Wine Tours in Barcelona and Catalonia

Discover Catalonia through its Wines

One of the best ways to explore Catalonia is by visiting its wine regions. The province has eleven wine regions or DOs and is home to some of the best winemakers in Spain (Denomiación de Origen) making it an ideal choice of location for a wine tour.

Our Wine Tours

Our private wine tours take you all over Catalonia, ensuring you discover much more about the province than only its wines. Catalonia’s wine regions cover most of its territory, from the Emporda and Costa Brava in the north to Costers de Segre in the west and Priorat, Montsant, and Terra Alta in the south. On our wine-focused holidays, you also get to see and experience everything else Catalonia has to offer, too; its fabulous landscape, sleepy villages, culture, local traditions, and, of course, its wonderful and varied gastronomy.

We take you to Catalonia’s top wineries in each of its eleven regions. You meet the winemakers, learn all about the secrets of their wines, and the land that produces them, and of course discover the wines themselves!

We also open the doors to some exciting new winemakers. These are wineries creating interesting new wines and transforming the fortunes of less well know regions by following the example set by trailblazing winemakers like Alvaro Palacios and Rene Barbier, who put Spain on the wine map in the 1980s.

Whichever parts of Catalonia you want to include on your wine tour, you stay at our handpicked hotels en route, each with its own unique character and charm. We also ensure you don’t miss out on any of each province’s food by booking you in at the best local restaurants in each place.

We’ll recommend wineries to include on each stage of your holiday, or let us know which wines and wine regions you are interested in and we can adapt your wine tour accordingly.

If you are only planning a holiday in Barcelona, we also offer full-day wine tours to the Priorat and full or half-day cava and wine tours to the Penedes from the city.

Catalonia’s Eleven Wine Regions

Some of the best red wines now produced in Spain are from the rugged mountainous region of Tarragona in the south of Catalonia, and 95% of Spain’s famous fizz, Cava is from the Penedes, an hour’s drive from Barcelona. However, Catalonia’s other up-and-coming DOs have lots to offer anyone here on a wine holiday.

Priorat, Montsant, Terra Alta and Tarragona

Top of the list for most wine lovers on a tour of Catalonia is the Priorat, indeed it is considered by many the best wine region to visit in Spain. This DO in the south of Catalonia stands out for its full-bodied, earthy red wines grown on its harsh, licorella soil by winemakers like Alvaro Palacios, Clos Mogador, and Clos de l’Obac.

But pioneering winemakers of neighbouring regions are catching on to the Priorat’s success, and winemakers like Celler Pinol in Terra Alta, Espectacle (by Clos Mogador) in Montsant, and De Muller in Tarragona are beginning to make a name for themselves with some really excellent wines.

Conca de Barbera and Costers de Segre

The wine region of Conca de Barbera was set up in 1985, and its limestone soils give wines like the excellent Torres Grans Muralles their unique characteristics.

Costers de Segre, in the province of Lleida, borders the Segre River. Its challenging landscape is home to some exciting new winemakers, like Castel d’Encus, some of whose vineyards are at altitudes of over 1000m.

Penedes, Pla de Bages and Alella

The three geographically different wine regions of Penedes, Pla de Bages and Alella are all within an hour’s drive of Barcelona.

The Penedes is most well-known for Cava and the new high-end Corpinnat brand, but wineries like Jean Leon, Torres, and Pares Balta are increasingly also producing excellent reds.

Pla de Bages is a beautiful region in the shadow of Montserrat mountain. Vines have been cultivated here since Roman times, but more recently, winemakers like Oller de Mas and Abadal are putting it on firmly the map.

Alella is a small region on the Maresme coast whose sandy granite soil produces some highly regarded crisp white wines by winemakers like Alta Alella and Mario Rovira.

Emporda

The northernmost wine region of Catalonia, the Emporda, is influenced by the Mediterranean climate and the unforgiving Tramuntana wind from the Pyrenees. Wines from the Emporda DO are even known locally as “wines from the wind”. Wineries like Castillo Perallada and Terra Remota are helping to change the fortunes of this once-poor wine region, producing wines that have been compared to the Beaujolais wines of its neighbour, France.