Peñafiel

After checking into Hotel Convento Las Claras we had a walk through town to Protos Bodega for a tour of the winery, followed by a tasting. We first watched a video, projected onto the four walls around us, that provided the history and ethos of the winery. The oldest Protos building and cellars are built into the side of the hill on which the castle is situated.

The tour started in the old winery, walking underground to see where the barrels are stored. This part of the winery is no longer used for the fermentation process, that is all done over in their new ultramodern facility.

The new section of the winery is reached via a tunnel that goes under the road. This addition to the winery was completed in 2008 and was designed by Richard Rogers and Alonso Balaguer. The new facilities are very impressive and the building has been designed to be pleasing to the eye, but also to meet the environmental needs for producing wine while minimising the consumption of energy required.

After touring the facilities we got to taste two of their wines. First a white, which was a Verdejo from the Rueda region and then a Tempranillo from the Ribera del Duero region (here called Tinto Fino) - both were very good.Read more