While the annoyed population in Mallorca, Barcelona and the Canary Islands is demonstrating against the onslaught of the masses, the Spanish tourism authorities are sparing no expense elsewhere to promote individual tourism. On a Monday morning in Madrid, the reporter found himself on a bus at Barajas airport, together with colleagues from Osaka, Rio de Janeiro, Copenhagen, Rome, Sao Paulo, Bergamo, Geneva, California and Warsaw. Later, a young influencer from China joined the media group.

While Spaniards like to travel to Castile-Leon for the weekend from Madrid, just two hours’ drive to the southeast, to escape the hustle and bustle of the capital, foreigners are more drawn to the big cities or the beaches. Alberto Bosque from the tourism authority would like to change that. Over dinner at the Monte La Reina winery, which offers first-class accommodation in a Moorish-style castle, Bosque has good arguments. Castile-Leon is larger than its neighbouring Portugal in terms of area, but has only 2.4 million inhabitants. They enjoy fascinating cities such as Salamanca and Valladolid, magnificent landscapes, a rich cuisine and a diverse wine scene. There are nine of the certified “Rutas del Vino” with which the Spanish Association of Wine Towns (Acevin) promotes oenotourism.

We focus on the regions of Toro and Rueda, named after the small towns of the same name. The idyllic, historic town of Toro is an ideal place to get a feel for the country and its people. It is located on a rocky plateau at an altitude of 700 metres and offers a fantastic view of the Duero, the third longest river in Spain, which once separated the Moors from the Christians. The collegiate church of Santa María La Mayor from the 12th century is definitely worth seeing.

But what really matters in Toro is shown by the guide’s comment that many historic walls were not built with water, but with the help of wine. There was always plenty of it. Today, 12 million liters are produced on 4,400 hectares, almost exclusively red wine from the Tinta de Toro, an original form of the Tempranillo grape, which produces deep, concentrated and often first-class wines.

This was not always the case, as the work in the ancient wine cellars, which are spread in their hundreds throughout the entire growing area, was arduous and production was often faulty. Everything changed in the 1980s, when the pioneer winemaker Manolo Fariña began to harvest earlier and use temperature-controlled steel tanks. The Fariña winery in Toro is now one of the region’s major players, has capacity for two million bottles and is breaking new ground in marketing: every year there is an artist competition, the winning design of which becomes the label of a Fariña wine.

Ernesto del Palacio (Tito) shows us what it used to be like in San Roman de Hornija. The winery of the same name is proud of a cellar that goes deep into the earth directly beneath the vineyards and dates back to the 7th century. 600-year-old barrels and an even older, huge wooden press fill the narrow corridors. The equipment has long since become a museum and tourist attraction, and the winery’s 600,000 bottles per year are produced using modern equipment.

The neighboring winemaker Victoria Benavides, who studied viticulture in Madrid and Bordeaux, also swears by the latest technology. She pays homage to tradition in a different way: her Elias Mora winery is named after a now 100-year-old winemaker who sold her the first grapes in 2000. What started out as a modest beginning has grown into an annual production of 200,000 bottles.

In the Rueda wine-growing region to the east, the figures are different. Around 110 million bottles are produced here on 20,000 hectares – white wine from the Verdejo grape, fresh and crisp. Rueda is popular throughout Spain and can be found in every supermarket, not least because of its reasonable price.

Always keeping an eye on the Duero

The Rueda tour is also best started with a wide view over the landscape dominated by the Duero. There is no better place to do this than in Castronuño, where after a small breakfast in the fabulous Café Xokoreto you can descend over 100 steps to the nature reserve on the river bank. Down there you feel like you are in the rainforest and can take a short hike on a circular path.

This means you are prepared for your next trip into the underworld. An impressive network of cellars has also been created in the center of Rueda. “Back then, wine was part of the daily menu,” says Marcos Yllera from the winery of the same name during a tour through the in-house labyrinth. Marketing wine has become more difficult in the meantime. At Yllera, they rely on a Verdejo Frizzante with only 5.5 percent alcohol, which accounts for a third of the annual production of five to six million bottles.

At the De Alberto winery, also blessed with a cellar worth seeing, the unique selling point is a sea of ​​large gallons in which the bodega’s flagship wine, the Dorado, matures for up to a year outdoors in the sun. The dry wine with 17.5 percent alcohol is similar to a sherry.

The boutique winery Montepedrosa is prominently located on a hill above the town, without a historic cellar. The Martinez-Bujanda family, however, has three other wineries in other parts of the country. The Bodega Muelas in the middle of Tordesillas, on the other hand, is really tiny. From the atmospheric wine shop, the winding cellar leads down over three levels, and you get an idea of ​​how great the passion of the two sisters and brother-in-law for wine must be to produce 20,000 bottles per year under these conditions. But it’s worth it: the wines are of very good quality, “and we don’t have any problems with sales,” says cellar master Félix Blanco.

The research was supported by www.turismocastillayleon.com