Singular Wine-Pairing is a trip full of experiences focused on wine tasting in unique cultural environments, from The Priorat and back through The Terra Alta territory. The vineyards, their history and the people that grow them will reveal special places and experiences.
We suggest going to The Priorat, where we will meet Jaume and Montse, the owners of the Ficaria Vins winery, and explore part of this wine region. From there we will travel to The Terra Alta, specifically to the town of Corbera d’Ebre, to meet Francesc, owner of Celler Frisach, who will offer us the chance to taste his wines in an old Civil War Republican trench. On our way back we will pass by Horta de Sant Joan to view the landscapes that inspired painter Pablo Picasso and we will sleep in the Matarranya. Next morning we will visit the Parrissal gorge and then move on to Cretas, where Kike will be awaiting to take us on a visit to the Mas de Torubio family winery.
This is a slow travel focused on tasting native wines and discovering emblematic spots, landscapes and villages in three neighbouring regions. A trip without haste, ideal for lovers of wine tourism, cultural tourism and for all those who want to get acquainted with the historical-artistic heritage of the territories that surround us.
It is a several-days experience journey that you can take with a guide or on your own. As a recommendation, this experience has been prepared to be taken with a guide.
Itinerary and program
Day 1:
11:00 h. Arrival at La Figuera (El Priorat). Jaume and Montse, the owners of the Ficaria Vins Bodega, will be expecting us. They will guide us around the village, the surrounding lands, their vineyards and their signature wines, grown with a clear commitment to biodynamic cultivation.
13:00 h. Traditional Priorat lunch in their vineyards while tasting high quality wines.
16:00 h. We will drive to Falset across The Priorat region. We will follow country roads and enjoy the scenery of the landscape and the villages surrounding The Montsant.
18:00 – 19:00 h. Arrival at the Hotel Sport in Falset. If we are not tired, we can visit the Falset Cooperative, a Modernist style building designed by César Martinell in 1919. Or we may choose to see the Falset Castle, the town’s history museum.
20:30 – 21:00 h. Dinner at the restaurant of Celler de l´Aspic. Signature cuisine by Chef Toni Bru and his team. A must in The Priorat.
Day 2:
08:00 h. Breakfast at the Hotel Sport in Falset.
09:00 h. Departure to Corbera d´Ebre (Terra Alta). We will be greeted by Francesc from Celler Frisach. He will take us on a visit around Corbera and then get to level 402, where we will taste his wines.Wines in the Trench is a route that connects the present and the past. We will visit the old Saint Peter Church in the old town and admire the views on The Pàndols and The Cavalls mountainranges. We will reach level 402 where the 35th International Republican Division fought in the Spanish Civil War and learn how its trenches, barracks and observation posts worked.
13:30 h. Francesc will cook us a country meal of roasted meat, organic vegetables and the typical clotxa, , all paired with his wines.
16:00 – 16:30 h. Departure from Corbera d´Ebre toward the town of Horta de Sant Joan, that we will reach by road passing by Gandesa and Bot (wine growing towns).
17:00 h. Arrival at Horta de Sant Joan. Toni, owner of Identitat Oil, will be expecting us there. Identitad Oil is an olive-oil producing company that dotes on the production of three varieties: Empeltre, Arbequina and Picual. With him we will enter the Medieval town of Horta de Sant Joan and finish our tour in his small oil mill, located in a Twelfth-Century building attached to the old Medieval wall of the town that offers the best views of the Franciscan Convent and the mountain of Santa Barbara, all of them Picassian settings. Visit and oil tasting to get acquainted with the oil-producing culture of the Matarranya and the Terra Alta.
18:30 h. Visit to the Picasso Museum of Horta de Sant Joan, where we will learn about the two Malaga-born painter’s stays at the town and understand why he said: “Everything I know, I learned in Horta.” The museum is hosted in the old hospital, a Sixteenth-Century Renaissance building.
19:30 h. Departure for Beceite (in the Matarranya).
20:30 – 21:00 h. Arrival at the Hotel La Fábrica de Solfa. Dinner at the restaurant of the Hotel. Local food and signature cuisine by Chef Kike Micolau.
Day 3:
08:00 h. Breakfast at the Hotel La Fábrica de Solfa.
09:00 h. Departure to the Parrissal, a little excursion to the source of the Matarranya River. An easy route following the course of the river that takes us along wooden boardwalks and a narrow trail from where we can admire a unique landscape of water and limestone rocks forming giant stone spires.
11:30 h. Departure to the town of Cretas/Queretes. Kike, from the family bodega of Mas de Torubio, will be expecting us. We will walk around this Medieval village and visit the Mas de Torubio Bodegas. We will then visit their vineyards and the surrounding Iberian burial tombs. We will go on to the Masía (farmhouse) where we will taste their wines.
14:00 h. Picnic with Kike at the Mas de Torubio farmhouse.
16:00 h. Return home.
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