The top wine and food experiences of the Penedès Wine Route

A great celebration begins in 2025: Catalonia is the World Region of Gastronomy. This distinction allows us to highlight the rich food and wine culture of our country, which defines our personality and offers a unique opportunity to position gastronomy and our local products as a singular and identifying element in the world.

The Penedès region is a wine-growing territory with 2700 years of history and, by definition, wine culture and gastronomy have been absolutely linked to its economic, tourist and cultural development. Therefore, this year it is due to give the spotlight, more than ever, if possible, to the wine and food experiences, which connect visitors with our land, with its products and traditions, and rely on sustainable, responsible tourism., which appreciates the most authentic and unique elements of each region.

Check our list of top-flavoured experiences in Penedès!

 

Gastronomic tour: cheese, oil, charcuterie and chocolate

Make no mistake, most of us are won over by our stomachs. A good gastronomic tour in Penedès must start by tasting the product in its place of elaboration to better appreciate it. Therefore, you should get to know our local producers, associated to the Penedès Wine Route.

Our first pit stop is Xerigots, one of the few artisans that refine cheeses (and so you will know what refine a cheese means) in Catalonia, which you can visit in Vilafranca del Penedès. You will often find Xerigots in the wine-cheese pairings that our wineries organize. We highly recommend payig attention to their monthly events, like the "20 cheeses and 5 wines" tasting or the cheese & wine afterwork on Thursdays.

We continue our Penedès gastronomic route by getting to know a little more closely two producers of olive oil, an essential product in the Mediterranean Diet, recognised as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Firstly, Tòrclum, a small family producer in La Bisbal del Penedès with extra virgin olive oil made exclusively from the fruits of their own olive trees. Your get to see the estate up close in their tours, that you might extend to gourmet lunch. 

You can also discover olive oil tourism with D'Oliciós, where you can book olive oil tastings in their very unique venue in L'Arboç. Their hospitality, friendly service and attention to detail are top notch. Did you know that olive oil must be tasted in blue coloured glasses, so that its colour does not influence us beforehand? Sign up for this very original gastronomic activity!

In any getaway, you must take home some typical souvenirs, so a must-stop is Mitjans La Botiga, in Moja (Olèrdola), to buy some of their artisan sausages and pâtés... and if you have a hard time deciding, because everything is so good, have a sit in their tasting area, inside the shop, and order some of their charcuterie and a glass of wine. Then you can make a thoughtful decision! 

Taste the typical local products

Find the coques enramades from Baix Penedès (similar to focaccias) and peaches cultivated in Ordal. There is a farmers market in Sant Pau d'Ordal on summer weekends just dedicated to sell peaches! Taste aldo our traditional pastries, such as garlandas, catanias from Vilafranca or carquinyolis from Sant Quintí de Mediona, among other specialities.

Perhaps the most surprising gastronomic fact in Penedès is that, in the centre of Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, you can find a chocolate factory, so oftentimes there is a great smell of toasted cocoa around town. The best way to learn about the step-by-step process of chocolate making and try it freshly tempered is to visit the Espai Xocolata Simón Coll, a brand established in 1840. Many wineries in the Penedès Wine Route offer the ultimate gastro experience with this local product: tasting of sparkling wines paired with different Simon Coll chocolates. 

Even if you don't have time to visit them, you can still stop by their lovely shop, especially during the Christmas season, with its classic nougats, bombons and chocolates, and Easter, with an infinite number of chocolate figurines and eggs of all types and sizes.

 

You can also buy many of these products, as well as Penedès wines and sparklings, in our wine shops, where they can give you personalised advice according to your interests.

 

Did you know that...

Brandy Penedès and Gall del Penedès (Penedès Rooster) are the two products from the region that have been recognised with the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), awarded by the Generalitat de Catalunya. You can taste gastronomy with Penedès rooster in the restaurants of the Wine Route or visit its traditional gastronomic exhibition, the Fira del Gall in Vilafranca del Penedès.

 

Still and sparkling wines: the flagship of Penedès

Wine tourism is one of the main attractions for visiting us. It is so obvious in a wine region...that we sometimes forget that our main local product is wine.

The Penedès Wine Route owns a remarkable distinction: it has more than 50 wineries that can be visited, probably a record. Precisely for this reason, wine tourism in Penedès is such an enriching experience, allowing you to meet small producers, international brands, producers of still wines and a large number of sparkling wines.
So, where do we start our wine and food route?

For first-time visitors, most wineries have tour options where they tell you about the roots of their projects, family and personal stories, and the wine making processes in a relaxed and educational way. And above all, the tour always finishes with a wine tasting (or natural grape juice tasting for the younger ones) to see the final result!

If you want to take you wine and food experience one step further, go for a tour with wine paired with cheese, tapas or an aperitif, a picnic among the vineyards or even stay for lunch at the winery itself. There are more than 40 options available, you just have to choose what you like the most and make your own custom-made Penedès Wine Route. It is absolutely true that flavours are enjoyed much more if you try them where there are made... because the moment will surely become a memory, an experience.

>> Wine and food experiences on the Penedès Wine Route

 

A legacy of gastronomic excellence

The World Region of Gastronomy is an initiative promoted by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism (IGCAT), a non-profit organization that has been working with consortia of regional entities and agents in the field of gastronomy, culture, arts and tourism since 2010.

>>All the information about Catalonia, World Region of Gastronomy

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Main attractions

The Museum is located in the original installations of the steam locomotive depot of Vilanova i la Geltrú, some railway constructions done between the
The permanent exhibition at the VINSEUM is dedicated to the vineyard and wine, and the close connection these have with the Penedès region and Catalonia. Your journey starts on the third floor of the Royal Palace and ends with a cava or wine tasting in the tavern of the museum.
Sant Martí Sarroca’s medieval church and castle are regarded as an historic and artistic site of national interest.
Interactive space with audiovisual resources where we explain the town's history, Fil.loxera and Cava.

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