I am going to have to find more Galician traditions if I plan to stick around, because in March I checked another thing off my list of Galician things to do: a wine festival! Surely they have such traditions in other parts of Spain, but since Galicia is known for it's gastronomy and wine regions, this is an essential Galician activity.
Chantada is a big village in Lugo, smack dab in middle of the Ribeira Sacra, a wine region cultivated since Roman times. Buses from Lugo are scarce (public transportation is my biggest solvable complaint about Lugo/Galicia), so my friend and I were set to spend over 8 hours there; arriving before noon and leaving at 7. At first this was daunting, because if we got bored of the town there was no way home early. I brought cards just in case, but in the end that wasn't necessary. For March it was a surprisingly sunny and warm day. Qué suerte! Obviously since we got there in the morning it was too early for wine so we stopped in a café. Afterward, it still felt too early so we strolled the little market stands selling food, clothes, accessories, and typical Galician products. It was bigger than we had imagined, I thought it was just going to be the wine stands and little else. But of course I had to know that the market salespeople would bring their wares to such an occasion!
At the ¨appropriate¨ time for wine (when is that, exactly?) we started by purchasing a wineglass complete with neck strap. At first we looked pretty geeky, but later realized how handy they were! Then with a standing lunch, we started sampling. You could get a glass of red (Mencía) or white (Ribeiro) for 2-3€. About 10 wineries had their stands under the main tent. They weren't normal stands, but giant, hollowed-out barrels. Nice touch! Over the course of the afternoon I have no idea how many wines we sampled. We started with some reds, but then I remembered I don't even really like red, and Galician whites are so delicious. The community band entertained with movie soundtracks and my new friend and I bonded over our first wine fest experience, among other things. We didn't feel the need to befriend other festivalgoers, although everyone was friendly and merry. There was even a free wine judging, where you sampled 20 different brands and voted on them. This started later in the afternoon, and neither of us actually finished. Too many reds. But never too much wine.
Chantada is a big village in Lugo, smack dab in middle of the Ribeira Sacra, a wine region cultivated since Roman times. Buses from Lugo are scarce (public transportation is my biggest solvable complaint about Lugo/Galicia), so my friend and I were set to spend over 8 hours there; arriving before noon and leaving at 7. At first this was daunting, because if we got bored of the town there was no way home early. I brought cards just in case, but in the end that wasn't necessary. For March it was a surprisingly sunny and warm day. Qué suerte! Obviously since we got there in the morning it was too early for wine so we stopped in a café. Afterward, it still felt too early so we strolled the little market stands selling food, clothes, accessories, and typical Galician products. It was bigger than we had imagined, I thought it was just going to be the wine stands and little else. But of course I had to know that the market salespeople would bring their wares to such an occasion!
At the ¨appropriate¨ time for wine (when is that, exactly?) we started by purchasing a wineglass complete with neck strap. At first we looked pretty geeky, but later realized how handy they were! Then with a standing lunch, we started sampling. You could get a glass of red (Mencía) or white (Ribeiro) for 2-3€. About 10 wineries had their stands under the main tent. They weren't normal stands, but giant, hollowed-out barrels. Nice touch! Over the course of the afternoon I have no idea how many wines we sampled. We started with some reds, but then I remembered I don't even really like red, and Galician whites are so delicious. The community band entertained with movie soundtracks and my new friend and I bonded over our first wine fest experience, among other things. We didn't feel the need to befriend other festivalgoers, although everyone was friendly and merry. There was even a free wine judging, where you sampled 20 different brands and voted on them. This started later in the afternoon, and neither of us actually finished. Too many reds. But never too much wine.
