What‘s Included

Reviews

• A real learning experience, not just a a chance to taste and buy wine.

  Michele L,

  Nov 11, 2024

  - Viator

  5.00

  If your end goal is to taste so many wines you can't remember which is which, get toasted, and then ship home a case or two, this is problably not the right tour for you. If you want to really learn about the process of making wine in Rioja and about what makes you like a particular wine more than other, then definately take this tour. This was amazing. Rebeca communicated with us before hand and when she noticed that one of the wineries we were to visit was in the small town we were staying in asked if we would like them to pick a different winery, as we might have planned to visit that one on our own. She also checked dietary restrictions and did her best to accommodate them. We were picked up, on time, by a van, which already had some guests inside and we left to pick up the other guests. The van was full, around 8-10 people. The views were wonderful along the drive. We visited three wineries and at each one we learned different things, as well as seeing different types of wine making. At one we had the wonderful and unique experience of tasting wine from the same tank which had been aged in three different types of barrels. This was a wonderful way to learn about what each type of barrel does to wine to determine what you make you like a particular.. (I wish I had taken a few notes so I could remember what I liked LOL). I assure you that you will taste the difference. A another winery we got to taste wine right out of tank, before it aged in a barrel, another unique experience. At the last winery we learned about the vines themselves and how they are pruned and otherwise cared for and did a blind tasting to see how much we retained form of what we learned that day. We of course got to also taste some wonderful wines along the way and we purchased one bottle to take home with us. (Only so much room in our bag and we visited other winereries besides this tour and not all wineries can ship.) We also were given a tour of the walled city we were staying in which was very interesting and got to tour some of the underground tunnels in this city. We drove by and sometime stopped to take photos of some of the well known buildings of wineries which we did not actual visit. We really enjoyed the company of the other guests and our tour guide/driver. We had a lovely lunch at a resturant in the little walled city, though that was a last mintute change due to rainy weather. We were orginally going to eat outside at the last winery. My husband and I would highly recommend this tour. We thoughly enjoyed it. It was one of the highlights of our trip.