White wine & seafood bliss

Albariño Wine Tour in Galicia

Overview

Many say that Albariño is Spain’s best white wine.

Spend two days in the Rías Baixas wine region of Galicia, where the Albariño grape expresses itself beautifully thanks to the ideal vineyards and expert winemakers. What we love most about the Rías Baixas Albariño wine region is how perfectly the wines pair with the cuisine. Known throughout Spain for having the country’s best seafood, coastal Galicia serves up shelled everything–razor clams, various sizes of shrimp and lobster, mussels–and is the land of pulpo (octopus).

Santiago de Compostela or Vigo → Rías Baixas

☾ 2 Nights

RÍAS BAIXAS

The coastal areas of the Rías Baixas are home to the Albariño grape, the iconic Galician white and frequent companion of local seafood. The best Galician Albariños are among the greatest white wines available anywhere, with depth, complexity, and the potential to age for years in bottle.

Rías Baixas is the most famous wine region in Galicia, though it is often known simply by its characteristic grape: Albariño. Rías are inlets of the Atlantic similar to fjords. They give the vineyards a very strong Atlantic influence, and the humidity means the vines must be trained on high trellises to prevent mildew. Nearly all wine here is white and dominated by Albariño. These wines are fresh and mineral with lively acidity that makes them the perfect pairing with the local seafood-dominated cuisine.

White wine & seafood bliss

Albariño Wine Tour in Galicia

DAY 1

ALBARIÑO WINE COUNTRY

Head into the Rías Baixas wine region for your immersion into Albariño wine. Start with a tasting of young and aged Albariños at the beautiful Granbazán wine estate. Then head to star artisan winery Albamar for a tasting of single-vineyard Albariño wiens. Lunch will be at the creative wine and tapas bar La Taberna de Vinos de Pepe Solla, run by Pepe Solla of two Michelin star Casa Solla. On the way to your hotel, see the historic hórreos of Combarro, stone grain stores right on the water. Dine in at Quinta de San Amaro’s cosy restaurant for local cuisine and small-production Galician wine.

  • Private transfer from Santiago, Pontevedra or Vigo to the Rías Baixas wine region

  • Granbazán winery visit

  • Albamar winery visit

  • Lunch at La Taberna de Vinos de Pepe Solla

  • See the hórreos of Combarro

  • Dinner at Quinta de San Amaro

  • Overnight Quinta de San Amaro

Granbazán Winery Visit

From a stunning Galician palace surrounded by carefully tended vines, Granbazán has for decades been producing complex Albariños in pioneering styles. From its founding in the early 1980s, Granbazán has focused on getting the most out of the Albariño grape. The owners planted vineyards on the best granite soils with selected clones of the indigenous grape and they trained the vines high off the ground on the traditional granite posts. Each of the house's wines uses grapes from specific vineyards. The winemaking and aging vary, from the stainless steel freshness of the Etiqueta Verde to the lees aging and occasional oak of the flagship wines. Granbazán is a beautiful place to taste and learn about Albariño, and their Albariños are among the best on the market.

Albamar Winery Visit

When Xurxo Alba took over the family winery in 2006, the Albariño wines made there were not being bottled, instead finding customers in bulk at the family’s humble bar. Xurxo began bottling wines and transforming the vineyards with sustainable practices. Today, Albamar is one of the most exciting producers in the Rías Baixas. Xurxo’s Albariños, which he ferments using native yeasts, have a concentration and minerality rarely seen in a region where very light wines have become the norm. Albamar wines have made their way onto the wine lists of Spain’s best restaurants and his rare experimental wines are sought-after gems.

Lunch at La Taberna de Vinos de Pepe Solla

The hottest new restaurant in the Rías Baixas comes from superstar chef Pepe Solla, whose fine dining restaurant holds a Michelin star. At La Taberna de Vinos, Solla has created a wine bar with a short menu of his original creations written on a chalkboard. There’s seating for just twelve diners around the bar. Expect elegant creative tapas dishes that make use of local seafood and riff on Galician recipes. The wines comes from the enormous cellar of the adjoining Michelin-star restaurant, so you’ll have access to some of the best Galician wines on the market. As a bonus, diners are invited to help choose the soundtrack by selecting records to play from Solla’s personal collection.

See the Hórreos of Combarro

Visit the tiny seafront town of Combarro outside Pontevedra. Here, stone houses brush up against the ocean itself, and you can see an impressive collection of traditional grain storage houses (hórreos) and cruzeiros, the symbols of Galician heritage. Here, some are suspended over the water on granite posts!

Dinner at Quinta de San Amaro

Quinta de San Amaro is a beautiful countryside hotel right in the heart of Rías Baixas wine country. Peaceful and cozy, it's the kind of place that makes you want to stay as long as possible. The rooms are beautifully furnished and luxurious, and the public areas are full of spots to enjoy a glass of wine and relax. The quinta is also home to one of the area's best restaurants, serving elegant Galician dishes and with a wine list featuring excellent wines from Rías Baixas and other Galician regions.

DAY 2

GRANITE WINE & SEAFOOD

Dive deeper into Galician wine. Start with a visit to Pazo de Señorans, a pioneering Albariño producer known for their long-aged whites. At Pazo Baion, a stunning house surrounded by vines, you’ll taste complex single-vineyard Albariños. For lunch a seafood feast at D’Berto, one of Spain’s great restaurants serving the freshest fish and seafood.

