As someone who gets up at 4.30am on 330 days of the year, I’ve decided that 8.30 in the morning is a dignified time to wake up on the other 35. The Spanish lifestyle is kind of like daylight saving, but in the opposite direction. Wake up 8.30am, coffee/hot chocolate for breakfast, lunch at around 3pm (which lasts for at least 2 hours), have a nana-nap, wander out for supper at 8.30pm, go to bed around midnight. Rinse and repeat.

I apologise for the lapse of travel blogging, but there’s been New Year’s Eve, public holidays, and days just spent wandering around village laneways and seaside promenades.

Today we went on a food and wine tour with ‘Tannin Trail’, and husband and wife team who run small boutique tours of the vineyards around Ronda (http://www.tannintrail.com).

We were picked up at the crack of 8.30am (we had to set an alarm as it was waaaaaay earlier than our normal wake up time) in a black Mercedes van. We were driven 750m above sea level, past the historic town of Ronda, to a vineyard called – wait for it – Chinchilla!!! Imaging traveling to the other side of the world, and ending up in Chinchilla (of course it’s pronounced the Spanish way, where the double “LL” is pronounced “Y” so Chin-chi-yah).

On our way to Chinchilla, our guide pointed out some Iberian pigs, grazing in a paddock by the road. Iberian pigs have black, shiny skin, a propensity to obesity, and a great capacity to accumulate intra-muscular fat. Needless to say they make the most delicious cured meats and pork dishes, highly favoured by the Spanish and featured on menus everywhere. It’s not just pork, its IBERIAN pork.

The wine tastings at Chinchilla were paired with food – less of a wine tasting, more like a three-course degustation menu. Delicious morsels home-made by the owners and perfectly matched to suit the flavours of the wine. Of course, there was Iberian pork, and I thought (fleetingly) of my piggy friends out in the paddock beyond. There was also Tortilla (Spanish omelette), crab mousse, pate, smoked salmon and other things I can no longer remember. We toured the cellar, and the vines and the packing sheds – the history and the process all explained in heavily accented English. We were at Chinchilla for a couple of hours – these things cannot be rushed.

Ronda’s wine industry is ancient, with evidence the Romans cultivated vines way back around 50 BC (‘Ronda La Vieja’ – Land of Wines). However, in the early 19th Century, a disease caused by insects, attacked the roots of the vines, completely destroying the vineyards. Not a grape was grown in Ronda for nearly 200 years! As a result, many of the vines we visited today were quite young, only 20 years old.

After Chinchilla, it was off to Ronda, were we had over two hours to wonder around the ancient city. Ronda is perched on a plateau with dramatic escarpments and views over the Serranía de Ronda Mountains. It is situated above the deep El Tajo gorge and features an 18th century bridge which straddles the chasm in an amazing feat of engineering and ingenuity. The views outward are unparalleled, the views downward are heart-stopping.

Back to the van and on to the next vineyard, Bodegas Garcia Hidalgo, where we will be having lunch. Again, the tour of the vines, the cellar, the enthusiastic explanation (by Miguel, owner and wine maker) in heavily accented English. It’s a tiny vineyard run by a husband (Miguel) and wife (Isobel) team who do everything, the wine tours, the pruning, the harvest, the bottling, the labelling, the cleaning, the cooking and they grow all their own food!. They also run a small B&B, plus offer Spanish cooking classes. I wonder when they have time to sleep.

By 3pm, it’s lunchtime. The dining room is large with terracotta floor tiles, high ceilings and tables set with snow white table cloths – it’s very rustic. The sun is streaming though the tall windows, and we overlook the bare Winter vines outside. There’s eight of us at our table, including four Americanos, who weren’t as annoying as I thought they would be. We start with fresh bread, home-made and straight from the oven. It’s the size of a full oven tray and at least 4 inches high. It’s sliced thickly, and placed in a large basket along with bottles of olive oil, grown and pressed on the farm. The bread is torn into chunks and dipped into olive oil – and it’s divine.

Something I never knew before about olive oil….it goes off. It has a shelf life of only about 9 months, and a long discussion was held over lunch about the virtues of olive oil and the ‘cheap’ oils that are blended and filled with chemicals. Apparently, some of the better olive oil producers are now adding the vintage date to their labels, so people know when the oil was produced. There’s a test to determine if you are using ‘real’ olive oil – put the oil in a small glass in the fridge overnight. It should become thick and cloudy (the monounsaturated fats solidify when cold). If not, it’s a blend and full of chemicals. We’re told about a specialty olive oil shop in Marbella’s Old Town – and I immediately want to go there. So folks, buy smaller bottles of olive oil and use it all within 6 months, then buy the next bottle. Buy the best olive oil you can afford. I am now an olive oil aficionado!!!

There were two courses of tapas, each course consisting of 5 or 6 different items. And then there was the main course, a seafood paella. The food was amazing. Oh, there was wine too, but the food!!

There’s a word in Spanish “sobremesa” which means the time spent in conversation at the dining table following the meal. We have sobremesa down to a fine art.

#ILoveSpain