I was told by a chef from Madrid that there is a shop in Madrid that not only sells wine from all of the vineyards in Spain but that will also help you to plan trips to these same vineyards. My husband and I are going to the Northwest in November via Madrid and would love to stop in this establishment or contact them prior to leaving.

Some of my favorite wines come from the NW: the Minho valley westward from Ourense. The Ribeiro is first, then as you approach Tuy in the Province of Pontevedra you find a finer Albariño, and finally, from a small growing area around Rosal, the finest Rosal wine is made. I don't know how you would go about visiting the bodegas. I do know that there is an annual wine festival. Sorry, I can't tell you when it is celebrated, but I am sure it is not late in the year.

Similar wines are produced on the other side of the rio Minho (in Portugal). I think they are also called Ribeiro.

If you are near LaGuardia, be sure to visit Monte Santa Tecla to see the 4th Century BC Celtic settlement.

[ 08-18-2001: Message edited by: Eddie ]

Hi JC, While in Madrid a couple told me about a wine festival in Caceres they go to every year and since then I have been interested in finding out how to visit the vineyards too.

Does anyone know about wine festivals in the different regions?

There's a festival in Haro (La Rioja) the end of June. Insight Guide,Northern Spain says "the harvest(vendimia)is celebrated in every wine town at grape picking time, in September, though wine festivals are held throughout the summer." So November may not be a month for festivals.

[ 08-18-2001: Message edited by: karenwishart ]

[ 08-18-2001: Message edited by: karenwishart ]

You may wish to check out this web site http://vino.eunet.es/vino/index.html , the Spanish Wine Page. there is a lot of information about spanish wines, as well as vineyards and bodegas you may wish to visitthrough out all of Spain. This is the best site I have found. I will be visiting the Jerez area around the end of September, and this was the only site I was able to find that gave addresses and phone # to contact.

The site http://www.filewine.es/english/default.htm

has a directory of wineries/bodegas which might be helpful.

Also, specifically for sherry, have a look at: http://www.sherry.org/envhp01.html

and go into the "bodegas" section for contact information.