We had another early start this morning as we had two visits in Penedès to make before heading back to the airport in the afternoon.
On the bus, Tim had promised us a surprise – there was much speculation around what this could be and what Parés Baltà had to offer did not disappoint. When we arrived, we were taken in small groups up the mountain, making little stops along the way. The first surprise was the ruins of an Iberian tribe, we gathered round what was a kiln to make clay pots which the Iberians would use to ferment their own wines.
Here we tried the first wine of the visit – Pares Balta is all about organic and natural wine, not dissimilar to what they were making in those tribes all those thousands of years ago.
The next surprise was when we got to the top of the mountain. Our tour guides Guillem and Maria asked for two volunteers, without knowing what it entailed. The next surprise was opening a bottle of cava using the Sabrage method! Our volunteers valiantly stood up for the task and no one was harmed in the process.
We enjoyed glasses of cava at the top of the mountain, with amazing views spanning miles across the region.
We then headed back down to the winery and following a tour of the cellar, enjoyed four of their wines with a light snack lunch (we were still full from the night before!). Guillem and Maria were very informative and funny, able to answer any questions we had in detail. We could have spent hours at this winery, but there was still one more to go!
When we got off the bus at Can Ráfols del Caus, energy was low, people were tired and potentially starting to get ready to go back to UK mode. However, as soon as our host, Sergio began his tour, everyone was immediately engaged and locked in. The story of this winery was interesting and moving, and the love and detail that had been put into every single aspect of it was immaculate.
The tour covered all of the cellars, event spaces, fermentation rooms and more, all of which had been built into the rockface in the area, which meant the rooms all had impressive walls of rocks, not only looking amazing but were functional in keeping the temperatures correct for the wine.
The wine tasting that followed the tour showed that this winery was so much more than its external beauty. The wines were some of the best we had on the tour and received a very high praise from everyone in the group; the white we tried was my personal favourite of the week. Sergio was so informative and entertaining, everybody wished they had more space in their bags so they could take more wine home
It was then time to get back on the coach to Barcelona airport, what a great time we had and everyone was sad to leave – so much was discovered about Catalunya and I am sure there was even more that we didn’t see, but what we did see was a superb representation of what the region has to offer.