Sevilla, Sherry & Jamón Ibérico Wine Tour
Trip At A Glance
5 Days / 4 nights
Sevilla – 4 days with day trips to Sanlúcar and Aracena
Day 1 – Sevilla
Arrive in Sevilla and dive into the history of the city before a wine tasting and dinner.
Day 2 – Sherry in Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Sanlúcar, or little Cádiz, makes a slightly salty style of sherry called manzanilla. Try it with the local prawns–a revelation!
Day 3 – Aracena & Jabugo Ham
The world’s best ham is Spanish acorn fed ham from Iberian native pigs. So good!
Day 4 – Sevilla
Check out some hidden corners of Sevilla, and believe me there are many of them, before lunch at Cañabota.
Day 1 - Sevilla: Andalusian Grandeur
Arrive in Sevilla
Sevilla walking tour
Private wine tasting and dinner at El Rinconcillo
Overnight Hotel Corral del Rey, Sevilla
Sevilla
Andalusia’s capital breathes vitality and energy: groups of people spilling out of bars and restaurants onto the streets, loud and passionate conversations and strains of flamenco floating out of windows, narrow streets and beautiful plazas stoked with orange trees ablaze in the southern sun. It’s a city of grand monuments, the riches of the Americas converted into churches and palaces and statues, but also of tiny atmospheric holes in the wall hidden away from time. To arrive in Sevilla from another Spanish city is to be transported immediately and powerfully into Andalusia. The feeling that accompanies that immersion is so strong that many find they never want to leave.
Sevilla has three World Heritage Sites: the Cathedral (the largest Gothic temple in the world), the Real Alcázar (Moorish palace which features a stunning combination of Mudéjar and Baroque architectural styles) and the Santa Cruz district (the former Jewish Quarter) with narrow streets, hidden patios and countless quaint corners.
Sevilla Walking Tour
Meet your guide and embark on a guided walking tour through historic Sevilla visiting World Heritage Sites and other monuments. Explore the Santa Cruz district with its traditional architecture, narrow alleyways and countless quaint corners and the former Jewish Quarter's winding streets and hidden patios. Tour the Alcázar, a fortified palace that is one of Spain’s greatest examples of Mudéjar architecture. The Mudéjar style brings together designs and craftsmanship of Moors who remained in Spain after the reconquest, and subsequent expulsion, with Christian symbols and architecture. The courtyards and galleries of the Alcázar are enchanting, strongly evoking the city’s Moorish past. The palace was a residence of the kings of Spain, and they still travel to Sevilla from time to time to occupy their rooms on the upper floor. Then visit the Cathedral, the largest Gothic temple in the world and where Christopher Columbus is buried.
Private Wine Tasting and Dinner at El Rinconcillo
Join a local wine expert at Sevilla’s oldest tavern for a wine tasting paired with tapas. El Rinconcillo is the most classic of all of Sevilla’s tapas bars, conserving the atmosphere from its founding over three centuries ago. You’ll find all sorts of classic Sevilla dishes on the menu, from excellent hand-cut Iberian ham to salmorejo to stews with deep Andalusian flavor. You’ll head upstairs, away from the noise of the crowds that fill the bar, where you’ll have a private table and the space to enjoy and discuss the wines you’ll taste. Our wine expert will guide you through a tasting that can focus on anything from sherry wines from nearby Jerez to great bottles from around Spain to a masterclass in a single region. The wines will be accompanied by a selection of plates with which to try pairing each wine. This experience perfectly combines traditional Sevillano food with excellent wine.
Sevilla Uncovered
Tapas are part of the culinary landscape all over Spain, but nowhere do they occupy such an important place as in Sevilla. nearly every corner, street or plaza is home to bustling places where people stand, lean, and occasionally sit while washing down all sorts of small creations with glasses of ice cold Cruzcampo beer or sherry from down the road in Jerez. You’ll find traditional tapas bars unchanged for decades and centuries where the most traditional cuisine is on offer, but also truly creative places where young chefs use the tapas format to showcase imaginative dishes. It can be hard to think of good restaurants in Sevilla that aren’t fundamentally tapas places, and it’s best to accept this and abandon yourself to the city and its ways, hopping from bar to bar trying specialties and joining the river of joyful people that stream through the streets at every meal time.
