In northern Portugal, amongst the tiled red roofs, white stucco buildings and rolling hills, you’ll find the region where Vinho Verde is produced.
Europe
Wine Tasting in Tuscany (Chianti Region)
Wine tasting in Tuscany is such an amazing experience. To soak in the history, the views and the wine of the Chianti region of Italy is truly something not to be missed.
Wine Tasting in Spain – Penedès Region
Wine and Cava Tasting in the Penedès Region of Spain, located less than an hour from Barcelona.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that this post is a looong time coming. Rick & I went to Barcelona, Spain for Thanksgiving… And I’m just now getting this post up about our amazing wine tasting that we took while on our trip.
The wine country of Penedès is located less than an hour from Barcelona and is one of the most exciting wine regions in Spain. A wide range of wine styles are produced here including the Traditional Method (sparkling) white and rosé Cava (made with the indigenous grapes of Xarel.lo, Macabeo and Parellada), dry reds, dry whites, and dessert whites. Winemaking in the region, as in the rest of Spain, dates back millennia and the Ancient Romans have left many vestiges of their wine production here. This area has a production rate of 380 million bottles per year. Cava alone accounts for half of this production. And I’m all about the bubbles!
Unlike our wine visits in the United States (i.e. Walla Walla, Dundee, etc.) where we would typically just hop in the car and drive from stop to stop, in Spain we opted to join a half-day wine and cava bus tour which took us on a behind the scenes tour of three wineries, and also treated us with cheese and tapas pairings.
We loaded into a comfortable tour bus which was definitely not very full. I would say that there were about 20 people on our tour, total. We were from all over the world, but fortunately, it was okay with everyone that the tour was navigated in English. It was about a 45-minute drive to make it to our first stop – Jean Leon. As I would learn after visiting our next two stops, Jean Leon was by far, the smallest production winery of our visit.
Jean Leon made his fortune in Beverly Hills thanks to his restaurant, La Scala, where he served the likes of Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. He then emigrated to Spain in 1963 to produce wine and revolutionized local viniculture by producing the first Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay wines to come out of the region.
