Bodegas Familiares Matarromera suggests wine tourism at Easter in Ribera del Duero and Rueda

This Easter, Bodegas Familiares Matarromera suggests taking a wine tourism route around Ribera del Duero and Rueda, perfect for those who have a passion for the countryside and vine-growing. The route includes the best of these Denominaciones de Origen and their unique settings, monument areas, museums, processions and, of course, wine making activities and visits to vineyards.

Maundy Thursday

A magnificent idea for starting “Passion Week” is to pay a visit on Maundy Thursday (29th of March) to the historic Valladolid village of Quintanilla de Onésimo. Don’t miss this charming municipality’s renaissance bridge, the sixteenth century Gothic church of San Millan or the Chapel of Cristo de San Roque.

Less than ten minutes away by car is Olivares de Duero, the site of the Renacimiento Winery. This is the most exclusive of this winery group and will hold an open day on Maundy Thursday so that visitors can enjoy a special tasting straight from the barrel.

From winery to winery, the next stop will take us to Valbuena de Duero, where the Matarromera Winery is located and where its legendary wines are born. The winery provides guided tasting of its best wines.

For lunch, we suggest La Espadaña de San Bernardo restaurant, which is also in Valbuena de Duero, where you can sample the traditional Castilian suckling lamb combined with one of the leading wines from the winery group.

This particular route will allow the wine-lover to dedicate Maundy Thursday afternoon to getting to know one of the most emblematic villages of Ribera del Duero, Peñafiel, and its majestic medieval castle.

For relaxing and recharging your batteries after the proposed day out, nothing beats a stay at the Emina Rural Hotel in Valbuena de Duero. This guest house was opened in 2010 to complete the wine tourism offered by the Bodegas Familiares Matarromera in Ribera del Duero, together with the three wineries, Matarromera, Renacimiento and Emina Ribera (with the Emina Wine Museum), and the La Espadaña de San Bernardo restaurant.

Good Friday

On Good Friday we enter the Rueda Denominación de Origen to visit the spectacular Castle of La Mota in Medina del Campo, declared to be a Site of Cultural Interest in 1904.

Afterwards, we suggest a day of wine, oil and beer, combined with sweets typical at this time of year, a visit to the Oliduero environmentally-friendly olive oil press and the Emina Rueda Winery, which are also in Medina del Campo.

We can complete a visit to this municipality by enjoying its gastronomy and getting to know how Easter, which has been declared an International Tourism Festival, is celebrated there. An interesting procession for this Good Friday in Medina del Campo is the procession of Silence, in which more than 15 floats are exhibited, turning its historic streets into an authentic open-air museum.

Easter Saturday

The third day begins at 11 o’clock in the morning and we will spend it entirely at the Emina Ribera Winery, the headquarters of Bodegas Familiares Matarromera, where wine, art and culture are blended.

There is a visit to the Emina Wine Museum which is dramatised and has been adapted to visitors of all ages, including the youngest ones. The different characters will explain why grapes are grown in the Ribera del Duero area, how important the river is for wine culture in Castile and León and the great influence the Santa Maria de Valbuena Monastery had in this process. This is a route whose central theme is the history of wine and which includes a visit to the Garden of Grape Varieties, situated outside the winery, where we can learn first-hand about the different varieties of national and international grapes.

At the end of the visit, visitors will do a professional tasting of the different wines from the Emina Winery, in which they may also enjoy the wines from the Win non-alcoholic range.

To finish off the day, visitors can enjoy an activity which is exclusive to the Bodegas Familiares Matarromera, which is in keeping with its innovative spirit and capacity to make such a traditional sector cutting-edge: creating cocktails based on knowledge of wine in an unbeatable setting, opposite the vineyards whilst the sun sets.

Easter Sunday

On the fourth and last day, we will explore the most deep-rooted traditions in Ribera del Duero contemplating the Descent of the Angel in the Plaza del Coso in Peñafiel, declared to be a National Festival and that represents the retreat of the mourning Virgin Mary. Thousands of people meet up in the square every year to contemplate this act, which is full of symbolism.

After this performance, we can keep on enjoying the “most loyal rock in Castile”, as this municipality was known in the Reconquest. A special place in Peñafiel is the Convent of San Pablo, an impressive Gothic-Mudejar architectural complex, the former fortress of Alfonso X.

For lunch, we recommend trying various tapas in Peñafiel and savouring its rich gastronomy.

To finish off this wine-maker’s Easter, nothing beats taking a souvenir of this trip home which can be bought in the shops in the Matarromera or Emina wineries.

The online tourism platform for Bodegas Familiares Matarromera, www.wanatur.com, provides the option of booking all the activities offered by the wineries through different experiences aimed at groups, families, couples or individuals.

Information for making bookings:

Telephone number: 983 68 33 15

enoturismo@matarromera.es

www.wanatur.com