Spain & 40

For my 40th B0day Heather surprised me with a trip to Spain. We spent a day in Barcelona then 3 days in the Rioja wine region then back to Barcelona. The trip was awesome and I did not know about it until 3 weeks before on my birthday. I have always wanted to travel to Spain and Rioja wines are some of my favorites. We toured 5 wineries spending 2 hours at each one learning about how they grow their grapes, harvest them, ferment them and age the wine. Then we tried the wines.
We learned a lot and  I could not have asked for a better present. Heather Rocks!!!

Everything was coordinated through Cellar Wine Tours by Genevieve. She did an excellent job and so did Pepe our driver. For 3 days
he drove us from Bilbao to the wine country and took care of us every step of the way. He made sure we got the most out of our short 3 days in Rioja and 
http://www.cellartours.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bilbao

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rioja Wine Region

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remirez de Ganuzza

http://www.remirezdeganuza.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alameda Restaurant

http://www.restaurantealameda.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finca Valpiedra

http://www.familiamartinezbujanda.com/valpiedra/?idc=20

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Castillo de Cuzcurrita

http://www.castillodecuzcurrita.com/en/index.php

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roda

http://www.roda.es/english/index.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Las Duelas

http://www.lasduelas.com/situacion.php

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Wine Museum at Dinastía Vivanco
http://www.dinastiavivanco.com/museo/museo.asp

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The medieval village of Briones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marqués de Riscal
A frank Gehry Hotel

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carlos Sampedro

http://www.bodegascarlossampedro.com/bodega/la-cueva/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

La Guardia

Villa La Guardia Hotel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Drive to Lograno

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Casa Toni
&
San Vicenta la Sonsierra
&
The Drive back to Bilbao

    http://www.casatoni.es/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bilbao