DO Priorat Wine Tour

Catalonia, in the north of Spain, is a popular tourist destination. Barcelona is the capital and the second most important city in Spain, after Madrid.

Priorat Wine Tours

The Priorat is one of the most beautiful wine regions in Spain, and well worth a visit. The setting and its climate make a perfect spot for a Spanish summer camp, but the main use of the fields is for planting vines to produce the rich Priorat wines. The Priorat wine tour will take you around some of the most awe inspiring wineries in Spain, constructed in old monastery buildings whose construction dates back to the 11th and 12th century.

Celler Ripoll Sans

The Ripoll Sans cellars was founded in 2000 with the restoration of an old family cellar in Gratallops. They kept the main structure with the presses and vaults, but remodeled the rest to be able to produce wine with modern techniques, always in small amounts and in a very manual way. The grapes are selected manually from the cellar's vineyard, which has some centenary vines of the native varieties, and younger ones of international origin.

The Priorat wine tour to Celler Ripoll Sans will take you around the vineyards and the main building, where you'll see how they make the wine manually. Celler Ripoll Sans is a small cellar, a perfect example of a Spanish family run business.

Contact Info
Baixada de la Consolació, 4; 43737 Madrid)
Telephone: 0034 687 638 951 | 0034 667 486 526

Celler Pasanau

The Pasanau family has been planting vineyards in the Scala Dei priorat for centuries. The first references to this date back to the 13th century when the first settlers arrived in the are under the orders of the prior of the Cartujan monastery. The phylloxera plague of the 19th century devoured the vines and the area remained unplanted for years while the family lived in the city. At the beginning of the 20th century, Juan Pasnau married to María Estrems Cornadó and recovered his family's estate, planting vines soon afterwards. The grapes were sent to a cooperative, and the resulting wine was mostly for self consumption, although the remainders were normally sold. In the 80s Ricardo, Juan's grandson, took over the estate and bought more land. In 1995, Juan's sons decided to build a cellar to produce their own wine, and the cellar keeps working to this day. They make around 50000 bottles a year, half of which are for the Spanish market while the other half are sent to the main markets around the world.

Celler Pasanau is a good cellar for a full day Priorat wine tour because there are many activities available nearby, or you can just walk around the surrounding area, which is a beautiful example of the great Spanish landscapes. Maybe you'll be so inspired and captured by the scene you'll decide to stay in Spain, so you'll be able to enjoy the amazing Priorat wines all year long.

Contact Info
Celler Pasanau - 43361 La Morera de Montsant - Tarragona
Telephone: 0034 977 827 202

La Conreria d'Scala Dei

La Conreria d'Scala Dei is one of the most beautifully located cellars in the Priorat wine region. It's right under the Montsant (Holy Mountain) and close to the monastery ruins of Scala Dei, the most characteristic symbol of the Priorat region, just over an hour by car from Barcelona. The cellar was founded in 1997 by three friends: an oenologist, a teacher and a priest, in a piece of land owned by the latter. Although the Priorat wine regions is not known for its white wines, La Conreria d'Scala Dei produces excellent whites with the native Garnacha Blanca.

The Priorat wine tour in La Conreria d'Scala Dei is a real treat. The owners will take you around the vineyards and the old building in which the cellar is built, and let you try their fresh white wines and deep reds.

Contact Info
Mitja Galta, 32, 43379 Scala Dei (Tarragona)
Telephone: 0034 977 827 055
Fax: 0034 977 827 055

Barcelona is also great place to learn Spanish during a summer vacation. Walk down Las Ramblas or spend a day in one of the many beaches in the area, and taste the spectacular Catalonian cuisine accompanied by one of their excellent wines.