Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Posted by : John Ross on Jul 19, 2008 - 01:13 PM Andalusia

Ronda's Casa del Gigante, Giant's House, gets its name from an ancient statue or relief on one of its corners. It is actually a Moorish palace, specifically a Nasrid palace - the Nasrids were the dynasty which ruled the taifas, minor kingdoms, of Ronda, and the last Moorish kingdom in Spain, the taifa of Granada, where they built Spain's most famous building, the Alhambra. The Giant's House is not the Alhambra - there is only one Alhambra, replicas apart - but it is worth visiting if you are in Ronda - itself one of the finest excursions you can make from the Costa del Sol. The Casa del Gigante will give you a taste of the exuberance of Moorish architecture, it doesn't require queuing for hours, and the entrance is much cheaper than its big brother. The reason I am telling you all this is that part of the house now belongs to a winery, Bodegas La Sangre, which has sent in a link request for its Wine Museum with a description which is far too long to use as a link annotation, but too good to waste, so I include it here as a news item.

The winery "la sangre" offers you the opportunity to know, to smell and to savour a tradition in Ronda that has at least 6.000 years of history.

In one of the most beautiful houses in Ronda, which formed part of the "giant's house" are to be found valuable archaelogical romains from the Iberian, Roman and arabic cultures, and amongst them a wine press. In the XIV century the house was the NAZARI palace and finally towards the middle of the XX century a winery. The house conserves a lobely patio surroended by columns suppoting a superb wooden balcony.

Since the first prehistoric settlements in our area and the regions of Andalucia it has been observed that alongside our own evolution a product has been developed, a commodity fundamental to food, to recreation and to relious rituals - this is wine. passing throung civilizations, Iberian, Greek, Carthaginian, Byzantine, Phoenician, Roman, Visigoth and Arab ect. all of whom make us what we are todey, our wines left behind traces of what they were and at the same time became enriched and production improved with the variety and kowlwdge of new techniques.

You will be to learn its secrets, the reason for the colour and smell, and how it is matured and produced in the wine cellars. At our museum and wine tasting school "Escuela de Cata" we open the doors to you to a world of passion. Besides learning how to differentiate between diferent taste you will be able to analyse and pick out the more than 56 aromas that we have catalogued as being possible in one glass, and wiht pleasure we always invite you to taste some of our wines. We run all levels of courses from basic to those directed at professionals who wish to futher develop their knowledge.

More:
Ronda Wine Museum website