That is what I thought when I arrived at Marqués de Riscal Vineyard Hotel, Elciego, Spain. Elciago is a tiny village with a cluster of sandstone houses, an imposing church and a very strange looking building with a roof made of colorful titanium sheets. This is one of the craziest creations of Frank Gehry, who is famous for Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain.

Population of Elciago is less than a thousand. The village is built around one of the oldest wineries in the Rioja region. For wine connoisseurs, it is place to be.

At this hotel, resort and Spa, guests can avail body massage using crushed grape skins. It is said to have therapeutic value, not to mention, tasting of dozens of grades and types of wine. 

And did you know, that the winery is built underground? The winery is built like a small city under the hotel and its surrounding vineyards. Though the winery is so large, and employs nearly every working male and female from the village, its production of a million liters of wine is only 2% of Spain's production.

There are in fact three wineries. At the newest, built and commissioned in 2006, the wine making process is controlled using state of art process control systems, with two digit accuracy for temperature, and other parameters that impact the quality of wine. The oldest, built in the medieval period, does no longer produce any wine. But, in its cellar, nicknamed 'The Cathedral', the oldest wines I spotted belong to 1682!

This must have the tourist season. The tourist guides had a field day, taking them round, getting them to taste the best of wines and enticing them to buy. The 2009 tinto, blanco and rosa wines of Marques de Riscal were priced very moderately around 8 euros. My verdict? Well, I have had better wines, but I thought the Blanco was good.

What impressed me, about the place and the business? It is the employment in a rural setting, and that the locals do not need to migrate in search of livelihood. Something, that our villages can use as a model..