A friend of mine, Vanessa (former neighbor) works in a bodega in the town over, so me and another friend of mine, Tim decided to go see her and take one of her tours. A bodega is where they make, process, and store the wine. The one she works at is called Bodega Barbadillo in the town of San Lucar, a small town located at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river, known for its manzanilla, a variety of sherry that can only be produced there, and its seafood. Even though Jerez is full of bodegas I had yet to visit one so I was excited for that reason, but even more excited to see my friend give the tour.
The tour was great, the bodega impressive and Vanessa did a great job at explaining the history and the process. Even better was the wine tasting and experience afterwards; at the end of the tour everyone has the opportunity of trying four different types of wine. Once everyone left we were treated to a VIP experience, Vanessa had to work for another hour, but they allowed us to keep drinking and keep trying different wines. We got to hang around the staff, who happened to be all beautiful women, while they put things in order and relaxed with a glass of wine. There’s not more you can ask for than free wine surrounded by beautiful women.
Filled with sherry and memories from a wonderful tour experience we made our way around the block to what we were told was one of the best local seafood places for lunch. Unassuming from the outside and plainly decorated on the inside; it was just one large room with seating and a horrible painted mustard yellow pointed design on half the wall. It’s as if the wall was trying to distract you from the amazing tasting seafood, but it couldn’t. I don’t know the names of everything we got other than the razor clams, red mullets or salmonetes and of course the sherry we drank, manzanilla; continuing what we started in the bodega.
After successfully satisfying our stomachs with different forms of aquatic life, we thought it only proper to spend time next to their former home. Equipped with a liter of manzanilla from the restaurant we drove to the nearest beach, Tres Piedras “three stone” in the town of Chipiona. We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking, eating sweets, sunbathing and enjoying the weather. When the sun started to set we made the move to a chiringuito; the name for a bar on the beach, and there we spent the rest of the time dancing and drinking as the sun set, which is around 10 o’clock here.
Of course, the day wouldn’t have been complete without a fish dinner. Luckily Tim had some fish at his house so, when we got back to Jerez we cooked it and ate it at 11:50 pm, a time still within the respectable realm of a Spanish dinner.