A popular day trip from Barcelona is visiting the nearby vineyards and wineries of the Penedès region. Located on 50 km from the city, the region is home to some of the very best Spanish wines. On a sunny day, the drive through acres and acres of vines is equally as wonderful as the wines themselves. In October 2017, my friends (Jenna and Tammy) and I visited the beautiful Torres Winery while on a trip to Barcelona. Friends in Washington, D.C. are old friends of the Torres family and arranged a tour and private tasting for us! We caught a train from Plaça de Catalunya and only 30 minutes later were in a taxi headed out to the countryside. 

The tour itself was fascinating and very informative. Over 140 years old, the Mas de Plana vineyard grows a host of grape varietals but is famous for its merlot and cabernet. Like many vineyards in the region, it's entirely organic - from growing its grapes to producing the wine - so I loved it! In fact, do you know why you often see rose bushes at the end of a row of vines? I learned that roses are affected by the same diseases that affect vines but tend to show so much earlier. When that occurs, the viticulturist can intervene early and without the use of chemical pesticides to save the grapes.

After walking through the vines, we hopped on their electric green tram to tour the winemaking facilities, which are state of the art and quite beautiful. A visit to the Waltraud Cellar, a vast dimmed underground area that houses barrels and barrels of wines, capped off our tour.

Next up was a private tasting of 5 incredible Torres wines. My favorite was the 2016 Pazo de Bruxas from do Rías Baixas, a heavily forested region in the upper northwest of Spain. The name "pazo de Bruxas" translates to the "place where witches sleep". Made from the Albariño grape, it was crisp and very balanced.  The 2014 Celeste Crianza is from Ribera del Duero, which is 200m above sea level. The goal is to convey a sensation of a low sky with millions of stars. I love that!

We completed the day with a late lunch at Masía Mas Rabell, a farmhouse converted into a lovely restaurant. The lunch and wine pairings were just decadent and set us up for a great nap on the way back to Barcelona. Perhaps the highlight of the day for me was taking photos around the grounds and vines at Mas Rabell.

It was a gorgeous day with a sun-filled sky, two great friends and some of the best wine in Spain.