Gastronomy and wine tourism

Set between the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range and the Mediterranean coast, the DO (Designation of Origin) Penedès is an outstanding winegrowing area with the largest production yield in Catalonia. The quality of the soil, the sun exposure and the sea breeze go a long way to explaining the success of wines and cavas capable of surprising even the most demanding of palates. The region also has the largest number of wineries, along with a wide-ranging wine tourism offering that you can also enjoy with the family.

There are so many things to do in the five wine and cava designations of origin in the Barcelona region: learn to distinguish between a young wine and an aged wine, participate in the daily tasks of a winery, discover the different grape varieties, spend a night on a wine estate, etc. And if you like walking, you can also follow any of the many signposted itineraries that take you among vineyards. Can you think of a better way to spend a weekend?

In the last decade, the number of craft beer producers in the Barcelona region has expanded like the foam on a beer. Production increases and becomes more diverse with each passing year, aimed at an increasingly knowledgeable public seeking new sensations on the palate. If you like beer, but you’d also like to know how it’s brewed, take note of these three breweries that regularly offer tours of their facilities.

The Grand Tour of Catalonia is an itinerary of more than 2,000 kilometres inspired by the great journeys popular among young European nobility in the mid-19^th century. It has been designed as a single thirteen-day itinerary or in five sections of between five and seven days. The fact that it is divided into stages allows you to plan short getaways and take advantage of however many days you have available. Below we propose three routes to travel by motorhome on which you can discover the best landscapes in the Barcelona region.

The grape harvest has always been a festive event. Since ancient times, grape harvesting has been conceived as a ritual, either because of its Mediterranean roots or because of the camaraderie generated among teams of grape pickers. Although the process is mostly mechanised nowadays, picking grapes from the vine is still a reason for celebration, and there are many towns and cities in the regions of Barcelona that organise harvest festivals where everyone is welcome. So get your diary out!

Cava is a world-famous sparkling wine that no important meal or celebration can be without. It’s part of our everyday life, a fixture of the dining table. As children we wonder whether those bubbles we aren’t allowed to taste will tickle our mouths. But have you ever wondered how and why cava began to be produced in the Penedès area? The story takes us to Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, covering dramatic events of the 19^th-century history when phylloxera wiped out 90% of Europe’s vineyards...