VISITING TIP: Wine tasting is done by reservation only, so make sure you book ahead of your arrival. Coming from Australia where you can just turn up at the cellar door and where majority of tastings is for free – we discovered it wasn’t like that in Rioja. You have to pre-book AND pay for the wine tasting.
So after numerous phone calls to a variety of vineyards in the region, we managed to book in 2 tastings at the last minute. First up was Ysios!
THE VINEYARD
Upon arrival, we walked down a long gravel pathway towards the impressive building with the wavy roof. Designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, the bodega is located at the foothills of the magnificent Sierra de Cantabria mountain – a postcard perfect backdrop for this unique building.
THE CELLAR DOOR
Entering the bodega, which opened in 2001, we waited in the foyer for our English-speaking tour to start. We opted for the Tutored Tasting (cost EUR 18 per person), a 30min wine tasting experience. It is here where the tour guide greets us and after some pleasantries of enquiring which country each of the visitors had come from, she commenced the tour with an introduction to the history of Ysios.
After this we are ushered into the expansive barrel room where we learn more about Ysios and its winemaking process.
THE TASTING
For the Tutored Tasting, we were taken upstairs to the Laguadia Room where we tasted 2 Ysios reds that were accompanied with some snacks. The wine served in each of the 2 glasses I found to be quite a small sample, they were lovely reds, but I wouldn’t say they were outstanding enough to entice us to buy a bottle from the vineyard.
The boys happily helped themselves to the snacks, while enjoying their ‘ water tasting’ from the Ysios glasses, just like mum and dad.
The highlight of the tour was the view from the tasting room. It was absolutely stunning! We were there on an overcast day and was in awe, so I can imagine just how amazing it would be on a bright sunny day. With the high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows, the architectural design of the building has definitely maximised its vantage points.
The tour guide was friendly and personable and the tour was quite informative, however I would have liked to have seen more of the inside of the building as part of the tour. Maybe you needed to pay more and be on a longer tour to see more? I’m not quite sure.
Overall, I found the tour to be quite expensive for what you got but I would recommend going as the architecture alone is well worth the visit
Website: https://www.bodegasysios.com/en/visit-the-winery
Taste Trips and Tantrums 
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