Loved driving the chianti wine route. Is there anything comparable in Spain? Any wine routes we could travel for a day, stopping and sampling and visiting wineries?

Good question. I am bringing this to the top to see if other posters (Maribel?, Pedro?, Covadonga?, Maria?) can help you out. I would think Northern Spain, La Rioja Region, has always being well known for its exquisite wines. Three specific regions (communities) come to mind; La Rioja, Navarra and the Basque Region (from Haro to Alfaro, about 60-65 miles distance). Wish I could help you out, this is as much as I can brainstorm. Best of luck!

happy,<BR>Yes, there are several "wine routes", but the most hospitable to tourists, most open to "wine tourism" is the Rioja. We have friends in the wine industry there and have done quite a bit of this from our base in delightful Laguardia, the capital of La Rioja Alavesa, in the Alava province of the Basque Country. For my money, this is where Rioja's best reds are produced. And they say that the 2001 vintage has been spectacular, one of the very best EVER! <BR>I'd start in lovely, medieval, completely walled Laguardia at the new Villa Lucia Wine Thematic Center and adjacent "Bodegas Samaniego" <BR>www.alavaincoming.com/english/produ-turcul-vino.html<BR> <BR>also in Laguardia you can visit "Bodegas Palacios" (Tues-Fri 11-2, wks. noon -2) or the new bodega designed by famed Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava, "Bodegas Ysios"<BR><BR>Then go south a bit down to Cenicero to visit the chateau-like "Bodegas Riojanas" (tours in English at 11). <BR><BR>The new Frank Gehry designed pavillion/hotel/restaurant/tourist complex for "Bodegas Marques de Riscal" in nearby Elciego won't be open for another couple of years.<BR><BR>Then to Haro and head to the Barrio de la Estacion area to tour one of the following:<BR><BR>La Rioja Alta (M-Fri morn. only)<BR>Paternina (M-Sat. morn. and aft)<BR>Muga (mornings only)<BR><BR>And venture a bit into the Sierra de Cantabria to the estate winery "La Granja Nuestra Senora de Remelluri" in Labastida ((M-Sat. 8-noon, 3-5)<BR><BR>Check the following web sites for current opening times for Rioja bodegas:<BR><BR>www.jrnet.com<BR>www.filewine.es<B R>www.redrioja<BR><BR>And if you decide to do the Rioja wine route, pick up a copy of "Rioja and its Wines" by Ron Scarborough (Survival Books)<BR>www.survivalbooks.net)<BR><BR><BR><BR>

ttt for happy. Maribel, you are the best!!

I agree no one like Maribel, ....I just want to say that today Sunday June<BR>9 the New York Times published an article on wine routes in Spain.<BR>( I am sure Maribel 's inf if far superior but nevertheless it seemed a good one...)

Quite different but also interesting is the Wine Triangle in the South of Spain (Jerez, Sanlucar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Sta Mar&iacute;a). Old wineries within huge buildings located right in the heart of those cities where streets are even smelly. Some wineries are Gonzalez Byass, Sandeman in Jerez, Terry and Caballero in El Puerto or Barbadillo in Sanlucar.