Kim Herrick and her husband are looking for a short wine break in La Rioja. Can we help them get a taste of the region?

Dear Travel Clinic,

A group of friends from my company are planning a relaxing trip to Spain. We're escaping our hectic jobs in the city for a few days, and we're planning to travel about by car, going from place to place to see a bit of the country. We'd like to spend some time doing a wine tour, but we don't want to spend the whole of our trip in Rioja. Are there any short tours we can take? Can you recommend any nice hotels in the area?

Kim Herrick, Middlesborough 

La Rioja is rightly the most famous wine-producing region in Spain, celebrated most for its red wines, although white and rosé wines are also produced here. There are several companies that offer day tours within the region, allowing you to get a flavour of the region without having to commit to a week or more’s visit. As longer tours tend to be quite expensive, this is also a good way to try some of the wines without breaking the bank. 

Food & Wine Tours offer a tour in the Haro area. Haro claims to be the centre of Roija production, and certainly many wine tours kick off from here. Significantly the man who was responsible for the introduction of methods used in Bordeaux to the area, the clergyman Quintano de la Bastida, worked here. The tour includes two guided visits, in English, to different wine cellers, followed by tastings, then a long lunch at a local traditional restaurant with matched wines, and costs from around £50 per person. You might want to stay in town afterwards rather than drive anywhere, so you could book a night at the popular Hotel  Los Agustinos in Haro. Prices start from around £70 per night.

If you’re feeling fit and healthy, how about a bike tour with Casa Abril? The 32 km tour sets off on the Clarete coast, following the riverbank of the Ebro, which flows between the villages of Logroño and Miranda del Duero. On one side of the trail the tour passes the dramatic mountain range of the Sierra Cantabria and on the other wine museums and vineyards of some of Spain’s oldest wineries, stopping off at the wine museum, Dinastía Vivanco, and ending at one of Rioja’s most important villages, Laguardia, for a guided tour. The tour costs from around £40, which includes bike rental, transportation, a guide for the day and entry to the winery museum.

Vintage Spain have one day flexible tours picking up from Bilbao, visiting two or three of the great Rioja wineries, from centenary wineries that keep the traditions of Rioja alive, to the most modern ones designed by famous architects. There are also a lot of small family wineries, some using artisan traditions and some with state of the art equipment. There is a break for a typical Riojan lunch: potato soup with chorizo, vegetables and lamb chops roasted using sarmientos (dry grape vine branches), giving the meat a delicious flavor. You can also visit the thematic centre dedicated to wine in Laguardia, Villa Lucia or the New Museum of Wine Culture, Dinastia Vivanco. Prices depend on the options that the group chooses to take, and Vintage Spain can give you guidance by phone or email as to how much the day will cost.

There is, of course, always the option of setting yourself up in a village or town overnight, and visiting local wineries yourselves. A good guide to the wines and bodegas, such as John Radford’s The Wines of Rioja, would be invaluable if you were planning to go it alone, and costs £20 from the publisher, Mitchell Beazley.
Whether you decide to join a tour or find your own way around, you’ll certainly never lack the opportunity to taste and buy wine wherever you go in La Rioja.

  

www.foodwinetours.com
www.cuhotel.com/search.php?q2=La%20Rioja
www.casaabril.com
www.vintagespain.com
www.mitchell-beazley.co.uk

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