Wine with Leslie: Planning ahead for holidays — and wine trips
'I'll be heading into Northern Spain with a drive to Santiago de Compostela'
I was asked recently about wine from the Canary Islands and the person was shocked that I had never visited them. In fact, I have never had a beach/sun holiday in my life and thankfully her good self has no interest either — both of us are happier in cities or in wine regions.
In June this year I plan to finally take the holiday that was originally planned for 2020: Brittany Ferries were kind enough to allow us postpone our booking for two years. The trip begins with a ferry ride from Cork to Roscoff to visit some friends in Brittany for a day or two before heading for Bordeaux and the Pyrenees, and then on into Northern Spain with a drive to Santiago de Compostela. We will then base ourselves in Valladolid right next to the wine regions of Toro, Ribera del Duero and Rueda. Valladolid is just two hours drive from Madrid should we need some bright lights and a bit of fancy shopping. We return via ferry from Bilbao to Rosslare, and I suspect the boot will contain a few bottles of wine and olive oil plus some chorizo, morcilla, manchego and tetilla cheese and packs of Padrón peppers.
