Galicia and Bierzo Wine Tour
15th-19th June 2027 – almost full
22nd-26th June 2027 – almost full
5 days/4 nights based in Cambados and Monforte de Lemos, £1,649pp. Single supplement £125
Price excludes flights/Early booking discount available
- Explore a rugged wine area of great variation, from the coastal region of Rias Baixas, where Albariño wines complement the local marine cuisine beautifully, to inland regions such as Valdeorras and Ribeira Sacra where both white and red wines of great complexity are made. While officially part of Castilla y Léon, Bierzo is more vinously linked to Galicia and will be included in our tour.
- Meet a wonderful mix of vine growers and winemakers .
- At least six visits over three days, covering key appellations in each region.
- Based for two nights in Cambados near the coast and two nights in Monforte de Lemos in the mountains.
- Comprehensive tastings at every visit, and four fabulous tasting lunches or dinners.
Tour dates
15th-19th June 2027 – almost full
22nd-26th June 2027 – almost full
Outline Itinerary
Day 1
Our tour commences at our meeting point at Porto airport (see Flight Transfers below). We will board our coach and head north into Spain and the beautiful coastal town of Cambados, where we will settle in to our hotel. Our first night dinner will be a short stroll from our hotel.
Day 2
We explore the Rías Baixas, the largest DO in terms of production. Since the early 90s the fame of this region and its signature grape variety Albariño has rocketed, and there are many wineries now producing amid glorious coastal scenery.
We will visit top estates such as Palacio de Fefiñanes and Pazo de Señorans, and discover the diversity of expression that Albariño is capable of – and its gastronomic potential over a tasting lunch. We will even explore older vintages that show that the variety is capable of developing lovely complexity with time.
Day 3
In the morning we pack our bags as we are transferring to the inland city of Monforte de Lemos. En route we will visit wineries in the Ribeira Sacra region, where vineyards cling to steep valley sides along the Río Sil and its tributaries.
New grape varieties await us here – Treixadura (one of the grape varieties of Vinho Verde in Portugal) makes crisp fresh white wines while Godello makes wonderfully food friendly wines that respond to lees ageing and oak and has many expressions). Reds are made from Tempranillo and Mencía, a variety we will explore further in the coming days.
In Monforte de Lemos we will settle into our hotel and enjoy an evening at leisure – astounding views, and lovely local eateries await.
Day 4
Today we cross over the regional border and enter Castilla y Léon, and the DO of Bierzo. A rugged area, previously famous for its gold mining, the Mencía grape variety is key here. It is made into a variety of red styles, from fresh crisp and youthful, to barrel aged and complex. We will discover these, and the impact of terroir during our tastings, and its compatibility with food over lunch.
En route back to Monforte de Lemos we may take in a winery in Valdeorras (valley of gold), a Galicia DO, which also makes wines form Mencía, but particularly whites from Godello. However we must not take too long as we will need to back in time to get ready for our final night dinner at a top restaurant in town.
Day 5
We have time for a final visit, in Ribeiro, where Treixadura is the key grape variety, and a variety of styles are made – including some complex oak-aged wines.
Lunch in the winery will fortify us for the final leg of our journey through the beautiful Atlantic Iberian scenery en route to Porto Airport to catch the evening flight.
Note: the Itinerary may be changed at Tim Syrad Wine Tours discretion so as to facilitate the smooth running of the tour and to accommodate great opportunities for visits or tastings that may become available.
Key Tour Information
* The Key Tour Information specifies what you should expect from the tour, no matter how far ahead you book.
As additional information is published on the website, it will be advised to clients who have reserved a place. The daily itinerary will be finalised in the weeks leading up to the Start Date.
Pricing
- £1,649 per person based on 2 people sharing a double/twin room.
- £125 supplement for single occupancy of a double room,
- £100 discount for bookings made before 1st January 2027, and paid for 10 weeks before departure.
Price includes
- Transport from the Meeting Point at Porto Airport to the hotel in Cambados on Day 1, and to the Departure Point at Porto Airport on Day 5.
- 5 days (including arrival and departure days)/4 nights bed and breakfast in good quality hotels in Cambados and Monforte de Lemos.
- Coach for all activities in the itinerary.
- Three full days of visits and tastings.
- Six visits/tastings, including wineries in areas such as Rias Baixas, Ribeiro, Ribeira Sacra and Bierzo.
- Six lunches/dinners with local wines.
- All local taxes and service charges.
- The services of Tim Syrad as your Wine Tour Manager and Wine Guide.
It is a condition of my accepting a booking that you will take out appropriate travel insurance – please see our Terms and Conditions Section 8.
Terms and Conditions are available here or on request.
Please note flights are not included in the price. Many of my clients prefer to extend their holiday before or after my tours, so I let people make their own flight arrangements.
* End of Key Tour Information
Flight Transfers
Our Meeting and Departure Point is Porto Airport in Portugal. I will arrange transfers to coincide with the following flights.
Outbound (15th June, 22nd June)
TAP from London Gatwick to Porto. Flight TP1341 departs LGW 1210 arrives OPO 1430
Return (19th June, 26th June)
TAP from Porto to London Gatwick. Flight TP1344 departs OPO 1805 arrives LGW 2025
Please contact me if you would like to discuss travel options, for example flying to or from a different airport or making the journey by rail or driving. I cannot arrange travel for you, but I can advise on what might work best.
How to book this tour
Please contact me by phone or email, or use the enquiry form on the Contact page on the website to check availability. When I confirm a place is available, please complete the booking form to reserve your place.
