Yesterday, I started a 12 day wine tour in the north of Spain with two previous clients of mine and two of their friends. Leaving Madrid we stopped off at El Escorial, the enourmous palace, monastery, mausoleum that was constructed by the Spanish king Felipe II. Its incredible size is a statement of Spain’s power in the 16th century.
After a light lunch which my clients accompanied with a bottle of Condado de Haza we headed to Segovia. This is one of my favourite Castillian towns with its Roman aqueduct, gothic cathedral, fairy-tale like alcazar and many other fine buildings.
Segovia is famous for suckling pig and people make a pilgrimmage to eat it at a number of local restaurants. We went for dinner at probably the most famous restaurant of all, Cándido, situated right next to the aqueduct. The suckling pig was very good and we accompanied it with two very good wines from the Ribera del Duero, Pago de los Capellanes Reserva 2011 and Viña Pedrosa Reserva, 2011. The first was a lighter more elegant wine whilst the second was deeper, more mineral and earthy.
