For centuries it was important to have houses
in the vineyards. These charming buildings, some grander than others, were
mostly constructed between the XVII and XIX centuries. Many are shaded by fruit
trees, palms or cypresses and once served as accommodation for workers,
equipment stores, press-houses and occasionally holiday homes for the
bodegueros and their families. There would be a well and an almijar, the large
yard where the grapes were sunned before treading in the lagar, which was
usually done at night when the grapes were cooler, postponing fermentation.
Here the must was filled into butts for the journey to the bodegas in town.
|
Looking over the almijar to the casa de vina El Corregidor in its Sandeman days |
In readiness for the harvest there was much
activity: the almijar would be weeded and swept, the walls whitewashed and the
lagar cleaned with water and a brush made from sprigs of thyme. The canastas,
or harvesting baskets, made from olive twigs were repaired. It was important
that their conical shape was maintained so the minimum number of grape bunches
were pressing down on each other. The contents of one canasta, approximately
one arroba (12 kilos), fitted perfectly on one redor, the round esparto mats on
which the grapes were laid out to sun. After a hard day’s labour there was a
simple but filling meal and often considerable merrymaking.
|
Vina Romano, Gonzalez Byass |
Nowadays many casas de viña are abandoned,
victims of the onset of mechanisation in the 1960s, the uprooting of many
vineyards and even urbanisation. The grapes are now mostly harvested
nocturnally by machine and only very few are sunned to make sweet wines. They
are taken by truck to the bodegas and processed there in mechanical presses and
huge stainless steel fermentation tanks. While this achieves great control and
consistency, there are some who feel that the old inconsistency was a virtue.
|
The Castillo Macharnudo, once Domecq, now Fundador |
Not all the old vineyard houses have fallen
into disuse, thank goodness. Some bodegas use theirs for entertaining and there
are companies which rent them as peaceful retreats to holidaymakers. There is
even a most interesting route round the casas de viña in the Pago Balbaina,
details of which can be found at the website www.turismoelpuerto.com and for further exciting vineyard activities; www.rutadeljerezybrandy.es and www.rutasiete.es
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