Wine Tastings in Spain and Portugal
Private Wine Tastings
Epicurean Ways offers wine tastings in destinations across Spain and Portugal. We believe that a well-planned wine tasting is the perfect way to start your trip or deepen your understanding, whether you’re visiting numerous wineries on your trip or just want a taste of Spanish and Portuguese wines. We work with some of Spain and Portugal’s most knowledgeable experts to organize tastings. Each tasting can be adapted to your interests and the destinations you’re visiting on your trip. You might want to taste the local wines from near your destination or a selection of fine wines from different regions. Our partners have access to iconic wines, rare bottlings from small producers, and often old vintages. Many of the tastings include tapas or even full lunches or dinners.
SPAIN
Barcelona Private Wine Tasting
Catalonia has many exciting wine-producing areas, some famous and others little known outside the region. A Catalan wine tasting in Barcelona allows you to explore the best wines from regions like Priorat, Montsant, Terra Alta, Cava, or Empordà, whether you’re planning to visit wine regions or just seeing the city. Sit down in a comfortable, private space with a sommelier who’s an expert in Catalan wines. You can focus this tasting on particular areas of Catalonia or styles, or use it as a chance to get acquainted with the diversity of local wines.
Rías Baixas (Galicia) Private Wine Tasting With Lunch/Dinner
Head to the coast of Galicia’s Rías Baixas region for a special wine-tasting meal with a notable specialist in Galician wines. You’ll have the chance to taste wines from across Galicia, including rare bottlings and old vintages that are impossible to find. On the menu, the fresheast seafood from the inlets of the Galician coast, from shellfish and octopus to impeccably prepared fish. Each flavor will be expertly paired by the kind and knowledgeable owner and sommelier.
Santiago de Compostela Private Wine Tasting
Step inside a cozy boutique wine shop in Santiago for a tasting that’ll introduce you to the diversity and quality of Galician wine. The knowledgeable owner will pour a selection of wines from across the region and explain the different characteristics that make Galicia one of Spain’s great wine areas. Try white and red wines from regions like Rías Baixas, Ribeiro, Valdeorras, and Ribeira Sacra. This is the perfect start to a trip in Galicia, giving you the knowledge to try local wines for the rest of your trip.
Priorat Private Wine Tasting
A local sommelier will join you at your hotel for a tasting of rare and surprising wines from the Priorat and Montsant regions. Your guide on this journey has lived in the Priorat for many years, working with the region’s wineries and accumulating a deep understanding of the region’s terroir and history. There are many surprising wines made in Priorat and Montsant whose style differs from the more famous labels commonly found outside the region. Tasting these wines alongside rarities from top producers is a great way to get a broad perspective on this special wine region.
Madrid Private Wine Tasting
Step inside one of Madrid’s exclusive wine shops for shop private tasting of Spanish wines accompanied by tapas. The owner has decades of experience working with Spain’s top wineries and carries a wide range of rare bottles. The tasting will provide an introduction to Spanish wine, or it could focus on one or two Spanish regions. From iconic bottles to small-production experimental wines, you can taste them here.
Rioja Private Wine Tasting
Logroño is the capital and largest city in the Rioja, the dividing line between glamorous Rioja Alavesa and the wide expanses of Rioja Oriental. A city that lives from the world of wine, Logroño is packed with history, pintxos bars, and great restaurants. Join a local wine expert in a Logroño restaurant for a tasting that will help deepen your knowledge of Rioja wines. This is the perfect chance to taste wines from producers that you won’t be visiting but who make excellent wines. Tasting with a Rioja expert will let you ask questions and learn from someone who has a broad perspective on the wines of the region. The wines you taste can be adapted to your preferences.
Jerez de la Frontera Private Wine Tasting
Join a local wine expert in a private space in the center of Jerez for an exciting introduction to the wines of the area. You’ll have the room to yourself and full access to your tasting expert. You can taste some of the exciting white wines being made in sherry country, the so-called “vinos de pasto” that have taken the wine world by storm. Of course, you can also focus your tasting partly or wholly on sherries, from fresh yeast manzanillas to rare old palo cortados with decades of aging. Accompany the wines with a selection of local tapas using the best local products.
Granada Private Wine Tasting With Lunch/Dinner
There isn’t much wine produced around Granada, but the city has the strongest wine culture in southern Spain. While in Sevilla and Cádiz the locals tend to pair their tapas with beer or sherry, in Granada you’ll see red and white wine flowing in every corner of the city. Even so, it’s surprising that down a small street in a historic Granada neighborhood lies a well stocked wine bar which is a temple and destination for enthusiasts from all over the world. In an intimate space, with a few high tables and a wooden bar with racks of wine bottles behind it, the sommelier will guide you through a selection of special Spanish wines and pair them with the superb products and dishes. This wine-pairing dinner can be adapted to your interests and tastes, whether that be one specific region or style or a survey of Spanish wine.
Cádiz Private Wine Tasting
Join a local wine expert for a tasting of some of the exciting white wines from sherry country. The Palomino grape planted in chalky soils that is used to make sherry has proven itself capable of making fascinating white wines. A new generation of talented winemakers has proven this with their limited-edition releases that have become cult wines around the world. These pure expressions of the terroir of Jerez and its surroundings are the perfect introduction to the world of sherry. You’ll taste some of the best examples, including so-called vinos de pasto, white wines aged in barrel with the layer of flor yeast that defines fino and manzanilla sherry.
Córdoba Private Montilla-Moriles Wine Tasting
Montilla-Moriles is the wine region just south of the city of Córdoba where sherry-style wines have been made for centuries. Here the Pedro Ximénez grape is used for sherry-style wines both dry and sweet. Nearly all Pedro Ximénez grapes used in the sherry made in Jerez come from here. One unique thing about these wines is that many are made in large amphorae called tinajas. An expert in these wines and all things sherry will help you discover this secret wine region during a private tasting of top wines.
Sevilla Private Wine Tasting With Lunch/Dinner
Join a local wine expert at a classic Sevilla tavern for a wine tasting paired with tapas. The tapas bar tavern conserves the atmosphere from its founding days 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.
PORTUGAL
Lisbon Private Wine Tasting
Head into a local sommelier’s home for an introductory tasting to Portuguese wine. Learn about the country’s wine heritage and its most important indigenous grapes while tasting a selection of fine wines from different regions of Portugal. You’ll also have the chance to pair these wines with local cheeses and charcuterie. This tasting is the perfect way to start a wine journey through Portugal.
Porto Private Wine Tasting
Head to Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto’s sister town across the river where Port shipping was born. The great Port houses all have outposts here, and today you’ll be visiting the lodge of venerable shipper Niepoort. Niepoort has centuries of history in the Port business, but under the direction of current leader Dirk Niepoort the winery has become one of Portugal’s great winemaking innovators in the Douro and across Portugal. You’ll taste Niepoort wines from four Portuguese wine regions: Douro, Dão, Bairrada, and Port.