Wine tours/vinyards between Tarifa and Granada Spain

Are you thinking about places like Napa-Sonoma, where each winery is in the middle of its vineyards? I am in Jerez and just today had a local guide explain that this region - famous for its sherry production - wants to start to develop that kind of tourism in the area, as there is none currently. I toured Tio Pepe's bodega (winery) here (aka Gonzalez Byass) and all their processing, aging and bottling takes place in town. It is my understanding that the other wineries are the same, there is nothing in the countryside but the vines. I hope someone will chime in with more information, since I will be driving more or less that route this week.

Joyce & Chani... I visited the same place, and it was fun (although definitely touristy... as expected) We also saw lots of vineyards, but this was the only place we found for tasting.

Thank you so much!!! This is very helpful information. We will be passing through that area. Did you need to reserve at the winery?

The only area we visited that had Bodegas open for regular tours were in Jerez. The Bodegas we visited, Tio Pepe and Osbourne, make Sherry. Jerez has a least a handful of other Bodegas with regular tours too (as far as I know all Sherry). North of Granada is the city Valdepenas, which is a wine center. To my knowledge every Bodega there requires advance reservations to visit. There is a wine museum in Valdepenas that can be toured without reservations, it's on the sight of an old Bodega. The Rioja wines come from North of Madrid. Vitoria is the center for the wine area, but the Bodegas in the area require advance reservations too.

Tio Pepe and Pedro Domecq both have regularly scheduled tours in English several times a day, including Saturdays. Tio Pepe also has tours on Sundays - one of the few things to do in Jerez on Sunday, as I found out yesterday :-) Pedro Domecq is also Fundador and Terry, both of which they bought a few years ago. They make Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry - and their bodega is apparently the only place in Spain that you can buy it. It's one of the tastings. They are also known as Beam, because Jim now owns them. They have tours on Saturday at noon and 2 pm. I believe Sandeman's also has regular tours but they are closed now - I think because it's low season.

In Ronda, there is the Centro de Interpretatcion del Vino Bodegas La Sangre de Ronda, with an interesting museum about the history of wine in the region - going back to pre-Roman times, and tastings. It's a walk-in. Open from 10 am (but they said maybe 10.30) until 7 pm on Saturday. By the way, loving Ronda tremendously.

We didn't visit the wine museum in Ronda. Chances are good it operates with siesta times - which are common in Spain in all but the largest businesses and tourist attractions. If it does operate with a siesta, it will be something like open at 10, close at 1, reopen at 4, and stay open until closing time. Times can vary. I'm sure the locals know what to expect but it was hard as visitor to know whether a place would be open in the middle of the day, or not. Tio Pepe was one that didn't have siesta closures in the middle of the day. Their tour is very organized, they are the largest and most popular brand in Spain. You get carefully measured tastings at the end of the tour. Domecq (Osbourne) is smaller and less formal. Our tour guide gave the tour in French, English, and Spanish. At the end we (wife and I, a group from Malaga, and one young Japanese man who was traveling solo) sat at a table with various brands of Osborne products and helped ourselves until they closed the place (at about 5 or 6 pm). The other half of our group ordered tapas so they sat at a different table.

Thanks everyone!! You have been most helpful!! Have a great summer traveling.

Just made that drive in Oct. 2012. Don't recall vinyards at all. Plenty of olives and British vacation homes however. NW of tarifa is Jerez de la Frontiera -- epicenter of sherry. Good luck.