Crowds among the barrels

This Easter weekend, Mendoza wine bodega in Alfaz del Pi are offering a special wine tasting "experience"! I popped by this afternoon and couldn´t believe the number of people that had the very same idea, there must have been nearly a thousand people there! Tomorrow is the last day to take advantage of this opportunity - it was a 3 day event which offered you the chance to sample some of the best wines that this local bodega has to offer.

The Protection Civil were even on hand and security staff had to direct traffic.... I bet if the police were at the end of the road they would be rubbing their hands as everyone had to drive to get there - so much for drink driving laws!

For a 5 euro entry fee you are given a wine glass, which you take away with you at the end and is used to sample the different wines. The entry ticket has stubs which you hand in as you try the 6 various wines on offer - one white and 5 red.

Different wines available

There are several "wine stations" where you could get samples and also learn about the various grapes and methods of maturing...
I learnt that wines have a completely different taste depending on the soil used to grow the grapes in. We were given 2 wines to taste of the same grape variety - one was grown in sand whilst the other in rock and you wouldn´t believe that they were they same grape as they tasted so different.
You could also buy a plate of cheese samples to accompany the wine - but at 4 euros I decided to just stick with the wine, although many did!

Olive OIl tasting - certainly a new one for me!

As well as wine tasting you also had the chance to do some olive oil tasting - yes you did read that right... I bet it brings back memories for some of being forced to swallow a spoon full of castor oil! The very knowledgeable gentleman spoke all about the various olives and what makes each so unique. He handed out olive oil shots.... personally I prefer vodka ones but when in Spain! Many of the audience downed the oil samples but I couldn´t bring myself to do the same. There were pieces of bread to dip in the oil and sprinkle some sea salt on too - definitely needed to mop up all the wine we were drinking!

You could also learn about how barrels are made, which was demonstrated and the different types of cork used to bottle the wines. It was certainly very informative and the beautiful backdrop with blue sky and sun blazing down made it even more enjoyable.

Tomorrow - Easter Sunday, is the last day to take advantage of this special promotion. The bodega opens up at 9.30am - but I think that most would struggle to be tasting wine at that hour and will remain open until 4pm. Obviously the best time to go is around lunch time.... perhaps tomorrow many of the Spanish will be at church, seeing as this is a catholic country so may not be quite so busy.

Barrel making

To get to the bodega you ideally need a car as it is slightly off the beat and track.
Go to Alfaz del Pi and at the top of Arabi Plaza is a roundabout. There you will see a sign for the Mendoza bodega - you do not go into Alfaz centre.
Alternatively, if you are coming by the number 10 bus, get off at Arabi Plaza and then its probably about a 15 minute walk unless you are lucky enough to find a taxi.
Its certainly worth going to if you are free tomorrow - children under 18 go free as obviously they will not be sampling any of the wine!