We arranged our first wine tour to Catalonia in 1989. Since then it we have had it as a destination every so often. Therefore, it is great to see that the Swedish wine tasting association Munskänkarna has named Priorat in Catalonia “Wine Region of the Year 2016”.
Priorat is a small district in the south of Catalonia which is very well worthy of the attention that this hopefully will lead to. It used to be called Priorato, before Catalan became the official language.
If you really want to discover Priorat you should go there. It is a breathtakingly beautiful wine region, far up in the mountains in Catalonia. A few decades ago, the wines from here were almost overwhelmingly powerful but today they have “calmed down” and are intense and elegant. At least the good ones.
You can read more about Priorat in our introduction to wine district on BKWine Magazine.
Of course, to really get in depth into Priorat you should go there. It is an excellent destination for a wine tour. You can easily fly to Barcelona. Our autumn wine tour in the region is not based out of Barcelona though. Instead we have chosen to stay in the neighbouring town of Sitges. Barcelona is a big and crowded city and who wants to sit in endless traffic jams to get out to the wine country?
Sitges is a very charming little town by the sea. A wonderful sandy beach, an old town with narrow streets and cosy restaurants; and close to the wine regions.
If you travel all the way to Catalonia it is worth taking a look on all the wines that are made in the area. On the Priorat wine tour we combine it with a visit to Penedes and to “cava country”. Cava is actually a DO (denomination, appellation) for sparkling wine that applies to the whole country, but more than 90% of all the cava is made in Penedes. We spend one day in Priorat, one day in Penedes for the still wines and one day for the sparkling cava wines.
Do you want to spend even more time in the Priorat?
Please give us a shout! On next year’s trip to Catalonia we can schedule more time in Priorat, if we get requests for it. Or we can make a tour just for you and for your fellow travellers and wine lovers. What do you think?
Read more about it in our program for the wine tour to Catalonia, with Priorat, Penedes and cava.
