Tomorrow we are closed for a wine festival, not as you might think for Albariño, but rather for our local red wine – Tinto de Barrantes. I have to confess that the actual legality of this wine is somewhat dubious, as I have never seen even one single labelled bottle in any shop or restaurant. Somehow the authorities seem to turn a blind eye to this fact, even allowing it to be celebrated with a street festival and declaring one day of local holiday.

The wine itself is not my favourite, although whenever we have visitors to the bodega and they have the opportunity to taste it, they seem to be quite enamoured. Personally I describe it as being something akin to a partially fermented Beaujolais, with a deep purple colour, very low alcohol, green tannins and a highly volatile acidity – not very nice….. but clearly the locals love it!

Tomorrow we are closed for a wine festival, not as you might think for Albariño, but rather for our local red wine – Tinto de Barrantes. I have to confess that the actual legality of this wine is somewhat dubious, as I have never seen even one single labelled bottle in any shop or restaurant. Somehow the authorities seem to turn a blind eye to this fact, even allowing it to be celebrated with a street festival and declaring one day of local holiday.

The wine itself is not my favourite, although whenever we have visitors to the bodega and they have the opportunity to taste it, they seem to be quite enamoured. Personally I describe it as being something akin to a partially fermented Beaujolais, with a deep purple colour, very low alcohol, green tannins and a highly volatile acidity – not very nice….. but clearly the locals love it!