At Totally Spain we admire the work of the Great Wine Capitals Network (GWC) and have entered its Guest Bloggers Program competition for the past two years. Last year was the first year and we were very proud to have our entry included but alas no joy. This year, we entered again. And we WON!
If you want to read our winning post on La Rioja, you’ll find it here. You might also like to check out last year’s entry on Rioja Alavesa here. (If you would like a slightly longer version you can find it here on our blog.)
To give you a bit of background about the Great Wine Capitals it is the only network of wine regions that includes the ‘new’ world and the ‘old’ world. The members are the 10 capitals of wine-growing regions from the network which are Bilbao (for the Rioja region, Spain), Bordeaux (France), Cape Town (South Africa), Christchurch (New Zealand), Florence (Italy), Mainz (Germany), Mendoza (Argentina), Porto (Portugal), San Francisco (USA) and Valparaiso (Chile).
We’ve been organising customised trips into and around Bilbao since we first set up in business 15 years ago
The prize this year is a trip to Argentina to meet the GWC at its upcoming AGM in November. We’re looking forward to seeing everybody in lovely Mendoza and sharing a glass of vino with new friends. We’ll be meeting up with representatives travelling from the 10 cities including Bilbao – a city that holds a special place in our hearts.
Our love for and promotion of the city of Bilbao and the Rioja region dates back 15 years ago when we set up Totally Spain in Vitoria in the Basque Country in Northern Spain. Being just three-quarters of an hour from Bilbao and ‘just down the road from the Rioja wine region’ we provided (and still provide) customised packages to travellers wanting to experience the renaissance of the city of Bilbao and its neighbouring Rioja region. We still take huge pride in routing clients into Bilbao and on to the well-known wineries and of course the smaller niche ‘bodegas’ also. We receive great feedback from our clients about their trips and visitors are fascinated by the quality of the winery visits and the wine-tastings. We know that the Basque, Riojan and Spanish gastronomy is an important factor too and enjoy being able to book our clients into the many top class eateries either in restaurants run by the wineries themselves or in the many stunning villages and towns nearby.
La Rioja is one of our most popular destinations in Spain for its wineries, its cuisine and landscape.
Although we organise tailored trips all over Spain we always enjoy blogging about the city of Bilbao and the Rioja and neighbouring Rioja-Alavesa regions frequently. It is such a proud moment for us to get recognition for our love and support for these locations by winning the Guest Bloggers Program sponsored by the Great Wine Capitals Global Network.
We are looking forward to attending the GWC AGM in Argentina this November. It’ll be a great chance to experience the Mendoza area for the first time and taste some of Argentina’s amazing food and wine and enjoy the winery-touring experience in a completely new setting. I’m sure we’ll learn a lot and we look forward to sharing the trip with you when we return.
Many thanks to GWC judges for selecting Totally Spain! We are very very honoured!
The only network to unite the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ worlds of wine
Want to know more about the world’s best wineries?
If you’re thinking of visiting a winery or two in Spain or elsewhere, pop over to the GWC website and explore its information there and on its social media channels for inspiration. Of course, we personally believe that you can’t beat Spain for a great wine tasting holiday whether that’s a red wine in La Rioja or sampling the cava, sherry or white wines elsewhere in the country – but we are a little biased 
Me (Ken Baldwin from Totally Spain) in amongst the vineyards in Northern Spain & absolutely delighted to hear the great news