Living in Europe, you are surrounded by history in a technologically evolving setting. If I leave my house right now, I can step into a church dating back to the 9th century in just under fifteen minutes; but I can also walk out of the church and into the mobile telephone shop, where I can buy a phone that can also act as a computer, camera and stereo. Time in conjunction with human thought continually evolves, transforms and tumbles upon itself to create something that we intend to solve our problems. Yet, whatever we create today will eventually have a replacement - something faster, more efficient and sleeker in design. Therefore, in world that values modernity and technology, yet speaks of history and simplicity with nostalgia, must we always replace the old with the new?

Close your eyes. Now open them…

You emerge into a huge dark cavernous space dating back to the 19th century. The air is thick with dust and age, dirt and mold line the walls in dense patches, and the floor is rough and crusty from decades of hauling in grapes by horse and wagon. Large wooden vats tower over you, while batches of maroon stained grapevines wrapped tightly in cord to filter wines lie gently in slumber at your feet. You wrap your jacket tight around your shoulders from the chill in the air, as the stone walls act as insulators, forever keeping the temperature low and the humidity high.

Heading towards the doorway housing a long stone stairwell, steep and daunting, you pass various rusted tools used to cork bottles, stir wine and fix broken machines. Picking up your pace, curious at what lies below you, you’re suddenly …

Having just walked into our hotel five minutes ago as the clock struck 9:30pm, I feel like a decade has slipped through our fingers. Over the past three days traveling throughout Rioja, we’ve seen one of the oldest and most traditional; one of the newest and most technologically advanced; one of the smallest yet productive; one of the most extravagant and luxurious; one of the most the quirky and inexplicable; and one of the most intriguing wineries in Rioja. And it’s not to say there haven’t been similarities from one bodega to the next, but the diversity we’ve experienced has been outstanding in everything from their philosophy of winemaking to their definition of a Rioja wine.

First, allow me to give you the general breakdown of what we’ve experienced since Monday morning. We began our week with a short, but informative, tour of Bodegas Tobia, producing wines from the humble setting of their garage. This was followed by lovely visit to Haro, where we ogled the wind swept sandstone buildings, ate a simple lunch of hamburger stuffed red peppers, patatas riojanas, white asparagus in a white sauce and lamb chops with roasted potatoes and red peppers, and discussed Ryan’s family tree, which passed through this area five centuries ago. As the fog rolled in come early evening, we arrived to Lopez de Heredia, where we took a two hour tour with the public relations manager, Lidia Zanzar, followed by an additional two hour wine tasting with one of the many family heirs to the bodega, Maria Jose Lopez de Heredia. Content and on information-overload, we ended the evening in our hotel room eating a simple salad and sandwich from some crazy German chain called, …