What do you fancy most after a celebration full of good food and rich wines? One answer that many people surely share is walking. Yes: take a quiet and restful walk to clear body and mind.
For us, a simple and pleasant Christmas tradition is to travel the short distance that connects the town of Elciego with our vineyards in the area of El Gallo. After walking a couple of kilometers along a track between plots of tempranillo and viura vines, we reach a stone hut, one of those traditional constructions that dot our vineyard landscape. If the day is clear and clear, the views offered by this flat and high place are unstoppable: to the north, very close, all the mountains of Toloño and Cantabria; on the other side of the Ebro valley, the different massifs that form the Iberian system on the Rioja side. Among them, to the southwest, the Sierra de la Demanda stands out, with its maximum height, the San Lorenzo peak.
At this time of the year, the slopes and troughs of our land are dominated by the ocher, brown and brown colors of soils and vines. The vineyard, bare of leaves and partially pruned, offers that image of austerity and recollection so typical of winter. If we are lucky that it has snowed, the environment is dressed in a beautiful color combination and the walk is even more enjoyable.
Do we follow the promenade? From the high plateau of El Gallo, a good option is to cross the vineyard to the south and connect with a wide track that begins a gentle descent towards the Ebro valley. We will pass through places like Garcimoracho, where our white tempranillo vines extend. It is a gradual descent and at its end it fits between steep slopes that give way to the broad vineyard of Valduengo, on the banks of the great river. The environment is very different, wetter and more protected from the west and north winds. From here the return to Elciego can be done by the A-3210 road just at the foot of the bridge that connects with the term of Cenicero.
The forest alternative
An alternative walk to our "classic" of El Gallo is the one that leaves the Casa de Eguía (headquarters of our main elaborating activities, located in the northwest exit of the town) and leads to the forest of La Salera. It is a small formation of holm oaks, testimony of a past time when much of the Rioja Alavesa was covered with forest mass. Located on land belonging to the neighboring municipality of Navaridas, La Salera offers a shelter in the middle of the clear vineyard. It is a place of rugged calm, which shows well the diversity of landscapes and microclimates of our land. Three kilometers separate this oak wood from Elciego: a good walk to close a great holiday.
A sector of La Salera forest, in a photograph taken last summer
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