Aula· Spain, city by cityCastilla-La Mancha
Tomelloso
«Tomelloso produce una gran cantidad de vino en Castilla.»Tomelloso produces a large quantity of wine in Castile.
Tomelloso is a centre in eastern La Mancha born around a well, on a plain without rivers or hills. Its economy is wine: kilometres of cellars dug into the earth run under the houses, and in the fields remain the "bombos", the dry-stone shelters built by those who worked there.
Did you know
Hundreds of cellars under houses.
Underground in the city, there are hundreds of traditional hand-dug cellars called cuevas.
How they talk in Tomelloso
«Cueva» here can refer to a domestic underground cellar, not a natural cave. «Bombos» is the name of the dry-stone rural structures scattered throughout the territory of Tomelloso.
ea
Yes; sure; alright, in addition to general hortatory values. In Manchego speech it can confirm what the interlocutor has said or conclude a decision; the precise value depends on the intonation.
Everyday life in Tomelloso
The «cuevas» under the houses
Under the town there are thousands of cellars dug by hand into the tuff, one per house, where wine was made. Many still exist, you go down through a trapdoor in the kitchen, and they keep at twelve degrees all year round.
«La bodega está debajo de la casa.» — The cellar is under the house.
The «bombos» in the middle of the vineyards
Round dry-stone huts, without mortar, where farmers slept during the grape harvest. There are hundreds of them in the surrounding countryside, still standing.
The «vendimia» brings the town to a halt
In September the cooperatives work day and night and the streets smell of must for weeks. Tomelloso is one of the municipalities that produces the most wine in the world, and in that month it shows.
«En septiembre huele a mosto.» — In September it smells of must.
What to eat in Tomelloso
Tortas de mosto
Sweet flatbreads made with cooked grape juice, prepared during the grape harvest.
Mostillo
Must cooked until it becomes a dark and dense cream, to be eaten with bread.
Migas de gañán
Stale bread crumbled and sautéed with garlic, bacon and grapes: it was the breakfast of those who went to the fields.
Gachas
Grass pea flour cooked with water, oil, garlic and paprika, eaten directly from the pan.
Festivals in Tomelloso
Romería de la Virgen de las Viñas
the last Sunday of April
People go to the sanctuary in the middle of the vineyards with decorated carts and tractors, and eat there.
Feria y Fiestas de Tomelloso
the end of August
People parade with the grape harvest carts towards the Virgen de las Viñas, and from then on the harvest begins.
What to see in Tomelloso
Posada de los Portales
A 17th-century inn with wooden galleries on stone columns around the courtyard.
Museo Antonio López Torres
The landscapes of La Mancha painted by the painter born here, with the light of this plain.
Bombos
Dry-stone shelters in the fields, with a dome made of stones placed one on top of the other without mortar.
Cuevas y bodegas
Cellars dug under the houses, where the wine stays at the same temperature all year round.
Where Tomelloso comes from
Born around a well
16th century
The first houses
A group of houses around a well, in a plain without rivers.
18th century
The «bombos»
Dry-stone shelters are built in the fields, so as not to return to town every evening.
19th century
The wine
The cellars and the «cuevas» dug under the houses make the town a wine capital.
1928 → today
Tomelloso
It obtains the title of city: in a century it has gone from a village to a wine centre.
Born here: Antonio López García, painter.
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