Greece 2014 Adventure Robola Wines & Kastro church ruins Day 6
Our second stop was the Robola Co-operative of Cephalonia. Not before we had some excitement. We had a bus/coach jam, the tour operator said in her 30 years this had never happened. check how narrow the road is. we had a "bakkie" to our left who was busy unpacking in his driveway and was not interested in moving. The bus in front of us was also not going to move. To our right was a narrow road which the bus in view would be able to drive down and allow us to pass. we could not reverse. this took some Island descriptive language some Mediterranean body language and eventually the other bus did just that. it was epic!!
We also passed a little church dedicated to Mary on our left which was in ruins due to past earthquakes. I could not get a good shot of it. we also passed many ruined monasteries and chapels too many to recall.
The Omala Valley and first sighing of the St Gerassimo Monastery.
into the Omala Valley and plains we head.
The actual winery is situated close to the Saint Gerassimo Monastery (our next stop) at the Omala Valley. They also have a Robola Museum.
The families of the Co-operative members all individually own their vineyards. the vineyards are located on the south facing slopes thriving in full sun and take full advantage of the high temperatures during the summer months. Seismic activity (hell was sooo glad that we did not experience any seismic activity while on our holiday on the Island), and the microclimates created by the mountain (Mt Ainos.....again this mountain is very important....see mountains make the world go round!!) the anhydrosity of the bedrock and the winter and summer temperatures all combine to provide the perfect home for the Islands grapes to produce their wine.
Cultivation by mechanical means is not an option for the Island folk because of the altitude and the location of the majority of the vineyards. the vines sit on really poor soils, but their strong roots (thank goodness for that or we would not be wine tasting!!) extend into the cracks and crevices in the Dolomitic limestone bedrock, which has been fractured by seismic action (there is that word again...) since antiquity. These cracks are filed with better soils which are wasting in by the winter rains. The rock is very anhydrous and the vines root system survive by obtain water by capillary action.
Our guide informed us that to create this successful capillary action the growers allow the vines to "bush out" in order to create shade. this is one of the many reasons for the vines low appearance.
The place was full of wasps all wanting a taste of the fresh grapes just brought in by the farmers. Our guide told us not to swat them they are not after us only the sweet grapes. Ok then......I was brave and did not swat but I needed some wine to cure the nerves.!!
We then walked down a flight of stairs and into the room where the wine is bottled and stacked ready for shipment.
Being the last of the big drinkers it would be a challenge as several wines were laid out for us to taste. I wondered if we were to taste swirl the wine in our mouths then spit it out (seen it done on TV never done it myself). I saw a large silver vase thingie and it was tempting.I did see someone spit into it but I nearly got sick just listening to them so I walked to the other side of the table and sampled tiny sips of each of the wines - it probably made up 3/4 of a small glass of wine.
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| Stella teaching me to Greek drink wine... |
None the less for me that was quiet enough and with rosey cheeks, armed with a bottle of newly bought wine and of course a large spring in my step we made our careful back to the tour coach.!!
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