Harvest time
The Douro River winds a path through ever more fertile lands. Summer is coming to an end and the wineries are getting ready for the grape harvest. The work of the photographer Gonzalo Miguel Ojeda, from Valladolid, a hundred years ago has preserved for the present this series of images of women picking grapes in the Burgos area. The Douro River has enriched the land close to it and the ox carts approach to transport baskets brimming with grapes.
«The best cavalry soldiers in the squadron were the ones who were used to digging up vine roots along the Douro. That task requires great strength and very powerful arms.
Pío Baroja
El escuadrón de Brigante [The Bandit squadron]
1913
Grape-picking scenes
1924
Burgos regional government archive
Grape-picking scenes
1924
Burgos regional government archive
Grape-picking scenes
1924
Burgos regional government archive
Ox cart carrying baskets for the grape harvest
1924
Burgos regional government archive
Tempranillo, garnacha tinta, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec or, for white wines, albillo mayor… All these varieties are to be found in the Ribera del Duero appellation, its capital being Aranda de Duero. Like small stony islands spread across a wide plain, the convents and monasteries, nerve centres of the wine industry since time immemorial.
Still life with four bunches of grapes
c. 1636. Oil on canvas, 45 x 61 cm
Prado Museum
Grape harvest
Quemada. Burgos. 18th October 1969
IPCE picture library
Tempranillo grape
Ampelographie. Traite general de viticulture (1855-1915)
Garnacha grape
Ampelographie. Traite general de viticulture (1855-1915)
Cabernet grape
Ampelographie. Traite general de viticulture (1855-1915)
Albillo Castellano grape
Ampelographie. Traite general de viticulture (1855-1915)
Santa María de La Vid monastery
Virtually touching the waters of the Douro stands the “Monastery of the Vine”. Originally it was on the right-hand bank and called Santa María del Monte Sacro [St.Mary of the Holy Mount]. Then in 1152 Alfonso VII of León donated the Vine Estate, on the other side of the river, to build the existing monastery. Tradition has it that on the same spot there was an image in polychromatic stone: the Virgin of the Vine.
«La Vid is a hamlet or neighbourhood consisting mainly of a block of houses joined on to the former monastery of Premonstratenses on the banks of the Douro. The monastery of La Vid was a large, solid building with thick walls, sitting by the riverbank. It had a long narrow stone bridge, with nine arches, over the river and magnificent properties, meadows, fields, woods and pastures».
Pío Baroja
Con la pluma y con el sable [With the pen and with the sword]
1921
Image of the seated St. Mary of the Vine, in the principal niche on the main altarpiece in the church in Santa María de La Vid monastery,
Photographs of La Vid Monastery, 1924
Burgos regional government archive
Cloister of Santa María de La Vid monastery
Photographs of La Vid Monastery, 1924
Burgos regional government archive
Exterior view of the Santa María de la Vid monastery, 1924.
Photographs of La Vid Monastery, 1924
Burgos regional government archive
Aranda de Duero
River Douro as it flows through Aranda de Duero. Burgos. 1970-2005
Burgos. 1970-2005
Archive Agromayor, IPCE, Culture and Sport Ministry
It was Rafael Alberti who brought us into the heart of Aranda de Duero. In the summer of 1925, the poet joined his brother, the sales representative for Osborne wineries, on a trip to the province of Burgos. During the journey the poet wrote La amante [The lover], a book that opens up new forms of lyric expression in which the Douro River does not go unnoticed.
Get up!
The Douro’s current
is so strong that the air
has beaten sleep to bits.
My little boat!
Get yourself up!
Rafael Alberti
La amante (Canciones) [The lover (Songs)]
1925 [Fragment] 2nd issue of Litoral,, Málaga. Imprenta Sur, 1926, p. 20
Front of Santa María la Real church in Aranda de Duero
1924
Burgos regional government archive
Peñaranda de Duero
A little further north, just a few kilometres from the river, the castle of Peñaranda de Duero rises up on the horizon. From on high we can travel in time and imagine the poet exchanging glances with that carter...
Why are you looking so serious,
carter?
You have four black and white mules,
a horse in front,
a cart with green wheels,
and the road is all
for you,
carter.
What more do you want?
Rafael Alberti
«PeñAranda de Duero».
La amante (Canciones) [The lover (Songs)]
1925
Carter transporting coaldust in Covaleda de la Sierra
1924
Burgos regional government archive
Peñaranda de Duero castle
1924
Burgos regional government archive
Panoramic view of Peñaranda de Duero
1924
Burgos regional government archive
Avellaneda Palace in Peñaranda de Duero
1924
Burgos regional government archive
Langa de Duero tower
1924
Burgos regional government archive
Roa de Duero
Once again the river, lover,
and another bridge over the river.
And another bridge with two arched eyes
as big as mine.
As big as mine,
my lover.
My eyes, when I look at you!
Roa del Duero.
Rafael Alberti.
«Roa de Duero». La amante (Canciones) [The lover (Songs)]
1925. 2nd issue of Litoral, Málaga. Imprenta Sur, 1926, p. 18
View of the bridge and Douro River as it passes through Roa
1924
Burgos regional government archive
Ruins of the Santísima Trinidad parish church in Roa,
1924
Burgos regional government archive
