HOWARD'S SPANISH WINE TOUR 2019

Having the tour start in Santiago de Compostela has provided new opportunities to more deeply explore Galicia and savor its very special cuisine.  Visiting with Casar de Burbia in Bierzo adds a perfect glimpse of a small winery passionately producing a very small quantity of superb wines.  The boat ride to the "bateas" in O Grove proved to be a delicious prelude to one of the most extraordinary lunches I have ever had at a tiny, one Michelin star restaurant in Cambados.

Join me for a unique and extraordinary 14 days on the ground tour of the wine country in Northern, Western, and North Central Spain.  Along the way, we will enjoy the lush countryside of Galicia; tour the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela; taste our way through Spain?s most extraordinary bodegas in Ribeiro, Bierzo, Txakoli, Rioja , Ribera Del Duero; and new this year, Rueda; and dine on incomparable regional cuisine.  During our stay in the Basque Region, we will enjoy a guided tour of the Guggenheim Museum, learn Basque cooking techniques at a cooking class in San Sebastian, and visit Bodegas Hiruzta, a Txakoli winery in the lovely village of Hondarribia. We will end our journey in Madrid at one of the world's finest hotels.

For those who know only a little about Spanish wines and for those who wish to visit the cellars of world renowned wineries, you will find that the learning experience is extraordinary!   We will visit the vineyards, taste in the cellars and learn to appreciate the wide variety of flavors one finds in both red and white Spanish wines.  All of these experiences amid the lush countryside and storied history of the land and its people.

I have put together a tour that is much more than a time to take pictures and walk through quaint towns.  It is a tour where you will be invited into a world of very special people who have created extraordinary wines.  You will experience Spanish cuisine at its freshest and in its most amazing settings.  And you will visit some of the world's most astounding cathedrals and exquisite galleries.  There will also be time for quiet walks on your own; dining experiences to savor by yourselves a rich tapestry of encounters in every village and large city.   Touring on your own at your own pace with suggestions from Antonio and me will help you get the most from your experiences in a very personal way.

All of the last tours were a fantastic success for many reasons:  the quality of the wineries that were visited; the 4 & 5 star level of hotel accommodations; the wealth of information that was provided about Spain's fascinating culture; and the superb cuisine and wine tasting experiences that were included in the tour price; and finally the smallness of the group and the personal attention given to assuring that each guest was highly pleased with their experience.

Previous tours have all included a lovely day in San Sebastian in the Basque country, where we will have a gourmet cooking lesson with a Basque Chef; and stops in Cantabria  at Comillas and Santillana del Mar where we will stop for lunch.  But this year's itinerary will make your visit to Spain even more special:

·       A wonderful addition to our experiences is a chartered boat ride in a Galician estuary, "ria" in Spanish, for a visit to a floating barge called a "batea" from which mussels, oysters and "vieras" (scallops) are harvested.  Afterwards we will have lunch at Yayo Daporta in Cambados whose chef was the youngest chef to win a Michelin star and was also featured on Spain's version of Top Chef.

·       We will travel through the picturesque valley of the river Sil to Carracedelo in Bierzo where we will enjoy a tasting of wines from the vineyards of Casar de Burbia and afterwards, via tractor, we will visit their extraordinary, hillside vineyards along "The Way of the Cross".  These wines have received notable reviews from The Wine Advocate; The Wine Spectator  and the prestigious Penin Guide of Spain.

·       For 2019, Bodegas Lopez Heredia has been added in Rioja and Javier Sanz in the white wine producing region of Rueda. At Lopez Heredia, you will tour their amazing cellars and barrel making facility and taste an wonderful array of their wines.  At Javier Sanz, the incredibly old Verdejo vines and the newly resurrected Malcorta grape clone will be discussed and tasted.  We will then enjoy a tapas lunch at the winery.

·       In past years we have only had 2 nights in Madrid.  For 2019, I have added an extra night in Madrid so that there are now 2 full days as part of the tour.  We will be staying at the spectacular Wellington Hotel in the exclusive Salamanca shopping district; close to the Prado, Reina Sofia and Thyssen Bornemisza museums.

·       In past years, on the final leg of our journey, it was often the case that we arrived too early in the day for all of the rooms to be ready for us at the hotel in Madrid. I have added a stop in Segovia as we travel south from La Seca to preclude that happening.  In this lovely city you will be able to see a 2000 year old Roman aqueduct that is still in use today;  and walk through what Frommer's Guide has called the "most spectacular Alcazar on the Iberian Peninsula.."