Wine Travel Tips from a Wandering Wino

Rioja, Spain

I've learned some lessons from my domestic and international searches for wine, so I thought I'd share my tips for Wine Travel. Whether crossing a continent, an ocean or just a river, it helps to be prepared and plan ahead.

1. Map it out. Study a map and plan your days around certain regions, wineries or landmarks so you don't end up driving back and forth and wasting precious tasting time in the car.

2. Make appointments. Some places require them, either because they are small operations that only open their doors by request or because they have tours at specific times. Tours book up fast, especially English tours in non-English speaking areas. Hotels and local guides can help make your arrangements. If the website says appointments aren't needed, it's a nice idea to email the winery anyway so you can find out about the different options for your visit or just give them a head's up that you are coming, especially if your party is greater than 2 people.

3. Don't forget about lunch. Depending on where you are visiting, lunch can be an event in itself at a winery, complete with a wine pairing and maybe a tour. I have had some amazing wine lunch experiences abroad, but when I wine tour domestically I never seem to get the lunch thing right. I am notorious for planning a full day of wine and forgetting about lunch. So if a wine lunch isn't part of your plan, at the very least block an hour and find a place to get some sandwiches. Tasting wine all day and not eating is a recipe for disaster.

4. Designate a driver. This is important - tasting 2 ounces of wine here and there may not seem like "drinking" but those sips add up. Abroad, "tastes" may be even larger since their beverage serving laws are different. You can hire a driver or join a tour, but if you choose to drive around on your own, draw straws within your group. Lucky for me, my husband always prefers to drive so he becomes the designated driver. How does he do it? See #5.

5. Use the spitoon. It is perfectly acceptable to sip some wine, swish it around your mouth like mouthwash and spit it into those cute containers on the bar. If you don't see one, ask for one. Designated driver or not, it is no fun to be drunk by 11am.

6. Drink water. Have a glass at each winery you visit. Get bottles for the car at that lunch stop. Wine tasting dehydration makes for a very painful evening.

7. Document your experience, whether through pictures, purchases, or notes. Then you can remember what you enjoyed before it all becomes a blur.

8. Take advantage of your visit. Often wineries will have more wines to taste at the winery than what may be available in stores, and this is the place to learn and stock up on these winery-only wines. Prices are often better at the winery since there is no middleman to pay in distribution. The wineries like selling direct because they form a relationship with the consumer and get a better margin on the sale. Finally, many wineries offer discounts on multiple bottles on top of that better pricing, so it's a good place to load up on your favorites.

At the same time, don't feel compelled to buy wine you don't like just because you are there and the server was nice.

9. On wine clubs. I've talked about wine clubs before. Most wineries have some version of a wine club because they like selling direct. First, know what you're getting into upfront and how much wine you are committing to in the contract period (usually 1 year). Having extra wine around may not be the worst problem in the world for some, but it can add up in cost and space. Second, if you think you want to join a winery's club, try the wines on at least two separate occasions before joining the club. Sometimes the experience of tasting wine at a winery that first time may be influenced by other factors - environment, circumstance, how much wine you've already had, the romance of it all - so it helps to have another experience to draw upon.

10. Enjoy! And please share your experiences and any tips you pick up along the way in the comment section below.

R. Lopez de Heredia and Viña Tondonia - at last

Our last stop in Rioja, R. Lopez de Heredia proved well worth the wait. Located in the historic town of Haro in Rioja Alta, R. Lopez de Heredia is the oldest winery there and sits on the River Ebro. This was the winery we had been waiting for - old, moldy and full of history. Lopez de Heredia is still family owned and operated, employing traditional winemaking techniques. They own all their vineyards, Viña Tondonia being the most famous, and all their plantings are bush vines that must be hand-picked. Fermentation occurs naturally from yeasts that are present on the grapes and in the winery while in huge wooden vats that date back to the early 1900s. They achieve filtration by pouring the wine through a huge mass of the stems leftover from the grapes after they are de-stemmed; I've never heard of this method before but I like the recycling aspect. The wines are aged for much longer than most wines, even the whites, with 8-10 years being the typical aging period for most of their wines. The barrels themselves may be used for 10 years, and an onsite cooperage repairs old barrels and makes new ones as needed using American oak. They use egg whites for fining, a very traditional "old world" practice for clarifying wine; 6-8 egg whites are needed per barrel, with the point of this exercise being to coagulate any particles that may be left over after filtering through the stems. Every vessel we saw was wood - there was not a single stainless steel tank to be found. Using wood allows for natural oxygen exchange, which may help with the wine's longevity. Bottling, corking and labeling are all done by hand, and they use very durable cork from Catalunya, Spain, since they age their wines in bottle for such extended periods of time. Miles of underground cellars mean the temperature and humidity are just right for aging wine. Penicillin mold along the walls, barrels and bottles keep bacteria out of the wine. 

Fermentation Vats

The Cooperage

Restored Barrels

The Caves

Bottle Aging White Rioja

We tasted these two wines, a white and a red.

2004 Viña Gravonia is 100% Viura, the dominant white grape of Rioja. It was rich, nutty, toasty and creamy while maintaining a nice acidity. I've appreciated R. Lopez de Heredia's style of white wine since I first tried their 1993 Viña Tondonia Reserva while working at the San Francisco Wine Center a couple years ago. This producer consistently showcases the ageability of white Rioja and the Viura grape.

2002 Viña Tondonia is 75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacha, 5% Mazuelo and 5% Graciano. It had fruit flavors of cranberry and plum along with leather and spice. Very smooth but still bright, with the capacity to age for much longer. This delicate wire cage that you sometimes see on red Rioja serves no other purpose than tradition.

As you can see from the vintages of these wines, they've rested for years in the cellar before release. But even with the inventory that Lopez de Heredia holds, their wines are still affordable at around 20 euros a bottle, or about $30. And even though most of their wines are available in the U.S., we picked up a bottle of 1998 Viña Tondonia Reserva White Rioja to enjoy in the future and bring us back to this delicious trip.

Viva la Luna de Miel en Rioja!