When the national drink of the Basque Country, Txakolí (chalk-oh-lee), is served, one and all pause…read moreto admire the performance. The seemingly flat sparkling white wine explodes with carbonation when decanted, using an enthusiastic overhand technique. Leave the champagne flutes and coupes on the bar as this rustic, straw-colored beverage refuses anything but an oversized tumbler. Txomin Etxaniz Winery's version excels at cleansing the palate between bites of flash-fried or salty foods.

If you're in San Sebastian and have a car, I recommend stopping by Txomin Extaniz…read more Once you arrive, you might be greeted by one of the owner's sons Mikel who is charged with many duties, among them giving the English speakers a tour of the winery and also a tasting of housemade anchovies, bread, Txakoli and rose. I much preferred the Txakoli as it was more fragrant and went home with two bottles. Note: You need to make an appointment before you visit. Also, if you're like me you will get lost so pay attention to the signs while you're driving. The winery is located down a steep hill with captivating views of the sea.

I've been on many wine tours in my time - Napa, Tuscany, Bordeaux, etc. - and I must say, this tour…read morewas truly something special. Inma, our guide for the day, was the best tour guide I've ever had; yes, THE BEST. She's truly an expert when it comes to Rioja - we found she often knew more than the wineries' own tour guides! And, importantly, she caters the experience to each client (and I should mention she speaks absolutely perfect English). Sure, she'll take you to the bigger, more commercial wineries like Marques de Riscal & Bodegas Ysios, which are both visually stunning and worth going to - but, because she takes the time to learn your tastes she'll introduce you to wineries right up your alley that you'd never otherwise know about, many of which aren't open to the public. And thanks to her local roots & connections, the vintners quite literally give her the keys to their private operations (Gontes comes to mind). Inma caps the day with a delicious late lunch in a private wine cave at Castillo de San Vicente - again, not something you can just go and do; only the locals have access. The cherry on top: her tortilla de patatas is absolutely delicious. All in all, one of the best single days I've had on vacation my entire life. A fantastic experience that I'd recommend to absolutely anyone.

Incredible Rioja Wine Experience with Inma-…read more My boyfriend and I did the Unusual Suspects private tour with Inma. This experience was the highlight of our trip to Spain and a huge part of that was Inma. She taught us about Rioja wine and the region without overloading us with information, made us feel so comfortable, and the experiences at the incredible wineries were due to her relationships with each of the owners, which is a testament to her as a person. We visited three different wineries and had the best lunch that Inma prepared herself with fresh ingredients from our own garden. My boyfriend still talks about her Tortilla de Patatas. We had an additional day in Logrono before heading to San Sebastian and Inma sent us a detailed list of recommendations and even helped us book a bus to San Sebastian, which was a much better option than the train we had booked. I cannot praise Inma and this experience enough.

Small operation with no tasting fee. No tour fee. Really helpful people who worked with us on our…read moreschedule. Idoia was our tour guide and tasting manager. One of the best tours in three weeks of touring la Rioja. Spectacular wines. Nearly the best we tasted among the 30 wineries we visited. They age their wines longer than the required for the la Rioja DOC designation. It results in very special wines at a great price point. Examine the photos for the story of this 90 minute visit. Included is a way you can acquire these wines in the USA.

When I originally began to design our Northern Spain European vacation, I was overly excited about…read morediscovering San Sebastian. The scenic resort town is on the Bay of Biscay in Spain's mountainous Basque Country. There are two popular beaches also that one can enjoy either on the Bay or on the ocean. These beaches are bordered by a charming Bayfront boardwalk, and popular restaurants with creative chefs. Anyone that is not a seafood lover will have challenges eating in these popular restaurants. Most of our time invested in this fabulous city was in the Old City where we enjoyed pintxos and at one time an awesome cheese cake for desert. San Sebastián was surly well worth the visit. The magnitude of people and their energy draws out the dynamic appeal and absolutely wonderful culture of this delightful city.

