A Wine Route in Catalonia
For most people, Spain’s north-eastern coast is best known for beach holidays and the vibrant city of Barcelona. Both, of course, offer good reasons for visiting the area, as does La Roca Village, conveniently located close to the Costa and the city. It’s also in such close proximity to some of Spain’s best wine regions that it would be a shame to miss out on a visit to one or two wineries.
While Rioja, Spain’s most famous wine region, lies a little too far to the west to make for a convenient stop-off, the north-eastern DO (‘Designation of Origin’) zones of Peñedes and Tarragona are renowned for both sparkling and still wines. The coastal breezes that refresh the sunbathers basking on the Catalonian coast also help maintain vital freshness in the region’s vineyards, which extend from the seashore up into the surrounding hills.
Spain’s most famous fizz, Cava, is made in the area, and you can visit its two main producers by appointment. Freixenet is based in a delightful nineteenth-century winery, while Codorniu has a more modern winery, designed by the region’s renowned architect Josep Puig I Cadafalch, a contemporary of Antoni Gaudí. Both offer visitors the opportunity to sample plenty of sparkling wine as well as a tour of the cellars.
If your tastes run more to still wines than sparkling, you might prefer to drive inland to Miguel Torres’ iconic Pacs del Peñedes winery. Torres is widely credited with bringing modern wine-making to Spain in the 1960s, and he’s still one of the country’s leading oenological lights. You don’t need a lesson in wine-making history, though, to enjoy a visit to Pacs del Peñedes: its location alone, nestled among the lush hills of the Peñedes region, makes it worth a detour. A small train rattles you through the winery on an hour-long tour, the highlight of which, for many, is the ‘Tunnel of Seasons’, where you get to feel the full sensory impact of the conditions experienced by the plants in the Torres vineyards over the course of the viticultural year. As the train pulls into the final station, you can look forward to tasting Torres’ vast range of wines.
Once you’ve had your fill of the relatively green coastal area, you might decide to head into the hinterland in search of the wine regions of Priorat and Montsant. Away from the coast, the inland zones start to look like the setting for a spaghetti Western: it’s all rocky outcrops and scrubby bush. You immediately know that you’re in hot, dry country – and the wines change from the fresh, zippy numbers grown on the coast to rich, hearty reds.
The wines of Priorat, grown on a slatey soil known as llicorella, are sought after by connoisseurs the world over and, as a result, command high prices. The wineries, small boutique affairs one and all, are seldom open to visitors, but the surrounding area of Montsant makes similar wines at more down-to-earth prices. Your best bet is to book yourself in for a visit to the 75-year-old Celler Capçanes, the local co-operative, where you’ll not only get to taste at least three delicious wines, you’ll also get an insight into how the process of winemaking in the area has changed over the decades.
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- Pictures copyright Turespaña.
15-05-2011
