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Wine Heaven - Day Trips from Barcelona

  • Writer: heartbcn
    heartbcn
  • Jun 16, 2016
  • 3 min read

Catalunya is well known for its mouth-watering wines and there is no shortage of vineyards to visit that can be reached from Barcelona. It’s a great day out to sample many of the exquisite wines produced in the region. Catalunya is also the Cava making region in Spain where 95% of the sparkling beverage is made in Penedès area. The two major Cava producers here are Cordoniu and Frexinet – whom I’m sure you may have heard of. Now whilst I do very much enjoy a glass of wine – I am certainly no expert! Hence the reason I have enjoyed a few wine trips during my time here so far. Both were organised as gifts which was a good excuse to go with someone else and have some fun whilst learning!

Views across Pasanau Vineyards

A vine from Pasanau vineyard

The first wine trip I did was to the Priorat region. This is a more exclusive wine region in Catalunya due to the harsh growing conditions and harvesting method (it's all done by hand) – which makes the wines more expensive but completely worth it! I booked this trip through Spanish Trails and we had a really wonderful day! Our tour guide was called Andrew, who funnily enough was Scottish (as are we!), he was very knowledgeable and friendly and we enjoyed ourselves from start to finish.

Pasanau

We visited three wineries across the day having lunch at one of them as well. Whilst driving there we had a stop off to view a beautiful Roman aqueduct called “Devils Bridge” and tried traditional pastries with some rancid wine! Not as nice as a normal glass! We then arrived at the beautiful tiny village of Morera de Monstant at the Celler Pasanau where we started our first visit. We looked round the vineyards and were met by the wine maker where we enjoyed learning about growing the vines and the different types of grapes. All the wineries we visited were small and so had a lovely exclusive feel to them.

Roman Aqueduct - "Devils Bridge"

Wine tasting

We then headed onto Gratallops along the winding roads. The Priorat region is very rugged and the vineyards are often on steep hills. We arrived at Clos Figueres winery and estate. Their wines are produced without watering the vines and using no insecticides or synthetic products. There we had a gorgeous traditional lunch combined with doing the wine tasting. After spending some time in the cellar and looking round the wonderful gardens we were back on the road again. This time heading to Porrera.

The rough slopes of the Priorat region

Clos Figueres estate

Clos Figueres estate

Clos Figueres gardens

Wine tasting

The last winery was the family run Clos Dominic and the petite village that the winery was located near was absolutely gorgeous. We were met by Paco – the wine maker and his wife Dominic who then proudly showed us around their vineyards. They manage and harvest their vineyards with help only from their family and friends which we found amazing. We had a wine tasting in the 13th century cellars there and chatted away like old friends!

At Pasanau with the winemakers

If you enjoy red wine in particular – this is a really great and informative tour to do and the company and tour guide were great. Needless to say we bought quite a few bottles along the way!

I have also visited the Parés Baltà winery in the Penedès region. I booked this trip with Explore Catalunya where once again we had lovely and knowledgeable tour guide and were in a small group of people. This family owned winery practise organic and bio-dynamic farming where they have their own flock of sheep to fertilize the vineyards and bees that help pollinate the vines. Again we were met by the winemaker and given a tour of the cellars and vineyards and an explanation on what organic and bio-dynamic farming was before going on to taste five wines. My favourite there was their Selectio Cava – a gorgeous creamy cava with small bubbles. I'm sure you may have guessed by now that, yes – I bought some wine there too!

Me wine tasting at Parés Baltà

A fine wine from Parés Baltà

You can of course do wine tastings in the city, which is a great alternative if you are pushed for time, or perhaps do half a day which is what we did for the Penedès trip. If you have the time though, a trip out to see the vineyards, meet the winemakers and witness all the intense labour that goes into producing the wines, makes you appreciate them all the more. Salud!

All photos by Gemma Reid Photography for heartBCN

 
 
 

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