The 10 Best Barcelona Wine Tours, Experiences & Tastings in a Sustainable Way
Barcelona is one of Spain’s best destinations to explore wineries to taste local wines and cavas (Catalan Sparkling wine).
Most of the visitors usually make the same mistake to book a bus tour where 50 foreigners will go together to a “small winery” to enjoy “authentic wine experiences” from Barcelona. It can be a good option if you want to combine a visit to Montserrat and a tasting in a winery in one day. But it is definitely not the best option if you want to meet local winemakers and taste wines & cavas from boutique wineries in unique landscapes.
Sustainable tourism includes sustainable ways of transport, help small businesses to subsist, defend the local culture and their traditions of making wines and/cavas.
If these values are the ones you want to defend on your next travel to Barcelona, try to avoid the bus tours and take the train to the wine regions around Barcelona, do not go to Freixenet or Codorniu (owned by German Multinationals) but rather defend small winemakers that are suffering during this crisis, consume local grape varieties like Xarel·lo, Garnacha, Macabeo, Monastrell,… rather than Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec.
If you agree on these principles and values, you can see below our recommendations to discover the best wine experiences around Barcelona in a SUSTAINABLE WAY!
1 – From Barcelona, E-Bike Tour in the vineyards with 2 Wineries (Half-day)
The best way to explore the amazing landscapes of a wine region is on 2 wheels!
Discover all the secrets of making wine and cava with this intimate bike tour starting every day from Barcelona. A 100% Sustainable tour as you take the train to reach the wine region, you use a bike to ride among vineyards and you go to organic & biodynamic boutiaue wineries.
Moutain bike or E-bike ? You can choose for no extra cost the bike that best suits you.
Stroll around the most beautiful wine routes of Penedès with a wonderful view of Montserrat. Visit an authentic family-owned winery and enjoy 2 tastings of exquisite organic wines and cavas!
2 – Self-Guided Wine tour: Bike Rental + Winery visit
We usually recommend you to contract a guided tour for your journey in the Penedès wine region. As it can be hard to organize the excursion by yourself: you have to navigate the train timetables on the Renfe website, know which wineries accept visits and check their timetables, call the winemakers as they can be hard to reach by Email, organize your transport between wineries,…. For the small wineries (the best for oour point of view), you will also need a minimum number of participants to organize a visit: usually 4 o 6 people.
NEVERTHELESS, If you prefer visiting the wineries around Barcelona independently, you also have the option to contract a Self-Guided Tour which includes a Bike Rental and visits/tastings to one or various boutique wineries. The Penedès Ecotours Team can advise you the best small wineries in the region to meet real winemakers and avoid the tourist traps.
Take the train from Barcelona city center to Vilafranca del Penedès where the Penedès Ecotours shop is located, choose between a Bike or an Electric Bike and explore the Penedès wine region at your own pace. Check out all the information on the following link.
3 – Self-Guided Wine tour: Winery visit
If you do not feel safe on 2 wheels but you want to organize visit to cellars on your own, you have the option to take the train from the city center of Barcelona to Sant Sadurni d’Anoia or Vilafranca del Penedès and visit wineries within the cities.
Sant Sadurni D’Anoia is known as the “Capital of Cava” whereas Vilafranca del Penedès is known as the “Capital of Wine”. In reality, most of the wineries are actually doing wines and cavas in order to get more business.
Some wineries can be reached without having to take a taxi from the train stations of Vilafranca del Penedès and Sant Sadurni d’Anoia such as Gramona, Pinord, Recaredo,… The price is usually around 15/20€ for a full visit + tasting of various wines and/or cavas.
With 12 denominacion de origen (DO) wine regions in Catalonia, the Penedès wine region is the easiest to visit from Barcelona. Located only 40 Kilometers from Barcelona, you can reach the region by bus, train or private van, depending on your budget.
The Penedès’ region is famous for being the home of the “Wine cathedrals” designed by the most brilliant Modernist architect, the beautiful cities of Sant Sadurni d’Anoia and Vilafranca del Penedès, and, of course, beautiful landscapes with outstanding views on Montserrat.
The area is one of the world’s most notable wine regions, home to traditional grapes like Xarel·lo, Macabeo o Parellada where world-class DO Penedès wines and cava come from.
The vineyards which line the hills and small villages are waiting for you to visit and discover more about this beautiful region and its delicious fine wines and cavas. We’ve selected the 10 best Barcelona wine tours, tasting experiences and activities in vineyards.