Day 2 – Sanlúcar Sherry
Transfer to Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Barbadillo winery visit
Bodegas Alonso winery visit
Lunch at Casa Bigote
Transfer back to Cádiz
Dinner at Almanaque Casa de Comidas
Overnight Cádiz
Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Where the Guadalquivir River, once the trade waterway to the Spanish overseas Empire, empties into the Atlantic lies Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a surprising and enchanting food and wine destination and Spain’s Gastronomic Capital in 2022. Forming one corner of the Sherry triangle, this riverfront town is best known in Spain as the home of manzanilla sherry, a pale colored, fresh, salty even, style of sherry wine. The Guadalquivir River delta gives rise to Sanlúcar’s second claim to fame, after manzanilla– the langostino de Sanlúcar, a delicious prawn that thrives in the brackish waters off the coast here. This single ingredient rises above the rest in the restaurants of Sanlúcar. But in fact all of the readily available fresh seafood coming daily into Sanlúcar pairs extremely well with the light manzanilla made here.
Sanlúcar has emerged as the center of a new wine movement in sherry country. Using the sames grapes grown throughout the Sherry Triangle–palomino, Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel– the “new” winemakers are focused on single vineyard wines and instead of fortified sherry-style wines they are making dry, unfortified white wines. Many of the small growers are in or around Sanlúcar, keeping the wine culture strong and providing fertile ground for young innovators to create new projects.
Barbadillo Winery Visit
Barbadillo winery in Sanlúcar’s historic Barrio Alto is one of the great historic sherry houses. Not only do they make a range of classic manzanillas and other sherries, but they are the instigators of the new sherry movement. Thanks to their talented enologist Montse Molina and their consulting “rebel” winemaker Armando Guerra, they have released a number of ground breaking wines to shake up sherry and the white wines from Cádiz made from the same grape as sherry. From white wines aged in sherry casks to vintage manzanillas and bottlings of rare old sherries, Barbadillo is a sherry titan. You will taste through their white wines and their light manzanillas.
Bodegas Alonso Winery Visit
When a sherry winery is sold or goes out of business, the barrels full of old wine that make up the solera system don’t go away. They pass to the new owner and reappear, sometimes under a new name. Local wine experts have an encyclopedic memory for the genealogy of sherries, but in the case of Bodegas Alonso the history is simple. Pedro Romero was the king of sherry in Sanlúcar, with an empire including old soleras of the finest sherries and beautiful winery buildings to house them in. When Romero’s empire collapsed, two winemaking brothers bought the rarest old wines from Romero’s estate and the wine cellars in the center of Sanlúcar and created Bodegas Alonso. The bottlings from these centenarian soleras form the core of Bodegas Alonso’s world-class sherries, joined by manzanilla and other younger wines made from their own vineyards. Very old wines and exceptional younger wines make Alonso the stars of sherry in Sanlúcar today.
Lunch at Casa Bigote
The star product of Sanlúcar’s cuisine has to be the local langostino, and Casa Bigote is the place to eat it. This beachfront institution, comprising an outdoor terrace, a popular bar, and several dining rooms, prepares the langostinos caught in the brackish water visible from the restaurant impeccably, offering them cooked quickly in boiling water or grilled. No trip to Casa Bigote is complete without a plate of langostinos, perhaps accompanied by the gamba blanca shrimp from nearby Huelva, and a glass of cold manzanilla sherry, but that’s not all that you can eat here. The menu features the best products from the area, from bluefin tuna to clams to squid to local fish whose names exist only in Sanlúcar. Despite being a classic Sanlúcar spot, many of the preparations on the menu are innovative, combining interesting flavors together while maintaining an obsession with fresh, quality product. The best match for the menu is Sanlúcar manzanilla, whether filled from one of the barrels inside Casa Bigote or from a special bottle. After your meal, you can take in the Bajo de Guía waterfront, whether from your chair or while strolling down it and reflecting on a meal at one of Andalusia’s great temples to seafood.
