It was a scenic hour drive from Monserrat to the cava winery tour and tasting. Cava is Spain’s version of champagne; a sparkling wine.
When we arrived at Artcava, Peter introduced us to Ramon, one of the owners and our host for today before leaving. We had just a few minutes outside enjoying the views before a family of five joined us and the tour started.
The tour started in the vineyard…
where we took a closer look at the vines and grapes and while learning a bit about them.
Next we walked around to the front of the building to find the garden and patio of an old farmhouse.
The farmhouse was originally built in the 11th century.
There is a thousand year old olive tree which is the centerpiece and focal point of the courtyard.
The exterior of the home is only a couple of hundred years old. 🙂
The home was amazing and has been restored to showcase as many original details as possible (beams, tiles, etc.).
After a tour of the original farmhouse…
including the stable…
We entered the winery portion of the building and headed down to the cellar where we learned about the aging process of the different wines.
Back upstairs, Ramon walked us through the process of removing the clay from the wine, corking the bottles and labeling.
There was also a display of older machinery used in the winery’s past.
The last part of the tour was in the tasting area of the winery.
We ended up actually tasting four wines (branded Palago) but the planned tasting was their three main products; young, reserve and gran reserve. I liked the gran reserve which was the sweetest and aged the longest. We also got to taste their rose which I wasn’t fond of.
There was an opportunity to buy bottles and they do ship, but it was too pricey compared to buying cava at home.
Before we knew it, Peter was back and it was time to head back to Barcelona. The scenery was just as nice returning but we were probably not as appreciative after the long day.
This sculpture of a cava bottle was in a traffic roundabout.
There was lots of traffic but we were only 20 minutes longer than expected. A great day!
Dinner
After resting up for a bit, three of us were hungry and headed out to a nearby spot where their sign had hamburger and fries on it. None of the employees spoke English but I was able to order hamburgers and sodas for us all. I failed in communicating we wanted fries!
The service was indifferent but the burger was big and good although spiced unusually. Each meal was 5.20 euros.
On the way back to the apartment we stopped at the market to buy something for breakfast. After a shower and time spent catching up on email and news, it was time to hit the hay. We have another busy day tomorrow.
If you missed the other parts of the recap the links are below.
Next Vacation: Barcelona and Norwegian Epic
Barcelona Flights and Lodging Plans
Norwegian Epic: Port Call Plans
Traveling to Barcelona
Barcelona Day 1
Monserrat
Leave a Reply