It was like a scene from Sideways....my day at the vineyards.....

On the 1st I ventured on another guided tour (not a real bad option when you travel solo) to see the most prominent wine-producing region of Catalonia, Penedes. We toured three places: the Jean Leon vineyard/winery, the Torres vineyard/winery and the Freixenet cava production house. While I often make jokes about boozing, it is the rare day that I start sipping at 10 in the morning and by bubbly at 3 in the afternoon I was even starting to buy crap in the gift shop (more bubbly!).

The view from Jean Leon.

A close-up of a very good friend of mine, Ms. Syrah.

The aging room for the Cabs and Merlots of Jean Leon.

Despite a hokey as all get out multimedia presentation, the Torres winery redeemed itself with its wine/cheese pairing with a bit of education thrown in. Never again will I pair greasy and/or creamy foods with reds!

Then onto Freixenet where you not only learn about the cava (champagne) production methods, you also get to see it from top to bottom- traditional and the more modern methods too.

And cava production means you have to go underground. Further and deeper. We were 5 or 6 stories down. And in this pic the shadow makes me look like a melon head.