Day 3 – The Best Ham in the World: Iberian Jamón
Private Iberian ham day tour in Aracena
Overnight Hotel Corral del Rey, Sevilla
Jamón Ibérico Day Trip
Your guide will pick you up for a full-day Iberian ham tour. You will travel through the unique Holm oak-studded countryside called dehesa, where the acorn-fed Iberian pigs are raised. The production of Iberian ham, or jamón ibérico, is an example of the ultimate traditional, sustainable, and low-impact agricultural system as the pigs graze on the plants and in the fall, on the fallen acorns from the oaks. You and your guide will accompany a local expert on a visit to a farm to see how the native pigs are reared, ranging free, feeding on acorns. After sampling the mouth-watering ham at the farm, continue on to the town of Aracena to enjoy a lunch that truly highlights what “eating local” should be: savor the finest local ham, cheese, mushrooms, pork, and produce. Return to Sevilla in the late afternoon.
Day 4 - Sevilla
Free day in Sevilla
Dinner at Cañabota restaurant
Overnight Hotel Corral del Rey, Sevilla
On Your Own In Sevilla
EME Catedral Mercer Panoramic Rooftop Bar
Head up to the rooftop of the five star EME Catedral Mercer Hotel for a drink and the best views of the Sevilla cathedral in the city. The bar directly faces the length of the cathedral, showcasing the Giralda bell tower and the main door with its elaborate facade and flying buttresses. There’s a wide selection of craft cocktails available to sip while you relax above the bustle of the city. The cathedral is lit up after dark, so the view is stunning during the day or at night.
Arab Baths - Hammam
There’s no better way to recover from the weariness of travel than to step into this palace in the center of Sevilla. Here you’ll find Arab baths with different water temperatures restored to modern standards, massages and other spa services. When you’re done with your experiences you’ll be able to relax on the small rooftop pool with views of the Sevilla cathedral.
Cruise on the Guadalquivir River in Sevilla
See Sevilla from the river on a private cruise on an electric boat. You’ll have amazing views of the Triana neighborhood, the famous Torre de Oro, and the beautiful buildings from the Ibero-American Expo of 1929.
Dinner at Cañabota Restaurant
Sevilla’s newest Michelin star restaurant, Cañabota is a temple to superb fish and seafood sourced from the Spanish coast. In just a few years, the local team behind this small restaurant in the center of Sevilla has made it the premier destination in Sevilla for seafood. The brightly lit dining room features an open kitchen and a case displaying the products available that day. Every morning, one of the restaurant partners makes his way through the markets of the coast of Cádiz using his many years of experience with local fish to source the best and most seasonal pieces for Cañabota. Unlike many Michelin star restaurants, Cañabota offers the chance to order à la carte, with a menu that changes based on what products are available featuring creative plates alongside delicious fish and seafood sold by weight. There’s also the option to order a tasting menu, a journey through the best creations of the chefs and the best products found in the market. The wine cellar, enclosed in glass and visible in the back of the dining room, features an extensive selection from Spain and other countries, with particular focus on sherry wines from nearby Cádiz province and sparkling wines. If you feel like a taste of Cañabota in an even more relaxed environment, La Barra de Cañabota is located next door and offers the same quality in a true tapas bar environment.
Day 5 – Departure
Private transfer to the Sevilla airport or train station for departure.
Hotel
Sevilla - 4 nights
Corral del Rey – Tucked away in the narrow streets of Sevilla’s Barrio de Santa Cruz, Corral del Rey occupies three beautifully restored palaces dating back to the 17th century and offers a perfect bolthole from which to explore the old town of Sevilla. Inside the property you’ll find common areas and rooms tastefully arranged with luxurious furniture and fine art and antiquities from the owners’ private collections and world travels. The rooms feature the best of everything, from the linens and upholstery to the stunning bathrooms. The service here goes above and beyond, with expert staff there to help with anything you might need. Corral del Rey features a small restaurant for tapas in the evening if you’re so enchanted you want to stay in, but you’ll likely want to take advantage of the perfect location just a few minutes from the Cathedral, the Alcázar, and the tapas bars and restaurants of the center.
Trip Includes
4 nights hotel, double occupancy
breakfast daily in the hotels
expert private guides
private Sevilla tour
private premium tours and tastings at wineries
private driver-guide for Aracena and Ronda tour days
2 lunches with wine (Ronda and Aracena)
1 wine-pairing dinner in Sevilla with wine expert
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)
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. Note that the cost of the lunches/dinners is not included unless specified under the included items. Normally your included meals are with a guide while touring or tapas tours or wine-tasting meals.
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.