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Hotel Cortijo del Marques - A Return Journey

One of my favourite types of hotels is owner-run and historical. I´m a lover of ancient wooden doors, that have seen generations pass through their doors. On a recent one night escape I headed to the wonderful Hotel Cortijo del Marqués deep in the countyside of Granada province yet only twenty minutes drive to that incredibly fascinating provincial capital - Granada city. The city was not my destination on this quick get away, it was peace and enforced relaxation that I sought, and got. After leaving the main Madrid - Granada road a decent 4km track winds through olive groves and farmland to the Cortijo an ancient manor house bestowed to a Marques when Granada fell from Moorish control.  The walled manor house has a gorgeous wooden gateway into a cobbled courtyard where tinkling fountains sit between the restaurant and the hotel reception. Pass by the chapel and through an inner entranceway into another cobbled  courtyard surrrounded by the hotel rooms, one corner of which hides the sw
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Homemade and Organic Wine Time

Back in September I was coerced into doing something with my abundant grape crop by one of my rather large and scary Spanish neighbours. Then in February I dried orange peel because when making orange juice to try and get through the carrier bags full of home grown oranges we'd been given I couldn't bear to put all the peels in the bin (I don't put food in rubbish and they can't go in the worm compost bag).

I'd been feeling rather pleased with my domesticity (see post Becoming More Españolised - drying orange-peel domesticated) waste not want not, recycle everything and all that and I'd need the dried orange peel for this years batch of wine (or vinegar) and for firelighters, (although I can't for the life of me remember where I've stored the jars right now).


So from September I'd been having impatient glances at the demijohns and thought waiting for May was going to be unbearable. Well May came and went in a whirl of activity, so did June and just last night we finally got around to testing the big jar (the partial one was fantastic vinegar).

Carefully, as instructed, (non of that sterilizing everything, racking off, siphoning off stuff of my past experiences)just pouring it into bottles, then rather apprehensively we tasted the tiniest of sips (we knew what a slurp of vinegar was like) and looked at each other. Another taste and oh my, amazing. Wine. We'd made wine and not just any wine but a nice dry sherry-like wine. Ok it's a bit cloudy at the moment but it is niiiice.

First bottles getting a cork, rest in 5 litre containers

So we now have organic wine, vinegar and dried orange peel on the menu. There'll be no nagging this year, the grape crop will be eagerly awaited and soon harvested.

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