Hemingway in the underground cellars

Every visitor leaves something behind "a smile, an anecdote, an insightful comment" but prominent figures leave an indelible memory, even after many years have elapsed.

Ernest Hemingway visited the calaos (underground cellars, in local speak) of Conde de los Andes at the end of September 1956. He was accompanied by his wife, Mary Welsh, and a great friend, the bullfighter Antonio Ordóñez, who was the star of the San Mateo festival in Logroño on the 21st.

The writer was at the peak of his career and fame. He had already been awarded the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prizes, and was very popular all over the world. He lived between Idaho, in the United States, and his estate on the outskirts of Havana, although he never ceased to spend long periods of time in Europe. His presence that day in Ollauri was part of his second trip to Spain in the 1950s. He went on to visit the country in the summers of 1959 and 1960.

A famous photograph immortalised Hemingway and Ordóñez standing at one of the inner gates of the bodega. A woman's arm is seen holding out a glass of wine to the bullfighter. It was probably María Luisa Olano, the legendary manager of Paternina, owner of the winery at the time.

"Where is Antonio?"

We believe that the place where Hemingway and Ordóñez stood is one of the entrances to what we now call the Calado de las Grandes Añadas (Great Vintages Cellar). This space, known in the past as the Sistine Chapel of Rioja, is one of the most spectacular in the underground cellars of Conde de los Andes. This is where we store bottles of all the vintages since the winery was formally founded in 1896.

Some verbal accounts of Hemingway's visit highlight his fascination when he contemplated the liquid gems resting in the legendary bottle cellar at the time. Among them were some bottles dating from his birth year, 1899. After a long, contemplative moment, the writer turned around abruptly and shouted: "Antonio! Where is Antonio?"

The bullfighter was outside smoking a cigarette. Hearing his friend's calls, he quickly ran inside. After a few minutes, they stepped outside to taste the wines. And thus, after enjoying the vintages of these Rioja Alta wines, concluded the iconic white-bearded writer's visit to Ollauri.

Ernest Hemingway talks to matador Antonio Sánchez from the burladero of a bullring. The image probably corresponds to the penultimate stay of the writer in Spain, in the summer of 1959, three years after his visit to Conde de los Andes.