Haft-day Winery tour from Zaragoza

Jorge was excellent. Was prompt, personable, and made the tour very interesting. I would recommend him to anyone. 10/10.

Jorge's promptly met my brother and I at The Goya Hotel in old town Zaragoza. From the start Jorge is very engaging and before we set off he gave us some introductions to the area and his background. His English was excellent, which helped us out immensely. He explained we were going to 2 wineries and could see he was genuinely excited and proud to show what the region had to offer. Our first stop was in a typical little rural village, not far from Zaragoza. As we drove up the building we could see Bodegas Anson, a family run winery that had generations of experience and was now ran by two sisters. Maria, the winemaker affectionately showed us round the winery stopping and explaining each stage from field to bottle. This is where we first heard about the Garnacha and Macebeo grape varieties. Maria made us feel welcome we felt privileged to sit at her family table sampling white, rose and two reds with manchego and Teruel Jamon. We could clearly see Maria was trying to future proof the quality product by trying new ideas, she had recently come back from Chile on a fact finding mission. Not one to be missed, but we had our second stop a little further out, so we bid Maria farewell. As we drove up the track the huge iron gates Libre y Salvaje stood before us. Jorge pulled on the bell cord to signal we were here. This is where we me Angel, a young guy who we could tell was really excited about what was going on with the grapes behind the gates. We walked into an impressive white limestone walled courtyard and then up onto the roof to see the vineyards. Angel then explained the history and ethos behind the winery, Free and Wild. Which all soon became apparent, as he unbolted the large oak wooded door. Both Jorge and Angel, said ‘are you ready’…where we were then met with the most surreal experience, staring into the depths of several subterranean passageways. These caves were as old as the hills and there was remnants left from previous winemakers…six foot clay casks lined up like huge Russian dolls. The place was mesmerising as were showed round in the dim flickering amber light, we felt like archeologists. As we surfaced from the caves, now came the best bit, sampling the Carinena and Garnacha product. What a treat, Angel talked us through how they’re thinking outside the box, combining the ancient(clay), traditional( concrete) and new(steel) process to produce something that is so unique. These were some of the best white and reds we had tasted from Spain. We could have sat round the farmhouse table drinking and taking about wine. Jorge orchestrated a fantastic day with passionate people from wineries….we will definitely be buying some of these wines, but couldn’t thank Jorge enough for a wonderful day. If you’re ever in Zaragoza, make sure you hook up with Jorge, he will unlock the secrets

What a fantastic trip. We visited two wineries and learnt so much about the local area. Jorge was such a great guy and made it such a memorable experience. If you enjoy drinking and learning about wine, then you must do this trip.