Earlier this week I ran a wine tour to the Arcos de la Frontera area. Arcos is one of the famed white villages and is very spectacular with the old part of the town atop a sandstone ridge with towering vertical cliffs. I was with a group of wonderful Australians who were real fun to be with. at the winery quite a lot of the grapes had already been picked. In the  photo below you can see a large part of the vineyard with the leaves already changing colour and drying out.

 

The second photo is of the triconical oak fermentation vats which are used for the higher-end wines.

The final photo is in the tasting room where we tasted 4 wines, a white made from Chardonnay, a rosé and two reds. For the reds the winery grows 4 grapes; Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tintilla de Rota which is an aromatic local grape. Syrah vines make up the major part of the vineyard.

My clients enjoyed all the wines and favourably compared the reds with Syrah or Shiraz based wines from their homeland.