Our group decided to learn more about the place where some of the best wines and cava in the world come from – Catalonia and the small Principality of Andorra.
Upon our arrival was a short panoramic tour of Barcelona, the first glass of wine on our eno touristic route awaited us. During the welcome dinner in a typical Catalan restaurant, we had already the opportunity to try white wine from two different vineyards of the region.
The next day we left Barcelona for the famous wine and cava-making area of Penedes. Soon we arrived at our first vineyard on the route. We were lead by an enologist who had been working there for 20 years. The wine tasting consisted of as many as 6 wines, including one of the varieties dating back to the time before phylloxera. After lunch in a restaurant with specially selected wines for us, the time arrived for the class to recognize the types of Catalan cava - a sparkling wine.
In the evening, we had a pleasant surprise – an overnight stay in a hotel in the shape of wine bottles. After dinner and a relaxing bath-wine therapy, we returned to our bottle rooms, as the next day seemed to be even more attractive than this one. After learning about the wine making process, we moved to the vineyards of western Catalonia known for their Priorat wine. Throughout the day we tried several different wines, grown on terraced slopes. Some of them are made from more than 100-year-old varieties. We visited the vineyard belonging to one of the most famous Catalan singers, Lluis Llach. The last visit of the day was to the cellar of the monastery where we stayed for the night. We tasted wines created by its monks.
The following day we visited the amazing corners of the neighboring province famous for Costers del Segre wine. The eno touristic program was enriched with a visit to an olive mill, with tasty appetizers, which were prepared from this "liquid gold". We continued the trip through the small villages and the exotic Mediterranean landscapes where, we stopped for some vineyards visits. We were accompanied by the owner and the enologist, who taught us a lot about the white and red wines of this part of Catalonia. We finished the day with a dinner in a restaurant in a castle in the Pyrenees. We spent the night in the high-mountain Principality of Andorra.
The next day was even better than the previous one: a 4x4 ride on the steep slopes of the vineyard and a mountain wine tasting in three different Andorran vineyards, which, due to their location on the slopes of the Pyrenees, are considered the highest in Europe. If you love good wine, Andorra is the perfect destination. Among its high mountains, wines with different tastes and grape varieties are created. Riesling, Pinot noir, Syrah, or Gewürztraminer, all these grape varieties you will find in the Andorran wines. These wines have been awarded many international prizes.
As the route led us through the valley's stone villages, we learned a lot about Andorran traditions and culture.In the evening, we had a relaxing session in the exclusive thermal water center Caldea.
The next day we returned to Catalonia to explore the eno touristic north-eastern part of Catalonia, close to the Mediterranean beaches, the Empordà region. We visited at wine cooperative, where the Catalan hosts told us how to produce sweet garnatxa wine.
Our hotel for the night was a medieval castle, that featured a gourmet farewell dinner.
On the last day of our stay, we returned to Barcelona to do some last wine shopping in the best of the city's wine shops.
Once at the plane we enjoyed the thought of the boxes of wine we had purchased during our trip, would reach our homes in few days to remind us of the amazing Catalan and Andorran eno gastronomic adventure we just had.