Once I have confirmed a tour is proceeding I advise clients to arrange flights and confirm travel arrangements to me. Please do not arrange flights before I have confirmed your place and that the tour is proceeding.
Full payment must be made 10 weeks before the tour starts, invoices will be sent out 12 weeks before the tour starts. At this point you will need to provide your insurance details (name of insurer, policy number, 24 hour emergency telephone numbers), outbound/inbound travel arrangements and any dietary requirements.
More about my Wine Tour to Galicia and Bierzo
This tour focuses on the northwestern corner of the Iberian peninsula, where the Atlantic Ocean is the source of seafood for Madrid’s restaurants and ensures verdant scenery along the coastline. Perhaps not one of the most famous of Spain’s wine regions, Galicia has in recent years come to prominence as the fresher styles of wines it produces work brilliantly with modern cuisine and evolving consumer tastes. The Bierzo region may be administratively part of Castilla y Léon, but vinously it is far more closely aligned to the Galician regions in terms of grape varieties and wine styles. This is a great time to visit these regions
While all of the DOs within Galicia have some maritime influence, it is the Rías Baixas that are most affected by precipitation and the cooling effects of the ocean currents. Its signature grape variety Albariño has only been widely planted since the 80s, when the DO mandated that a Rías Baixas wine must comprise at least 70% of the variety. Many are now made as single varietals, and we will be able to enjoy a wide variety of styles that share a signature profile of floral and herbal notes over apple and peachy flavours.
Historically grapes were grown over ‘parrals’, high pergolas supported by granite stones that did not rot in the humid atmosphere. Modern vineyards are using more conventional training systems, but we will definitely enjoy some time ‘under the vines’.
The Río Miño flows from the north of Galicia to form the border with Portugal (specifically its Minho wine region, home of Vinho Verde). Ribeiro is the key region along this stretch of the river, its maritime climate is less exterme thanks to being further inland, and a number of styles of wines are made here with Treixadura, the key grape variety.
Upstream, along the Miño and the Río Sil which flows into the Miño, the region of Ribeira Sacra (‘holy river banks’) is drier, with some maritime influence. The steep river valley sides provide a variety of aspects and soil types, and ancient terracing shows vines have been grown here for centuries. Here we will discover wines made from Mencia, an indigenous grape variety to the north west of Iberia, which produces intense, deeply coloured wines with lovely fruit, and with the benefit of greater ripeness and some additional winemaking some superb ageworthy wines.
The most eastern DO of Galicia is Valdeorras, a rugged place where slate (and previously gold) was mined. The Godello grape variety thrives in this relatively dry region, and provides a wonderful canvas on which talented wine makers can make their mark – similar to Chardonnay, it can be made into fresh youthful wines with zesty crispness, or, with the assistance of some barrel ageing, into wines of great depth and complexity, worth maturing for years.
Over the border with Castilla y Léon is the region of Bierzo. where gold was mined by the Romans. Alvaro Palacios has invested in the region, lifting the standards of and interest in winemaking so some top class red wines are being made from Mencia and Alicante Bouschet.
The Camino de Santiago passes through this part of north west Spain, parts pass through some of the wineries we will visit, and thirsty pilgrims are grateful to discover the wonderful hospitality of the regions.
When we are not visiting wineries, meeting vine growers and winemakers and tasting their wines, there will be time to enjoy two lovely cities. Cambados is home to beautiful old buildings, from Gothic to Romanesque, and a plethora of lovely places to eat and drink in town and around the marina. Monforte is home to its eponymous palace, and some significant architecture. At the centre of Galicia’s inland attractions, it is a vibrant place, wonderful to walk around in the evening.
Our tours in 2019 confirmed that this region is abundant in seafood, produce – and extremely talented at desserts. We will have relaxed lunches amid the vines, and some special meals in top local restaurants. A taster of what we enjoyed in 2019….
“Yayo Deporta restaurant served a seven course extravaganza that included a mousse of black cod and garlic, a sashimi mackerel, anchovy tapenade, grilled hake, roasted goat, an egg truffle and mushroom creation and an amazing chocolate finale.”
“The Parador in Monforte provided seafood was in abundance: mussel soup and hake or turbot, and perfectly cooked veal. Many shared Tim’s delight at a particularly gorgeous chocolate dessert.”
More about Tim Syrad Wine Tours
Since 1997 I have escorted over 180 groups of people on wine tours, visiting more than 40 wine regions in Europe and the New World. My clients keep coming back year after year because in addition to tastings and visits we really do meet the people who make the wine and tend the vines.
I pride myself in offering tours that are infomative, imaginative and enjoyable. I keep group sizes manageable so that we spend our time appreciating our visits, not getting on and off the bus or queuing for the loos! I personally escort all of my tours, and I ensure as much as possible of the money my clients pay is spent on great food and wine, and good hotels. I believe you can combine appreciating fabulous wine with relaxation and laughter, which is why so many of my clients come on tour with me every year. More than 100 people have come on at least 10 of my tours.
There is a friendly and welcoming atmosphere on every tour from the start, and I am proud that so many friendships have been made between the people who come on tour with me.
For more information about me, my next tours, and previous tours I have run, and to find out what my clients say (some of whom have been coming on tour with me since 2001) please explore the website.
For more information about this tour, or to book a place, please contact me
By phone (020 7060 4529)
Or email (tim@timsyradwinetours.com)
Or use the online enquiry form on the Contact page