This tour was simply the best travel and gastro experience in a long time! Our tour guide was top…read morenotch expert on authentic local Basque cuisine and culture. She catered to our dietary needs/preferences and customized the gastropub tour to fit our needs. I loved everything she had us try, not a single pintxo was anything less than superb (which by the way she ensured was freshly made for her tour guests once we arrived). I am still daydreaming about this experience and already planning my next visit in the near future.

This winery was one of the best and definitely in the top 3 vineyards that I visited in the area…read more Tasting room nicely decorated with great selection of wines to take home with you. The hosts there were knowledgeable in their wines and professional. Highly recommend a visit here.

Visited Bodegas Muga with some friends from Barcelona, and had a great tour…read more Our tour guide, Sasha was very good, and for an English tour, she did amazing. During the tour, we got to see an active, working winery... From the fermentation to aging to bottling, which they were doing as we visited. We also got to see the wine cemetery and the barrel cooperage areas. The end of tasting was well balanced with a white, young red and a Crianza. We also, tried a Grand Reserva Vino Tinto afterwards in the tasting room. Well worth the $ for the tour, plan on 2-2 1/2 hours.

Our amazing travel agency, shout out to Spain Unspoilt, set up all our local San Sebastián tours…read morewith Basque Tours and they were just perfect. We started off our trip with a 3 hour pintxo tour with their newest employee, Guillermo. However, you would never know he was new based on the way he knew the art of pintxo hunting. We put what we learned from him into practice the duration of our stay and it was such a fun night. The next day we were a little hungover (thanks Guillermo :)) for our wine and cheese tour with Juan. But Juan couldn't have been more patient with us and shared had so much knowledge to share about a cheese farm, winery and local fishing town. He was also super fun to spend the day with and so lovely to chat with. And then day 3 was spent with a lovely Australian Andy who has made Basque Country his home with his Basque wife the past 16 years. He took us to 3 villages (one in France and 1 in Spain) and taught us so much about each village. It was a fun, relaxing day and super cool to see the Basque Country beyond San Sebastián. We had fun exploring San Sebastián our own, but loved having these 3 days with such fun, warm guides. Highly recommend for anyone visiting San Sebastián and have a feeling any of their tours are great based on the 3 we encountered.

I cannot stress enough how amazing our day with Basque Tours was, specifically our day with Andoni!…read moreIf you're looking to book a wine tour this is definitely the company for you. Andoni told us all about the region, the wine varieties, and the strict regulations for La Rioja. In addition to just being a really cool, chill, guy with tattoos in honor of Pearl Jam, Andoni was a great story-teller as well. We learned a ton from him but also just enjoyed the time we had to chat. We're big wine-lovers and go to Napa on the regular so we really appreciated a tour that let us try several wines at several places and spend a good amount of time learning. I loved that some of the tastings were more formal and some were more casual. PLUS we got to check out the awesome village of La Guardia, have some amazing chorizo, AND had a tasty lunch in a wine cave. One of the best days of our vacation for sure. Many of the wines we tried are distributed back in the US which was great news for our luggage weight limits. We ended up buying a few cheaper bottles that weren't available back home because the quality was excellent and they were so affordable! I mean, like a half case for what we pay for a bottle in Napa. CRAZY. We are both so happy to finally have some smarts when it comes to ordering Spanish wines from La Rioja AND we're thrilled to have some great wine to share with the family this coming Thanksgiving. Thanks, Andoni!

This winery has a really nice setting. A very stylish, modern tasting room and a very nice area to…read moresit outside, with a very relaxing feel to it. Since we were travelling with our Bulldog we took a seat outside and got some wine (with free nibbles). The wine was fine, got the typical Rioja flavour. But - compared to some other Bodegas we've visited - lacked a special something. Did not wow us enough. Prise-wise their wines are a good deal, but then there's so much competition around here. And considering that we just found the wine too average and quite light on the palate without any long-lasting flavours. But the setting is really nice, staff helpful and friendly. Still a fine Bodega to take a seat outside and enjoy a glass or two.