  • Pazo de Señorans winery visit

  • Pazo Baion winery visit

  • Lunch at D’Berto

  • Dinner at Quinta de San Amaro

  • Overnight Quinta de San Amaro

Pazo de Señorans Winery Visit

Housed in a beautifully restored 14th-century palace surrounded by gardens and vineyards, Pazo de Señorans is an enchanting place. The property was bought in the 1970s by Marisol Bueno, who would become the first president of the Rías Baixas Regulatory Board. Marisol and her family restored the property and planted vineyards there before they began making wine in the 1980s. The wines of Pazo de Señorans have risen to become some of the most famous and sought-after Albariños in the world. You’ll only find stainless steel in the winery, to allow the grape to shine through.

The young Pazo Señorans Albariño is a textbook example, often used around the world to train sommeliers. The house specialty, however, is long-aged Albariño. The wine called Colección comes from the same vineyards as the young wine, but spends three years aging in bottle as proof of the aging potential of a wine with just five months on its lees. The flagship is Selección de Añada, sourced from a single vineyard and aged for nearly three years on its lees and years more in bottle before release. Many consider Selección Selección de Añada to be one of the finest white wines in Galicia and all of Spain.

Pazo de Señorans is also a boutique producer of orujo, a Galician spirit made from grape skins and seeds similar to Italian grappa. Seeing the traditional pot stills that are still used here is like stepping back in time. Both the unflavored orujo and the herb-infused Aguardiente de Hierbas are among the best in the region and worth trying. Pazo de Señorans is one of the best Albariño producers and a stunning place to discover the aging potential of Galicia’s favorite white grape.

Pazo Baion Winery Visit

The first thing you notice about Pazo Baion is the palace itself, a sprawling red-roofed stone building complete with towers surrounded by vines. Built at the start of the 20th century, the pazo gained infamy when it was bought in the 1980s by a notorious Galician drug trafficker. Thankfully the property has changed hands and has been owned for decades by storied Rías Baixas producers Condes de Albarei who have made the wines from Pazo Baion the jewel in their crown. All of the wines here are made from the vineyards on the property, with careful winemaking yielding Albariños of great depth and personality. The young Pazo Baion is a maximal expression of the grape, while Vides de Fontán is one of the region’s great aged whites. Don’t neglect the unique Gran a Gran, a single-vineyard botrytized Albariño that’s one of a kind!

Lunch at D’Berto

On a nondescript street in the Galician town of O Grove lies one of the greatest seafood restaurants in Spain. The outside of D’Berto hints at the pleasures that await with a tank showcasing stunning examples of crabs, lobsters, and other delicacies from the rías of the Galician coast. This family restaurant has specialized in serving up the largest and rarest pieces of seafood and fish from the region. Everything is seasonal and based on what is available in the market. The best bet is to let Berto, one half of the brother and sister team behind the restaurant, guide you on your journey. Expect to feast on everything from clams and oysters to lobsters and baked fish. You’ll also find a great wine cellar at D’Berto, focused on elite and small producers from Galicia and other wines from Spain and the wider world that pair well with the clean, fresh seafood. This is a good place to try sparkling Albariño.

Dinner at Quinta de San Amaro

DAY 3

DEPARTURE

  • Private transfer to the Santiago or Vigo airport or train station for departure.

HOTEL

Rías Baixas - 2 nights

Quinta de San Amaro - Quinta de San Amaro is a beautiful countryside hotel right in the heart of Rías Baixas wine country. Peaceful and cozy, it's the kind of place that makes you want to stay as long as possible. The rooms are beautifully furnished and luxurious, and the public areas are full of spots to enjoy a glass of wine and relax. The quinta is also home to one of the area's best restaurants, serving elegant Galician dishes and with a wine list featuring excellent wines from Rías Baixas and other Galician regions.



INCLUDED

  • 2 nights hotel, double occupancy

  • breakfast daily in the hotels

  • expert private guides

  • private premium tours and tastings at wineries

  • private driver-guide for wine tour days

  • 2 dinners at Quinta de San Amaro

  • restaurant reservations and recommendations

  • full trip planning

  • in-country trip assistance and on-the-ground support

  • Epicurean Ways expertise

NOT INCLUDED

  • flights to/from Spain and flights within Spain

  • tips to guides and drivers (optional but appreciated)

  • travel insurance (recommended) Note that TravelSafe travel insurance can be arranged through Epicurean Ways

  • extra charges in hotels (minibar, room service, etc)

A note on winery visits, restaurant selections and hotels

All tours, experiences and hotels are subject to availability and will be confirmed upon booking the trip.

You will be accompanied by a driver-guide during your wine touring. Your visits and tastings will be private and with the winemaker, a family member or an expert who knows the winery and the wines well. We work with the wineries to make sure that you taste the best and most representative wines during each visit. It is sometimes possible to arrange extended tastings that include old vintages or rare wines. We have an extensive group of wineries whose owners we know and with whom we work regularly, so we can guarantee high-level visits even if a winery has to be substituted. If you have an interest in visiting a particular producer please let us know.

We include restaurant concierge service as part of your trip. Note that our restaurant suggestions are just that–suggestions. Places we love, places to go back to time after time. We recommend these places after years of experience eating in Spain and Portugal together with frequent research and input from our local partners. We aspire to guide your choices with information on the styles of cuisine and restaurants; the choice on where to eat is yours based on your preferences and desires.

We have included hotel options ranging from 5-star luxury properties to small boutique hotels. Let us know your preferences and we will tailor the hotel choices for you.

TRIP PRICES

Note that we can customize this trip for you. Add days in your arrival or departure city or in other locations or make changes to the experiences, winery visits, restaurants, or hotels included in the trip. Whatever it is, we’re here to work with you. Once you’re happy with the trip plan and have some idea of your dates we will calculate and send you the price.