What have we done?
Hello, thirsty community. We know we haven’t posted anything for a long time, but the truth is that to work while traveling and try to create content is more challenging than you can imagine. Time goes by so fast, and you have to choose whether to work in your company, rest, study, explore the place you are, or create.
Since we are taking this as a project, we decided that experiencing the places in our free time is the best thing to do. Because by getting to know them, we can bring you more accurate and interesting information when we are free to do it, hahaha.
As the name of this blog suggests, we are here to talk about Glasses as well as Views. And in this article, we are going to tell you about a beautiful medieval vineyard in the middle of Mexico. The Winery Toyan.
The City San Miguel de Allende
San Miguel de Allende is a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is situated around 45 minutes driving from the capital, Guanajuato. We decided to go there for a weekend to celebrate our 5 months together. It was all an odyssey to arrive there since just before leaving we discovered we had a flat tire, so by the time we were ready to go it was starting to become night, and we couldn’t drive too fast because we were using the spare tire, so all the way we had to drive like at 60 km per hour because in addition to the former, there weren’t any lights on the driveway lol.
When we finally got to the city we were decided to drink two bottles of wine to celebrate our victory, but when we arrived, the OXXO had stopped selling alcohol 10 minutes before we get there due to COVID. The hotel bar had also closed and the only way we could get a bottle was with the help of one of the employees, however, each bottle was over 50usd. So, we ended up going to sleep early to rest and enjoy of the next day.
We really loved San Miguel de Allende since it is situated in the mountains, like Guanajuato, you get to see amazing views of the city with its baroque/neoclassical buildings and nature. Most of the buildings in the historic center are from the 17th and 18th century, it gives you a very special feeling walking down those cobble streets. San Miguel de Allende is a city with a lot of cultural movement, being a key location for important exhibitions of local and international artists, boutiques, restaurants, hotels and more.
Also, due to the huge flow of people with high purchasing power, the city hosts a lot of very exclusive nightclubs, bars, boutique hotels and spas. This said, the city is not one of the cheapest places to go or to explore. We went there in a very relaxed plan, with the objective of resting, walking the historic center, eating nice food and visiting a vineyard, that is, the Winery Toyan.
The Winery
Arriving at this vineyard is a complete experience; when you enter, you cross pillars with gargoyles and angels on the top, the former scares the bad energies and the latter attracting the good ones. We were told that the owner believes a lot in energy, so everything in the construction has an energetic reason according to different practices, religions and beliefs. You can also find a lot of pyramid-like structures, and everything there is organic. The wine cellar was built with the same technic as old mines, with just a pick.
Down there, they keep the wine bottles and barrels in a cool environment only lit by candles. Being there is a unique experience. We had never visited a vineyard like that; the medieval feeling is real; also the wine tasting at their hall is astonishing and delicious. You go to a classic saloon with sculptures of Dionisio and his Wife, candles, lights, and all wood furniture.
Once a year, they host a medieval party, where they all go in costumes from that age, eat without any cutlery, do grape stomping, and have concerts. They are currently building a hotel and a small private airport, so you can fly there directly and stay. We highly recommend you visiting; you definitely won’t regret it.
If you join the visitation, you have the right to purchase their organic wine bottles. They do not sell it outside the winery, just and exclusively for those who go there to experience how they produce their art.
We tried four different grapes. Cabernet Frank, Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé and Syrah; they came with different snacks. All of them are 100% organic and have no Sulfites (the artificial preservative that are used in industrial wines and are responsible for the terrible headache the next day), so yes, you can finish four bottles and will have no headache 🙂 we can confirm that since that was what we did 🥂
We tried to guess the price of the bottles, and for our surprise, they were cheaper than we thought.
How much it costs?
We purchased two bottles of Cabernet Frank and two bottles of Rosé:
Cabernet Frank 450 pesos (22 usd)
Rose 200 pesos (10 usd)
Sauvignon Blanc 250 pesos (12 usd)
Syrah 300 pesos (15 usd)
A curious fact is that the Organic Rose is a deep red, not close to the rose we are used to, it is closer to the red wine. However, the taste does not lie. It is one of the best Roses we have drunk in our lives. Totally worth it. It takes 10 minutes driving from the center of San Miguel de Allende to arrive there, and the visitation costs 500 mx pesos (25 usd) each one.
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