I am in Spain Oct 18 to the 30th. We are renting a car a driving from Madrid to paradores in Avila, Salamanca, Tordesillas, Burgos and then Segovia. Will this be grape harvest season? Is there any special festivities we should look for?

That's a good question. Anyone know? I'd imagine this must be a busy busy time for much of Spain. We had a Spanish wine expert here on the board but he hasn't been around lately. I'm sure he'd know. Albariño.... mmmm.... And what's the other popular, "narrowly grown" Galicia wine that's expensive and hard to get outside of the region? I forget.

Saludos, MadridMan

Ribeiro?

I've just taken a Dutch guy from my company's office in The Netherlands to Maceira on a semi-business dinner; he thought we would have enough with half a bottle of Alvariño, and we've almost had a bottle and a half!!!

Oh well!

pim, THAT'S IT! Thanks. It was on the tip of my tongue.... which is where I wish the Ribeiro was. Mmmmm.. So gooooood. We can get Albariños here in Columbus, Ohio, but not the Ribeiro.

Anyone know when Harvest Season is for the different grape-growing regions in Spain?

Saludos, MadridMan

If you head to Tordesillas, be sure to check out Rueda (small town nearby) as it is famous for its white wine. In fact, in the majority of the restaurants in Madrid, if you ask for a bottle of white, 9 times out of 10 it will be a bottle of Rueda. I´ll check with my inlaws regarding grape harvesting season....I know the vines are pretty full these days with the grapes! Will post back.

The grapeharvest season in Spain usually goes from mid september to mid-end of October (in France it's a bit sooner) so you can already see it.
If you want to visit some especific winery, contact them because depending on the weather, location, amount of grapes and other factors, they can begin a bit sooner or delay the harvest a few days.

Thanks for your imput. If we see signs on the road for a winery, can one assume they would sell to the general public? I saw something on TV recently about tasting and tours of winerys in Spain, but I didn't write down details.