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Wine Country by Coach: Rioja to the Penedès

A wine day works when nobody in the group has to drive. Hire the vehicle with its driver, choose a region that fits the hours, and let the tastings set the rest of the timetable.

The driver's limit is lower than yours

Wine days have one fixed rule: the person at the wheel of a vehicle with more than nine seats is held to 0.3 g/l of blood alcohol, stricter than for ordinary drivers. So the driver skips the tastings. Build lunch and the final cellar visit around the drive home, and fix the collection time at the last winery before you set out.

Passenger van rear compartment loaded with luggage
Passenger van rear compartment loaded with luggage

Five regions, five different days

Closest to Barcelona is the Penedès. Cava cellars in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia lie about 46 km from the Plaça de Catalunya, roughly 55 minutes by coach, and Vilafranca del Penedès is an hour out. The Priorat, nine villages and 116 wineries forming a DOQ, asks more: about 2 h 10 min each way to Falset. In the south, Jerez is 35 minutes from Cádiz, and with El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda it makes up the Sherry Triangle.

Rioja, a DOCa of nearly 600 wineries across Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, is best reached from Bilbao: Haro is about 1 h 20 min by coach and Laguardia about 1 h 45 min. From Donostia / San Sebastián, Laguardia takes about 2 h 30 min. Ribera del Duero, with more than 300 wineries around Aranda de Duero, Peñafiel and Roa, is about 2 h 50 min from the Puerta del Sol in Madrid but only about 1 h 30 min from Segovia.

Rules the group organiser needs

  • A driver of a passenger vehicle with more than nine seats may not exceed 0.3 g/l of alcohol in the blood (0.15 mg/l in exhaled air), lower than the general limit (RGC art. 20)
  • Sherry comes from the Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda denominations; the 'Sherry Triangle' is Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and Jerez is about 31 km by road from Cádiz (about 35 min)
  • Long wine days count towards the EU drivers' hours: at most 9 hours of driving a day (10 hours twice a week), with a 45-minute break after 4.5 hours

Driving hours on a long tasting day

EU limits apply: 9 hours of driving a day, 10 on two days a week, and a 45-minute break after 4.5 hours at the wheel. Madrid to Peñafiel and back is more than five and a half hours of driving before any winery visit. A night in Segovia or in the region itself makes the driving shorter and the tastings longer.

What organisers ask us

Is Ribera del Duero a reasonable day trip from Madrid?

It is a long one, at about 180 km and 2 h 50 min each way. Starting from Segovia, at about 89 km, is far easier.

Can we combine Rioja with Donostia / San Sebastián?

Yes, but allow about 2 h 30 min each way to Laguardia. Bilbao is closer, and the Txakoli vineyards around Getaria are about 30 minutes from Donostia.

What size of vehicle suits a winery group?

Give each winery's address so the operator can confirm access; small estates sometimes suit a minibus or midi-coach better.

Cities

Vehicles with a driver