My wife and I will be in Barcelona for a bit in July and I’m looking for suggestions and recommendations on how and where to do a one day wine tasting visit in that region. I have almost zero familiarity with the wines of Spain, so any suggestions are appreciated.
Bump. Surely someone can recommend some wineries within a couple of hours from Barcelona.
Priorat is beautiful. Have lunch at Celler de l’Aspic and enjoy their deep wine list at crazy low prices.
I’m not sure about the overall availability of tasting appointments at wineries but I’d reach out to producers like Mas Martinet, Mas Doix, Alvaro Palacios, Rene Barbier and maybe an email to importer Eric Solomon might yield some results.
It looks like Priorat is in the opposite direction from Catalonia - personally I’d head up the coast, and sample as many cult Cava sparklers as possible - with bonus points if you could see the Mediterranean from the winery.
Cava and fresh seafood and a view of the Mediterranean - life doesn’t get much better than that, does it?
Up the coast towards France would be the best short day trip.
There’s lots on Spain in the travel forum too as a number of members recently shared their experiences.
Another option is to combine a trip to Montserrat with a visit to Oller del Mas.
P Hickner
We will be doing an extended family and friends vacation in July up the coast, so keep the reccies coming. My son wants to take in the TdF when it passes through Pourpignan. I am a bit old and enjoy the tour from the couch, but winery visits and eating are on our itinerary along with a walk to the beach and dipping our toes in the Med for the younger ones.
The Penedes wine region is practically a suburb of Barcelona.
For the sake of convenience, you may want to check out Bodegas Torres, one of the largest producer in Penedes and is just a 25 minute drive from the center of Barcelona.
I totally agree - They really do produce some gorgeous bubblies in Spain, and you are a stone’s throw from Barcelona -
A couple of my favorites; Gramona, Juve Y Camps, Raventos -
And these aren’t hole in the wall wineries here - most of these Cava estates are big, lavish and super fun to visit -
It dawned on me that the decision to head southwest to Priorat versus heading to northern Catalonia could offer a pretty stark contrast between Parkerized versus AFWE.
And then what to have for dinner: Turf versus Surf, beefsteak versus seafood.
If one spouse were Parkerized, and the other spouse were AFWE, then a decision like that could make for some domestic untranquility.
And there are numerous wine tour agencies that will take you to the wineries in Priorat fairly inexpensively.
On the Parkerized side of things, I just did a little research about Chris Ringland’s “Southern Belle” initiative, but it looks like it’s much further south than Prioriat.
If I could get to a tasting room to try Chris Ringland’s wines, or [in an outright fantasy] to barrel-taste the new harvests with him, then I’d quit whatever I was doing and drive all night to get there.
Priorat is in Catalunya…
North of Barcelona you could go to Figueres and Peralada. (Perelada Castilian spelling, Peralada Catalan spelling)
Castillo de Perelada is a winery group that represents the regions of Emporda, Priorat and Montsant as well as Cava production in Penedes. The headquarters in Peralada are really nice with a beautiful old church and a quaint town. They have a tasting room/visitor center.
Figueres is the home of Salvador Dali and is a bigger town than Peralada with more options in terms of dining but I don’t know about wineries in the city.
When I went I was in retail and Perelada hosted us so the trip was very focused on their products but generally it was a stupendous trip.
Is a day trip from Barcelona to Priorat practical or do you really need to spend one or two nights?
Google says it’s a little over an hour and a half drive.
Getting in or out of the city is the hardest part.
Yes.
My wife who had to do a few culinary work at El Masroig (Tarragona) and nearby Capcanes (Priorat) said it took less than 1.5 hour drive for her to get to do some early ingredient-shopping at markets at Boqueria and other markets in Barcelona. Plenty of wine-excursion trips to Priorat from Barcelona if you check with hotel concierge or online.
We own a house in Horta de Sant Joan which is a bit less than 2 hours out of Barcelona, so I’ve done this drive too many times to count. A lot of good advice here. Penedes is the closest wine trip and there is some great wine there, but you miss the “village” feel that comes with the rural wine regions. A Cava trip is a good idea as well, but can get touristy; lots of buses, even at some of the small high end producers and some of the producers you really want to visit don’t see visitors. So, that said, I’d head to Priorat via the N420 to Falset. Falset is about 70 minutes out of Barcelona and from there you can head to Gratallops, Porrera, Montsant, el Masroig, Poboleda, etc. As well you are very near Capcanes, which has a wonderful winery that is a fun visit. If you really want to get out there a bit, keep heading out the N420 to the Terra Alta. Some really great under the radar wineries doing some wonderful stuff. Lot’s of info available on the web regarding who to visit so I’ll keep my advice to where. Have fun and do visit Celler de l’Aspic in Falset. Awesome wine list and with the exception of the L’Ermita, super fairly priced.
Round trip is 3 hours total driving time. Then, it just depends how much you want to see. Easily a day trip.
I will be in the old country all summer, you’re welcome to come and visit our winery. It is not within an hours drive to Barcelona though. Hour flight and the 45 min drive soooo… 