“Life is too short to drink bad wine.”
(France)
The winemaker family of the Star Winery dates as far as four generations ago, when vines started being grown in the Castille region in the XIX century due to the expansion of the phylloxera plague in the rest of Europe. The efforts of the first generation were rewarded with the Silver Medal of white and red wine of the 1928 harvest as well in the Barcelona’s National Wine Competition in 1929.
The family’s third generation under the lead of one of the main pioneers of Biological Agriculture in Spain and after sessions of training and consultancy achieved producing the first ecological wine in Castilla la Mancha in 1984, marking so an important milestone for the winery’s development. An independent movement was forged which consisted in becoming an “independent wine-grower”, an adapted-from-French term referring to people who make wine from the vines they grow.
Presently the fourth generation finds itself clashing with the de-naturalized practices of mass production and chooses to undertake as a result the beautiful and challenging path of the independent and ecological winemaker, only counting with biological vines and natural manufacturing.
Relevance and popularity in the area
The Stars Winery is highly participative of local events and celebrations, bringing a taste of its finest wines to cultural life, some of which including:
- The young wines celebration usually takes place after carnival, to present the newly and/or recently produced wines of different colour and textures. It consists in a weekend where visitors are invited to a guided tour of the winery as well as wine tasting.
- “Note of Wine” usually takes place on June 23, on the Summer Solstice. During theday a walk in the vineyard is organized and in the evening in collaboration with the Valdepeñas town hall and other local wineries, the attendants have the possibility to enjoy performances such as concerts or theatre plays in the company of a glass of wine.
- The harvest celebration is a local festivity that happens on the 7th of September and the winery opens its doors to visitors to taste grape juice which will processed to wine.
“Make your own wine!” is organized in October during the second harvest. The winery opens its door to traditional activities such as grape-picking, grape treading, wine tasting with explication of the cycles of a vineyard.
Guided visit and wine tasting
Apart from the popular and traditional celebrations, customers will be welcomed to book a wine tasting and guided visit of the facilities organized by the winery. Dedicated staff members will take the visitors on a tour and will explain particularities such as:
- Historical background and local particularities of production
- Biological agriculture and the effects of the moon and stars in wine cultivation and elaboration
- How the moon and star model the taste and quality of grapes and wine
The visitors will also be offered to taste 3 wines per couple (6 in total) accompanied with 3 local snacks and upon finalization will be gifted with a didactic complement of the visit “Tasting guide of the four elements” as well as a moon calendar.
Premium guided visit and “Star Tasting” training course
The visit is led by Dionisio Nova, the current owner who explains how wine is integrated with the cycles and rhythms of the moon and stars. Special attention is also given to the explication of the ecological aspect of vine caring, production processes and wine quality.
The training course uses the qualities of four elements, air, water, fire and earth to explain the different qualities, properties, colours, flavours, tastes and textures that are reached through agriculture and elaboration.
The wine-food harmony and ways to boost will be as well explored. Finally, the attendants are taught to use the “At the Moon’s compass” calendar and how to apply it to wine tasting.
A selection of 5 wines and local snack are offered.
“At the Moon’s Compass” training course
Customers who wish to deepen their knowledge of wines are welcomed to attend “At the moon’s compass” wine tasting and training course where they will have the chance to learn more wine qualities such as colour, flavour, texture etc., elements such as brand, origin, cultivation etc., how to distinguish wine quality and how to use a more technical and yet easy-to-use vocabulary to describe them.
At least 5 types of wines will be tastes accompanied with snacks from the area.
Previous booking is required for all the activities and a phone number is provided for booking, being the attending hours 10:00-14:00 from Monday to Friday.
Visits are done from Monday to Sunday at 12:00, including holidays and may be carried out Spanish, French and English upon request.
- For the guided visit and the wine tasting event, visitors may participate individually, as a group or as a family.
- The Premium guided visit and “Star Tasting” training course lasts 2.5 hours and a minimal group of 6 people is required. Saturday at 12:00 is highly recommended. Due to its high intensity minors are not allowed to participate. Prior booking is a must.
- The “At the Moon’s Compass” training course lasts 3 hours and a minimal group of 6 is required. Due to its high intensity minors are not allowed to participate. Prior booking is a must.
Accommodation is available in the town’s hotels.
The facilities of la Bodega de las Estrellas can be reached by highway or national roads. Connections by train and bus are available to Valdepeñas.
A map on how to reach the facilities from Madrid or Andalucia being in a car or a bus is provided in the company’s website:
http://labodegadelasestrellas.com/es/acceso-a-la-bodega/15
Find us here:
Phone numbers: 926 313248 or 650 552 976
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