Wine Tastings in October 2016

October is a wonderful month to visit vineyards. The harvest is over in many Spanish regions but it is still underway in Rioja, Ribera del Duero and other northern areas, where the green colours of the vines turn to red and ocres tones. As well as the last harvest festivals of the season, this month's agenda features wine showrooms and tastings in most of the usual locations.

30 September-2 October. Pasaporte a la Ribera is the name of a wine tourism route with various activities in almost 20 wineries of Ribera del Duero. During the first weekend of October,  producers such as Martín Verdugo (vineyard & winery gymkhana), Comenge (family harvest), Legaris (tastings of grapes and barrels), Tarsus (bicycle tour of the vineyards) or Pascual (blidn tasting), among others. Each activity costs €15 and entitles participants to obtain a stamp on their passport to win presents and discounts.

1 October. EnoFestival 2016 aims to bring together independent Spanish music and wine culture with artists such as Soleá Morente, Carmen Boza, Lorena Álvarez y su Banda Municipal, Joe Crepúsculo, Los Nastys, Trajano! and Luis Brea y El Miedo. In-between concerts there will be a chance to taste wines from various producers and appellations such as Torres, Vintae, Cuatro Rayas, Pago de Otazu, DO Catalunya and DO Ribeiro. The most interesting novelty this year are the enotalks, a couple of sessions which aim to encourage debate about wine with the participation of Guillermo Fernández and Carlos Arenas (Maldivinas and Rocamadre), Cristina Alcalá (DO Ribeiro) or Santi Rivas (Colectivo Decantado). The festival will take place in Teatro Goya (Aqualung lounge) in Madrid and tickets can be purchased from €28 on this link.

1 October. Over 400 runners have confirmed their participation in the Priorat Wine Run, a ma-rathon and half-marathon running on the vineyards of DO Priorat and DO Montsant starting from the Cooperative Falset Marçà. During the race, 18 producers from the two appellations will offer wines to participants and there will also be music and food. 

1-30 October. Vivanco Museum of Wine Culture in Briones (La Rioja) has prepared several harvest-related activities during this month including a tasting of grapes from the five continents. They will be sourced from their ampelographic collection of over 200 varieties coming from New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa, China, India, Spain or Israel. Further information and bookings on +34 941 322 323.

3 October. The first Special Wines Showroom that Verema organizes in Madrid (Hotel Silken Puerta América) will be exclusively focused on sweet, fortified and sparkling wines. Over 50 producers and appellations will serve their wines including Díez Mérito, Emilio Hidalgo, Fernando de Castilla, Francisco Yuste, Lustau, Tradición, AT Roca, Llopart, Recaredo, Raventós i Blanc and Ochoa. As well as the showroom, the following tastings have been scheduled: Champagnes with Jordi Melendo, Montilla-Moriles with Juancho Asenjo and Raventós i Blanc sparkling wines presented by Pepe Raventós. Entrance to the showroom is free but requires inscription.

3 October. As well as welcoming many well-known chefs, San Sebastián Gastronomika also organizes Wine&Win, a wine tasting in pairs competition aimed at both professionals and aficionados. The competition includes a semifinal and a final where participants answers questions and taste a few wines blind. The winning couple will take home €2,000 Time: 10:00 (semifinal) and 17:45 (fi-nal) Price: €50 per couple with discounts on the Wine Sessions.

5 October. Autumn’s aromas and flavours, particularly wild mushrooms and fungi, will be the stars in a paired dinner that will be served in Enoteca Barolo in Madrid (Príncipe de Vergara, 211). This is the list of wines: Colomer Costa 1907 Brut Nature Reserva (DO Cava), Finca Teira 2015 (DO Ribeiro), Tricó 2012 (DO Rías Baixas), El Prohibido 2014 de Raúl Pérez, Cosme Palacio Crianza 2012 (DOCa Rioja) and Quinta de La Rosa LBV 2007 (DOC Porto). Price: €45 Time: 20:30 Bookings on +34 91 745 1927.

7 October. Wine store El Buen Gusto in Valladolid (Manuel Silvela, 2) has prepared a tasting of affordable wines from various French regions. Importer Ugo Moreno will introduce the following selections: Mersault Clos de Mazeray 2014, Château Thieuley Bordeaux Blanco 2014, Cuvée Magali Matusalem 2014 Côtes de Provence, William Fevre Chablis 2014, Savennieres Le Vieux Clos 2014 and Riesling Clos Liebenberg 2011. Time: 20:00 Price: €20 Bookings on +34 983 377 199.

