Spain,Rioja - Marqués De Riscal

Wine tasting in Spain is a very different experience to any other country I have visited. You cannot just turn up for a wine tasting, you need to make an appointment. Doing this via phone calls can be very frustrating - if you don't speak enough Spanish, language can be quite a barrier. Booking the Marqués de Riscal (pronounced Markez) was done and paid online, which made things much easier. You are given a day and time, if it is convenient for you, then you go ahead and purchase your ticket.

Arriving at one of the most beautiful wineries in the world sent goosebumps from head to toe. Remember, like wine, perfume and art, architecture can also be subjective. This stunning building was designed by internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry and is a true masterpiece. Located in "The City of Wine," this 5-star hotel is truly an adventure of a lifetime. The striking building is wrapped in cascades of titanium (Canopies) coloured in pink, gold and silver symbolizing the reddish hues of red wine, the mesh of the wine bottle of Marqués de Riscal and the capsule of the bottle. Gehry wished to depict a modern and fun design representing the wines of Marqués de Riscal. His style is not beautiful, but unique in his passion for using strange shapes and giving you a gut reaction that no one else succeeds in doing. His buildings are shocking. They don’t please the eye the way the Taj Mahal does, but they give you a mysterious feeling of delight.

The tools on the right hand side are used to open very old bottles of wine, using fire and ice, to cut off the top of the bottle, allowing you to drink your fine vintage wine. If I were to open a 50+ year-old bottle, I too would prefer it without the crumbs of a 50+ year-old cork. The Bunsen burner, the tongs, the badger (or boar?) brush are used. The tongs are heated up then placed around the bottle neck. Clamping down on the neck for a short while, the tongs are then removed and the neck is the brushed with cold water. Clasping the neck with your hands, you get a clean break due to the extremes in temperature of the red hot prongs and the ice-cold water.

After being taken around the wine making facilities, next came the wine tasting. Only two wines were presented and they were entry level wines, nothing to write home about, yet they were well made.

Life is made up of these special moments, dreaming about visiting an actual place and pinching yourself when you are actually there. My main objective was to visit this architecture splendor which I had read about, yet actually being there, you experience a totally different perspective.