Living in Spain without visiting a classic Spanish winery would simply be foolish. It would be even more foolish when living in La Rioja, the capital of Spanish wine country!

Several months ago, I had the pleasure of spending my morning touring Gomez Cruzado, the oldest winery in Haro, a small town in the La Rioja region of Northern Spain. Haro, in fact, is the capitol of the wine region. Don’t get it confused with Logroño! It is true that Logroño is the governmental capitol of the autonomous community La Rioja. However El Rioja is the wine region that also includes some of neighboring País Vasco. Haro is the capitol of El Rioja, the wine-making region. Basically if you come to La Rioja to experience the wine, you have to come to Haro!

Several months ago before the big quarantine, I was driving through the countryside of La Rioja with my boyfriend (I live in La Rioja). We were discussing all the wine in La Rioja since this region is quite well-known for what it can ferment. He said there are potentially 1,000 wineries in this tiny region, from the family-owned winery in La Rioja to larger-scale operations.

It’s amazing to me that so much wine can fit in such a small region. The overachiever in me thought “1,000? I’ve only been to like 5-6! I need to get to work!” While actually visiting 1,000 wineries is nearly impossible, visiting more than one is worth your time as no two wineries are identical.

My weekend travels don’t always have to involve a flight to a different country. In fact last weekend, I escaped to the cutest hostel in Haro. Instead of having to find my way through the airport and catch a flight, I simply met my friend Alex at the Logroño bus station and we caught the next bus to Haro.

Unless you’re from Spain, live in Spain, have traveled throughout Spain or simply know a lot about wine, you’ve probably never heard of Haro. That’s what I love about this blog. Just as much as I love writing about my travels to places like London and Madrid, I also love tell you all about the lesser-known towns of Spain with just as much charm as the places that draw in more tourism.