8 October. SWL contributor and author of El gran libro del vermut (The great book about vermouth), François Monti, will talk about this very old drink which is making a comeback in bars and restaurants. Organized by the local Gastronomy Academy, the conference will be held in Centro Social Ibercaja de Portales 48 in Logroño. Entrance is free and the author will be signing copies after the talk. Time: 12:00

8-9 October. Sitges' Harvest Festival is a fiesta with a long tradition. This year there will a chance to try wines from two dozen producers based in DO Penedès and in nearby Garraf, a traditional wine pressing and a grape treading competition. Price: €7 for three wines plus the glass. Time: 12:00 - 22:00.

9 October. Castell del Remei estate in Lleida, a long-standing producer based there since 1780, hosts its festival with an artisan and local produce market, children's activities, free winery tours and music. Time: 10:00 - 14:00

13 October. Wine store La Tintorería in Madrid (Gurtubay, 4) has invited Benjamin Leroux, one of Burgundy’s rising stars based in the centre of Beaune, to present his wines. The following will be tasted: Chassagne Montrachet 2014, Chassagne Montrachet 1º Cru Les Baudines 2014, Morey Saint Dennis 2014, Nuits Saint Georges Les Allots 2014 y Vosne Romanée 2014. Time: 20:30 Price: €40.

13 and 20 October. Bodegas Valenciso in Ollauri (La Rioja) organizes this month its last two wine experiences of the season. In the first, on October 13, Luis Valentín presents a vertical tasting of six Valenciso vintages while on October 20 it will be Juancho Asenjo who will lead a tasting of five Barolos. Booking is required on +34 941 304 724 

14 October. Do Old World wines taste different than New World wines? You have the chance to discover for yourself on this tasting of four wines organized by wine merchant The Wine Place in Denia (Alicante): Italian and French from the Old World and Chile and Australia from the New World. A chance to discover how winemaking practices and regional climate may affect the taste of wine. Time: 18:00 - 22:00 Price:  €15 Address: restaurant Hoyo 19, La Sella Golf Resort, Alquería de Ferrando s/n, Jesus Pobre.

14 October. Tiza y Flor in Alicante (César Elguezabal, 31) return with a vertical tasting of txakoli Uno, from vintages 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 as well as Urtaran 2015, another txakoli from the same producer. As well as txakolis, there will be a chance to taste Casio 2014, a pre-phylloxera Verdejo made by Beatriz Herranz (Barco del Corneta). The wines will be accompanied by cheese provided by La Cave a Fromage. Time: 20:00 Price: €30 

17 October. Wine store Vinacoteca in Barcelona (Valencia, 595) presents a tasting of amontillados from the Sherry Triangle and Montilla-Moriles. The following wines will be available to taste: Barbadillo Amontillado Príncipe, La Bota de Nº 61 Amontillado, Quo Vadis? very old Amontillado, Lus-tau Amontillado Escuadrilla, Emilio Hidalgo El Tresillo Amontillado, Tradición Amontillado VORS, Pérez Barquero Amontillado Gran Barquero, Alvear Solera Fundación Amontillado and Toro Albalá Amontillado Convento 1971. Time: 20:30-22:00 Price: €45.

18 October. The Spanish Union of Tasters (UEC) presents a horizontal tasting at their Madrid headquarters (Lope de Vega, 27) led by its director Fernando Gurucharri, which aims to revisit well-known wines from the 2006 vintage, declared Excellent in the individual appellations: Rioja, Bierzo, Calatayud, Toro, Rías Baixas and Empordá. The wines that will be tasted are: Torre Muga, Villas de Corullón, Atteca, Albarei en Rama, Elías Mora and Gran Claustro. Time: 19:00 Price: €40 (€25 members).

20 October. Wine merchant La Ruta del Vino (Arrabal, 18) in Santander organizes a tasting of Pitijopos Vol #2, six base wines or mostos, as they are known in the Sherry Triangle, made by winemaker Ramiro Ibáñez. The aim of this sextet is to study and interpret the different pagos or vineyards and the influence of the river Guadalquivir and the Atlantic Ocean in their taste. Time: 20:45 Price: 12 € Further information on +34 942 216503

21 October. The ninth edition of La Noche del Vino will transform the Sala de Armas of the Citadel in Pamplona into 1960's Carnaby Street with music, theatre, pinchos by chef Iñaki Andradas and wines from more than 30 producers from the DO Navarra. The entrance includes four wines and four pinchos as well as the glass. Time: 20:30 Price: €15 

22 October. Lauren Rosillo, owner and winemaker at Sedella, a small winery in the Axarquía mountains in Málaga, will talk about his project and wines during a tasting held at Los Patios de Beatas (Beatas, 43) in Málaga. Time: 13:30 Price: €20 Bookings on +34 952 210350. 

