Stepping back in time

Spain is such a beautiful country and boasts many places which are steeped in history. Thanks to a trip arranged by LA Digital Camera Club, a local camera club of which I'm a member, I recently had the good fortune to be able to visit one such place, Bullas, which is situated in the mountains in the region of Murcia. Due to it's altitudes of 1500-2000 feet and the mediterranean climate, it provides ideal growing conditions for the grapes which are used in the wine making which has made Bullas famous over the years.

After an early start we finally all arrived at the Bodegas del Rosario which was a co-operative established in 1950 and now produces about 85% of the region's wine.  It is a huge site where the wine is made, stored and dispatched.

We met our tour guide in the "tienda" (shop) and were promptly taken to the first stop of the tour, the yard, which is where the grapes are delivered and then classified according to their quality. From there they are harvested into boxes and stored until they are ready for sorting before being put into the massive fermentation tanks. The fermentation tanks differ in size depending on what type of wine is being made. We were then shown the section where the special wine is fermented and stored in oak casks. 

Our next leg of the tour was to see the "almacen" (warehouse) where the wine is finally bottled, labelled, boxed, crated and put on pallets ready for distribution.

Our tour ended an hour later back in the tienda where we were all treated to a wine-tasting session. The tour was great value and we were even given a free bottle of wine of our choice to take home with us.

After making our purchases in the tienda, we then moved on to the Museo del Vino de Bullas (the Bullas Wine Museum)  which was the site for our next tour. The museum is located in an old winery which dates back to the beginning of the 19th Century and once belonged to the Melgares de Aguilar family. In the mid 19th Century the winery's annual production was estimated to be around 350000 litres and was one of the largest wine producers in the old region of Murcia.

We were shown a short video of the history of the area and wine making and then were then taken round the museum which is housed on two floors. Many of the original tools and machinery have been conserved and are on display including the huge earthenware jugs which are still buried in the ground. They also have displays which show various parts of the old wine making process.

All in all, both tours were very informative and well worth the visit.

We finally went on to a local restaurant where we had a lovely "menu del dia" (a 3 course lunch) which was the perfect end to a wonderful day.