Bodega Trip

Our day began on the Paseo in Oliva. There was no hanging around waiting for the bus - that had arrived well ahead of schedule - and so, a few minutes before 10 we all set off on what promised to be a great day out. It's about 150km to Utiel, a journey of about 2 hours. Our driver had already driven down from Requena so just before we got there we had to have a quick break for coffee, finally arriving at our destination just after midday.

For the first part of our visit we boarded the Wine Train. This is one of those fun 'trains' which you will see in any seaside town, theme park etc. Our English speaking guide gave us a running commentary as we trundled through the vineyards to the old finca. This, for several hundred years was a home and wine production unit. The house is still used but the winery is now defunct. The house is tastefuly furnished in a mixture of furnishings, old and modern, as befits its use as a meeting centre. There are plans to use the winery building as a museum but currently it is little more than a shell. In the various outbuildings we saw old winery tools and implements and the rooms used by the seasonal workers in the past.

Following on from that we all boarded the train to return to the modern winery. Having had the grape reception area and the various production methods (depending on wine type) explained to us we then went into the production building. This is full of great stainless steel vats and miles of piping. The whole process is computer controlled with minimal human input - to the extent that the whole winery can be run on a day to day basis by only 5 people. Yet the production capacity is up to 3.5 million litres of wine at any one time.

From there we passed to the barrel room. This is 8 metres underground - a concrete cavern where 15,000 barrels, each containing 225 litres, are stored. Here it was explained how the wine is matured using oak berrels from either France or America. The qualities of the wine will depend on how long it is matured, in what kind of barrels and also on how many times the barrel has been used. A barrel will normally be used anything up to 8 times before being sold on to such industries as distilleries.

Just off the barrel room is the bit most of us had been eagerly waiting for - the tasting room. Here winemaker Herman Potgieter gave us and excellent presentation, with tasting, of 6 wines. His explanations were interesting and in sufficient detail to enable us to understand what we were looking for in the wines. A few of us also got to sample the new Hoya de Cadenas Cava. Our final port of call was the Winery Shop where we could buy our 'souvenirs'.

We then drove the short distance into the town of Utiel for lunch at hotel El Tollo. Here we had an excellent 3 course lunch with coffee and as much Hoya de Cadenas as we could drink. Finally we drove back to Oliva, arriving a little later than expected at around 6:30.

From all of the comments I have heard this trip was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone and was excellent value for money. The whole thing was arranged by Hoya de Cadenas leaving us to just book it and enjoy it. So - many thanks to Herman Potgieter for his organisation - and to you, the members of U3A Oliva, for coming along and supporting us.

See below for a slideshow of photographs taken on the trip.

Geoff Evans

Travel & Events Coordinator

Photographs