23-26 October. Forum Gastronómico is an event that rotates between three Spanish cities. This year it is the turn of Barcelona and as in other editions a few sessions are devoted to wine. This edition revolves around sweet wines and will be led by sommelier Josep Pelegrín (The sweetest Europe in a glass, guided route); the ambassador of sherry wine Pepe Ferrer (The sweet universe of Jerez) and Rafel Sabadí, sommelier at restaurant El Roser 2 (Master sweet wines with a long standing tradition). The cost of each workshop is €25.

24 October. This year the Verema Experience in the Basque Country meets again at Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao (Avda. Abandoibarra, 4). There will be two tastings, which are yet to be defi-ned. Inscription is free but compulsory. Time: 12:00 - 21:00.

24 October. Producers, sommeliers, journalists, distributors and the general public will have a chance to take part in the new edition of Salón Vinoro at the Westin Palace Hotel in Madrid where there will be wines which have received awards in several Spanish competitions. There will also be some European producers from countries such Hungary, Greece or Slovakia. Time: 12:00 - 22:00.

25 October. Wine bar Cork in Bilbao (Licenciado Poza, 45) has invited Andoni Sarratea, producer of txakoli Doniene Gorrondona in Bakio (Bizkaia) to present his wines to mark the 20th anniversary of the winery. Time: 20:00 Price: €30 Tel. +34 94 442 5005

26 October. Restaurant Piñera in Madrid (Rosario Pino, 12) holds a tasting of wines made by Bosque de Matasnos, located at 950 metres of altitude in Ribera del Duero. The tasting will be led by Piñera sommelier Mª José Jurado and the wines will be paired with some light dishes made by chef Carlos Posadas. Price: €30 Bookings on +34 251 425

27 October. Over 200 producers will attend the 17th edition of Spain's Top Wines Show, organized by Guía Peñín at Palacio Municipal de Congresos in Madrid (Campo de las Naciones). It's a chance to literally taste your way around some of Spain’s top scoring wines (those with 93 points or more in Peñín's Guide) and meet some of the people who make them. Although the event is meant for the trade, wine aficionados will be allowed in the premises from 17:00. Price: €60.

27 October. Víctor Fernández, winemaker at Bodegas Maurodos, presents at Bodegas Santa Cecilia in Madrid (Núñez de Balboa, 103) a vertical tasting of five vintages of San Román, the wine that Mariano García (formerly at Vega Sicilia) makes with his sons in Toro.  The vintages are 2005, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013. Price: €35 (members €30) Time: 19:00-20:30.

27-29 October. Bodegas Franco-Españolas in Logroño (Cabo Noval, 2) holds over three days their particular “Hallowine night”  with a terror show in the western nave of the winery but suitable for all ages. Check their website for show times. Price: €15 adults. Children: €10 Bookings on telephone +34 941 25 12 90

28-30 October. The town of Gandesa, in Catalonia's Terra Alta, celebrates its 29th Wine Festival with a calendar of activities which includes a showroom with wines from 30 DO Terra Alta producers and Garnacha Blanca Night, with varied wines paired with tapas prepared by a local 1-Michelin starred restaurant. The programme includes live music and a popular lunch with clotxa, a traditional meal prepared by local farmers, and guided tours of the area's wineries throughout the weekend.

29 October. La Fiesta del Vino Blanco (White Wine Festival), held in La Morera de Montsant in Priorat, was born six years ago to popularize and revitalise the production of a sweet white wine, locally called vimblanc, which used to be popular in the Priorat region particularly in the dates close to All Saints Day on November 1st. Over the years this festival has welcomed other sweet and rancio wines produced in the DOQ Priorat, as well as the standard wines made by all of the producers who attend, plus live music and tapas and stands with local products. Time: 10:00 - 14:00 Price: €10.

¿Sabes de alguna enoactividad interesante en tu ciudad que no aparece en esta lista? ¿Eres hostelero o comerciante y celebras catas o eventos relacionados con el vino en tu establecimiento? Envíanos tu calendario a info@spanishwinelover.com