November in Mallorca turned out be a brilliant idea. And since an interest for wine is something I share with my best friend Alexandra, we decided to look do some research and see if there were any vineyards we could visit on the island. We ended up booking the VIP Finca Experience with Mallorca Wine Tours. So without expecting much except for maybe some tapas and wine, we met up with our driver outside the hotel at the set time.
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What tour did you do?
We did the VIP Finca Experience
How much did it cost?
The cost for our tour was €195pp
What’s included in the tour?
The VIP Finca Experience includes pickup and drop off from your hotel by a chauffeur. The private tour, the food, and of course the wines.
Is there any other types of wine tours?
Yes! They also offer other tours like a Sunset Boat Tour and the Palma Wine Tour that also seem wonderful. Will definitely try one of those when I return to Mallorca!
The Tour
We booked the Mallorca Wine Tours VIP Finca Experience. Which includes that a driver picks you up from the hotel and drives to and between the vineyards. And of course also home afterwards. It also turned out that our driver was the owner of one of the vineyards we would visit that evening.
The first location was Ribas, the oldest vineyard in Mallorca. It was a family home with attached vineyard, and this was also where we met our wonderful Mallorca Wine Tours guide. Miranda was so knowledgable and passionate so it was a pleasure to be shown around by her.
The tour started with being shown around and going through the wine production. They also had a new building that they were going to use for their white wine production. And the highlight of the tour was getting to see their old wine cellar. Our guide was also very clear with pointing out that she much preferred the older buildings since that is where you get the whole atmosphere of proper wine making.
The aromas in the wine cellar are of course outstanding.
Mallorca Wine Tours – Ribas Tasting
After being shown around the vineyard, we got to enter an amazing house. It is where the owners live and where we would do our first tasting.
The first thing we got to try was a mallorquin bread which had been baked without salt and where you seasoned it yourself by dripping olive oil over it and sprinkling salt. It was really interesting flavour experience. Which also worked really well as a snack alongside the wines.
It was also my first time daring to try olives. They were so much nicer than I expected. And now olives will always make me think of this experience!
The wines were served one by one, with instructions of what they were, how to drink them and what foods to pair with them.
We started with their rosé, moved on to white, then red and finished a sweet rosé wine.
Made sure to take some lovely photos to remember them all.
Not just delicious wines but also lots of food – all local and with their own story. If you like wines and food – I can highly recommend this lovely experience with Mallorca Wine Tours!
Ham, cheese, bread, olives and almonds. A very generous amount of food for the two of us.
Seeing the vines
After feeling quite full and a tiny bit tipsy we once more jumped in to the van. Our driver asked us to let him know if we wanted to stop anywhere to take photos, which we definitely wanted to do.
The staff was really friendly and approachable on our tour with Mallorca Wine Tours.
We stopped for some photos amongst the vines that produces the grapes that made the wine we just tried.
Such a stunning light as the sun was setting. Next time I might try and go for the earlier session just so we can catch the wonderful view at the finca we were heading to cause it quickly become quite dark.
The finca
The next destination on our tour with Mallorca Wine Tours was a “finca”, aka a farm house/wine house. It was a house next to the big fields of vines that we had just passed. It definitely felt like stepping right in to someones house. And here we also got to see their wine cellar before sitting down for our dinner.
Our brilliant guide was very honest and passionate about all the wines. She told us which one that were her favourites and told us so many interesting stories. Here she showed us how the walls were coloured by the wine that used to be kept here before it turned in to a cellar.
It was a bit strange stepping through a door from the living room on to a glass path above this cellar.
Mallorca Wine Tours Dinner and Second Tasting
We were already quite full after the food at Ribas, but now it was time for even more. It turned out the food at the previous tasting was just snacks and we would now have our proper dinner. I can say for sure that we did not go hungry at all during the experience. When you book the VIP Finca Experience with Mallorca Wine Tours you get the option of more homemade fresh tapas OR a 3 course set menu with lamb or fish. There’s also a vegetarian option if you prefer. We chose the tapas and the food was lovely!
First out was a lovely Gaspacho with the famous blue mallorquin wine.
The blue wine Cap Salines, is a bit of a marketing thing. A wine with the colour of the ocean. But basically it is a white wine, coloured with a blue colour extract from a flower. It tastes like a white wine – but the blue colour is quite fun for the visual experience.
The blue wine was followed by a white wine and then also a red.
And some sparkling wine to finish off with dessert. The dessert was incredible – almond ice cream with blueberries. Probably my favourite dish – the flavours were so bang on!
We also had more bread, vegetables with goats cheese and different sausages to just mention a few things.
Conclusion of Mallorca Wine Tours
Overall the VIP Finca Experience was a lovely experience. The combination of learning more about the local wines, cheeses, meats and foods whilst tasting and experiencing it the proper mallorquin way was a very memorable wee adventure.
I really think flavours and travels go hand in hand. It is one thing that really enhances the experience of a place, culture or moment.
Some fun facts
Some of the things we got to learn during the tour is that the vineyard was the oldest one on the island. There had most often been women that had been the owners and also in charge of it. The use a lot of local grapes and they’re very proud of their mallorquin wine and its quality.
We also learned that when you buy wines that have been mass produced it’s likely that there could be other things, like twigs and snails, in your wine since they don’t sort out these things before crushing the grapes – and therefore there’s not just grapes that get crushed…
They of course had a hand selection process before crushing the grapes at the vineyard which made us feel a bit more at ease when tasting the wines – no snails included here.
They also use 95% French oak for their maturation. The casks are used around 5 times and then they sell them on to larger companies that mass produce wines or to someone who turns them in to furniture.
They also fill the casks in a lower temperature which gives a slower maturation, but more structure to the wine.
Mallorca Wine Tours have lots of different experiences, and the main reason we chose the VIP experience was that it was the only tour they offered at this time of year since we traveled in low season. Next time I’d love to come back in high season when they have their wine + boat excursion!
Have you ever visited a vineyard?
I’d love to get recommendations of where to go next!
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