OK folks, this is simply the best wine made in Haro. Why? They have been doing it longer than…read moremost, doing it as a family, doing it with much longer aging in the oak barrels than any other winery in Haro and it results in fabulous wines. This family-owned winery makes highly individual wines in a style essentially unchanged since its inception in 1877. They grow all their grapes using organic methods, ferment using only natural yeasts and do not filter their wines. They employ four full-time coopers to make their barrels. Gravonia, Tondonia, Bosconia and Cubillo are all individual vineyards which have been in the family for generations. Patience is a family watchword, as this bodega thinks nothing of waiting twenty years before releasing a wine. Their "Crianzas" are aged like others' "Reservas"; the "Reservas" as long as others' "Gran Reservas"...and the ultimate accolade of "Gran Reserva" is accorded to only the very greatest vintages. Rarely are there more than three of these in a decade We did not tour here because we were blitzing through all the Haro wineries in one day. Take the tour because they have their own barrel-making operation. The only winery in La Rioja who does that. We spent 3 weeks in La Rioja tasting at 30 wineries and this is either #2 or #3 out of all of them. The price point in country is higher than most and for a damn good reason. They make spectacular wine. Do not waste your palate or your time/money with other wineries in Haro that cater to the blue-haired bus tour groups. This is wine heaven. It can be found in the US at specialty shops at a price level above $40 for the Crianza and above $50 for the reservas.

Enjoyable tour of a large production winery. The barrel room and bottle room are absolutely huge…read more The winery sits in middle of the grape vines and they offer a great place to sit outside to enjoy a small bite and a glass of wine. I took the English tour. The tour guide was super friendly and very knowledgeable. The winery is one of the most sustainable wineries in Spain, possibly at top the the list. I highly recommend a visit when in the Logroño area.

What a place and what an experience at Campo Viejo. The number one thing was service service…read moreservice. We basically closed down the winery that afternoon and we left because we wanted to, because they would have continued to serve us, that's how great the staff was. Now let's talk wine, I love wine but don't knwo much about specific wines, however I didn't need to know the staff was knowledgeable for both of us. The tour was great and the tasting even better. They were not shy with the portions. The tasting also includes some snacks, they do not serve food so make sure you are not expecting to eat there. The views were phenomenal. We didn't get to do a walk of the vines because of the heat. Would have been added bonus to so that, nonetheless they allowed us to get near and see them and take photos which was perfect for us. Overall a great experience!!! Would go back when visiting that area or Spain. Will be buying the one state side as well!!!

Tucked below the 1* Eneko in Larrabetzu, which is the old locale of 3* Azurmendi, is Eneko Atxa's…read moreUncle's winery. Of course wine is made for the various Eneko restaurants worldwide and those grapes in the immediate area are only for the current Azurmendi further up the hill. Otherwise they source grapes from the surrounding area of Bilbao to make the Txakoljna wines of note. If you decide to check out their operations they give tours before lunch most days and can precede a meal at Azurmendi or Eneko. Last time i was in the area the airline left my bags in Barcelona. So I showed looking like I came out of a hostel with nothing but my backpack and ended up waiting at Azurmendi when I should have been below at the winery before lunch. This time I made sure to be at the right place on time and had a wonderful tour. If you're a culture and wine lover this is worth a visit to learn about Basque food ways

In April of 2018 a friend recommended to contact Celia. We visited wiith a couple of friends and…read morewe loved her! All the plans that she suggested were incredible, including unique wineries that we would have never visited otherwise. We had an amazing experience, thanks to her. Highly recommendable!

From the owner: First we were globe trotters, now we are hosts. And we feel lucky showing you our homeland, Rioja…read more Over 15 years of experience on the tourism and wine industry to understand that the perfect tour it is the one made right for you. We know the history, the wine producers, the secrets, only as locals can do. Let us become, not your guide, but better your host, taking you to YOUR Rioja experience.