as a fundamental factor of the success in this project. I do not know her and this is the reason why I did not write about her. My appreciation also goes to her.

These are the wines we tasted: Rosado, Roble, Crianza, Reserva, and Vendimia seleccionada

This post in Spanish: Visita a El Lagar de Isilla