My husband and I are travelling by car for six weeks from Rome into Spain. We arrive in Spain around April 24th and start in Barcelona, with a visit to Montserrat. We are huge wine fans, and so far I'm a little surprised at the difficulty I'm having on finding Spanish Wine travel info both online and in books. It took me forever to find Wine DO maps just to get a start! So anyway, we're planning on spending a couple of nights around the Rioja, then onto the West around Segovia,Avila,Salamanca and we hope to stay in a Parador in Ciudad Rodrigo. I've emailed them twice now, to no reply, which I'm finding frustrating. But I'll keep at them!
After that we head south towards Caceras, Badajoz and Zafra. We plan on three nights in Seville, and four nights somewhere along the coast around Jerez - sherry tasting region (suggestions welcome!!!). Two to three nights in Granada via Ronda and three to four nights in Madrid via Toledo. Voila!
We'll be sad to leave, I'm sure!


So anyway, we're still looking for help/suggestions on where to do wine tasting and of course good restaurants along the way!
Thanks!

Sometime ago CAMPSA made a wine guide in Spain (something similar to the Michelin guide), I don't know how good it is, you can visit it here http://www.guiacampsa.com/esp/infinito/gcampsa/ocio_viajes/vinos/vinos.asp

They have also a restaurant guide.

Hi again, Zippy!
I thought you might benefit from the VERY long and detailed thread, " Ribera del Duero ". It's FULL of ideas. The original poster, El Viejo, asks..:

On July 6, 2000, El Viejo returned from his trip and gave a long, detailed, enriching write-up in that thread about his trip and wine tastings along the way.

Feel free to follow up with questions on that thread as well as this one to "keep the flow". Thanks and good luck!

Saludos, MadridMan

[ 01-16-2002: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

I get goose bumps or however they are called when someone tells me he/she is going to be in Jerez in April, envy at it´s purest state...., Sherry and Jerez are a miracle very few people know about.
As for Madrid try la Cava Baja st area. The best wine bars in the city are there. What a wine bar is? A wine bar is a bar with two big
black boards. One for the wines that have just been open (so they are fresh) and the other for the tapas available. Then, you don´t have to buy the wine in bottles but in glasses this way you can try different ones.

Regards,
Andrés (Wine Master)

Andres,
I get goose bumps about wine in general... So far I've spent the most part of my day surfing on the Rioja region as a start, beleive me, Jerez and any other wine region on our route will get equal attention!!
I've found a few good sites on both accommodations and links to wineries, but mostly in Spanish, so it is slow going for me. The toughest part is finding those that allow visiters (and tasting) withOUT having to make an appointment. As to that, all links welcome!

So far I've found some cool sites though:
(I guess some of this I can copy later into the accommodations forum)
La Rioja.com


Antiqua Natura (Rural Accommodations)

Extramadura Tourism

ASCARIOJA

Haro Regional info

Reserva Y Cata

RedRioja

LaRioja Tourism

Anyway, that is my list for today, for those out there who I can save some time for. Im getting square eyes from the computer screen...

[ 01-16-2002: Message edited by: Zippy ]

The Rioja area is a great area to tour and lots of bodegas and we had great house wines everywhere we stopped. Arana del Duero is a good town in the area (I wrote something last summer about the area) and there's a wonderful monastery in San Millan de la Cogolla the is now a hosteria not far from Santo Domingo de la Calzada. You often follow the pilgrim trail to Santiago when driving through this area. It really is beautiful.

I have found a thousand times more information about wine routes in the book I recommended you that on the internet, I cant say more ;.)

A.