7 Motivos para hacer enoturismo este verano

Summer is the perfect excuse to swap the crowded beach for a vineyard at rest. Here are seven very concrete reasons to spend a few summer days touring wineries and wine landscapes.

1. An experience you won't forget

Setting foot for the first time in a barrel room, seeing how the vine is trained on a trellis or tasting right where the wine is made completely changes the way you enjoy it. It stops being a bottle on the supermarket shelf and gains a landscape, hands and a climate behind it. If you have never done it, that first contact tends to hook you.

2. Real disconnection

Wine regions are made of silence, paths between the vines and small villages. Against the coastal bustle, the plan here is unhurried: a visit in the morning, a leisurely lunch and a nap in the shade. You come back feeling you have rested, not that you need another holiday.

3. Eating and drinking well

Wine tourism and fine dining go hand in hand. Each area has its own larder, and tasting a wine alongside the stew, cheese or cured meats of its land reveals nuances that are lost at home. Many wineries offer paired tastings or menus designed to accompany their wines.

4. Learning without realising it

You don't need to be an expert to enjoy it, but it is hard to leave a visit without having learned something:

• How soil and climate influence the flavour.
• What difference there is between crianza, reserva and gran reserva.
• Why a D.O. sets rules for winemaking.

If you want to arrive with your homework done, it helps to review beforehand how to visit a winery.

5. Tourism spread across all of Spain

From the Atlantic north to the Mediterranean, almost every corner has its wine. That lets you combine wine tourism with what you already enjoy: mountains, a nearby beach, historic cities or gastronomy. It is a flexible plan that adapts to the rest of the trip.

6. Good for the villages

Visiting a family winery, sleeping in a rural lodging or eating at the village bar leaves the spending where it is needed. Wine tourism sustains local economies and helps these territories stay alive outside the high season.

7. Plans for everyone

It is not a plan only for couples or connoisseurs. There are wineries with family activities, bike routes among the vines, sunset visits and tastings for beginners. You just have to choose the tone you are after.

Where to start

The easiest part is deciding on the area. You can browse by regions and provinces, compare wine styles and book in advance, because in summer visits fill up. Take a look at the provinces with wineries to visit and build a weekend to your measure. Wine tastes better when you know where it comes from.