Visitors are very welcome, but please contact me first to make an appointment, because I'm not there every day:
- My email is: enestoslugares@gmail.com
- The address is: C./ San Pedro de Alcántara, 1; 05270 EL TIEMBLO (Ávila) Spain
The winery is right in the middle of the village, on the main street, next to the bull-ring.
The building is a historic building, built in 1958. It used to be the village wine co-operative (called Sociedad Agraria de Transformación Nº 1162) until it went out of business in 2009. The walls are made of stone and are extremely thick. It contains about 50 concrete fermentation/storage tanks and has a total capacity of about 1.2 million liters.
It has a patio, which is a bit messy and overrun at the moment, but as soon as I have time, I'll beautify it and I'll use it for tastings and dinners!
It took me a long time to find such a place - 11 years, no less! In that time, I changed winery 4 times, each time moving to a slightly better place. During my last 2 years as a nomad, I had the good fortune to share a real bodega in Morata de Tajuña, but before that I worked out of an abandoned cow-shed (in Ambite, 5 years), before that a basement/cellar (in Perlaes de Tajuña, 2 years) and before that a house/cave (in Tielmes, 2 years).
I think this goes to show that it's possible to achieve anything you set your mind to in this life. It's not that I'm special in any way, ie I'm not rich, or intelligent, nor am I an astute businessman, or charismatic, or anything like that - It's just that for the last 11 years I've been determined to find a bodega - and lo and behold - I did! I've read lots of those 'self-improvement' or 'how to be a millionaire' type books in my time and I think what they preach is basically true, ie that you can do anything you put your mind to. But the fact is that I don't really want to be a millionaire that much; the effort and commitment is just too much! All I aspire to in this life is to make good, terroir-expressing wine! And lo and behold again - one thing led to another, and another, and another, and eventually, after 11 years, one thing led to me being in a position to rent this awesome historic building in the Gredos Mountains, and here I am!
At the time of writing this page (July 2013) I'm still in the process of cleaning, painting and refurbishing the building.
I've sunk what's left of my life savings into this venture, after separating on unfavourable terms from my ex-business-partner last year (2012). But I've put all that behind me already and am looking forward to the future, as if it were a fresh start. And in a way, it will be a fresh start, as I'll be in a new region, I'll be working with new vineyards and grape varieties (in addition to my beloved Airén and Malvar and Tempranillo from Carabaña and Villarejo), and I'll be designing a new logo and labels.
In addition to a vast amount of space and capacity for fermentation and storage, I also plan to do other wine-related activities, in collaboration with Daniel Ramos (with whom I'm sharing the building). For example, wine tourism and visits to the bodega. We have space in the basement, to set up a wine museum, using all the ancient bits and pieces of equipment and articles that we found abandoned in the bodega when we moved in a few months ago. We also have space to set up a shop (outside the bodega, on the main street), not only selling our own wines, but also maybe other local wines and products. We also have space for a tasting room/area inside the bodega on the first floor on top of the concrete fermentation tanks. The possibilities are endless! And we haven't even had time to think about them properly yet, as we've been so busy with the cleaning/refurbishing.
Map of El Tiemblo:
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