Basque Country Wine Tours & Experiences
Basque wine isn’t poured for an audience. It’s drawn from the tank by the person who made it, in cellars that have belonged to the same family for generations.
Beyond the Tasting Room.
If you’ve ever wondered what Basque Country wine is beyond the label, it’s this: txakoli grown on slopes that face the Atlantic, Rioja Alavesa reds ageing a short drive inland, and growers who still work rows their grandparents planted. A private wine tour with us might mean walking the vineyards of Biscay and Gipuzkoa, tasting straight from the tank before the wine is bottled, or sitting in a Rioja Alavesa cellar while the winemaker explains a vintage that never leaves the region. Bilbao is an hour from most of it, which is why so many journeys start there.
There’s no single way to drink the Basque Country. You might find it in a txakoli poured from a height, a barrel tasting underground, or a harvest morning out in the rows. It depends on what you’re curious about, and which door we can open.
White grapes ripening on the vine before the harvest
Picking by hand, bunch by bunch, at the start of the harvest
Harvest morning, the day's pick on its way to the press
GOOD TO KNOW
The questions we are asked most before a journey like this one.
Do I need to know about wine?
Not at all. The only thing that matters is whether you like it. The winemakers we visit are far more interested in your reaction than your vocabulary.
Which wines will we taste?
Txakoli on the coast, Rioja Alavesa inland, and whatever the cellar happens to be opening that day. Many of the bottles we pour never leave the region.
Are the wineries large or small?
Small, and almost always family-run. We go where the person pouring the wine is the person who made it.
Can we buy the wine we taste?
Yes, and we help you ship it home when the winery cannot. Some of the smallest producers sell only at their own door.