How to Plan an English-Speaking French Wine Tour from Barcelona to the Cabardès AOC Near Toulouse and Carcassonne in 10 Easy Steps
Step 2: How to Select a Place to Stay in Barcelona
You are reading the O’Vineyards Winery and B&B blog and I am your guest writer, Darren. As I mentioned in my original post, I am a part of the O’Vineyards family through marriage. My spouse and I are working on developing a special relationship with O’Vineyards Winery and B&B, but this relationship is still in development. I will share more about that with you as we learn more about how the circumstances are going to play out. In the meantime, I will be doing some guest writing for this blog. I will be focusing on articles about travel, the wine-making process, food, happenings at the vineyard, and interesting things to muse about while enjoying your favorite bottle from the O’Vineyards Winery.
O’Vineyards Winery produces a wide selection of fine wines that are available for purchase in the internet store you will find on this site.
In the current series of ten articles, we are exploring how to plan a wine trip to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B and the Carbardès AOC in the region near Toulouse and Carcassonne from Barcelona, Spain. The O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is actually located in the village of Villemoustaussou, France. Villemoustaussou is just minutes from Carcassonne, and it is about an hour away by car from Toulouse. Carcassonne is just a short trip by car or train from Barcelona, so a trip to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B, and the region, can be a perfect trip for a visitor to Barcelona who would also like to enjoy a French wine trip. My brother-in-law, Ryan, has previously written about how to plan a wine trip near Toulouse, how to plan a wine trip near Carcassonne and things you can do in Carcassonne. One of the greatest features of Carcassonne is the walled medieval city that lies at the heart of Carcassonne. This walled city is a UNESCO world heritage site and a popular international tourist destination.
I live in the United States, but my spouse and I happen to be planning a trip to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B to visit my in-laws, the proprietors, Liz and Joe, through Barcelona. Since we are traveling through Barcelona on this particular trip, I thought it would be helpful to share what we have learned during our planning process. In my last post, I shared information on how to get to Barcelona. In this post, I’d like to share information about how to select a place to stay in Barcelona.
Barcelona, Spain
First, choose a neighborhood in Barcelona to stay.
If you are visiting Barcelona to enjoy the sites, you are most likely going to want to stay in a neighborhood that is close to the sites and is easily accessible by public transportation. The three best areas in Barcelona for these purposes are probably:
- Plata Catalunya: this is the large central square at the heart of the city.
- The Gothic Quarter (Old Town): this neighborhood surrounding Plata Catalunya is the heart of Barcelona where the whole city began. It features winding cobbled streets, beautiful architecture, and outstanding restaurants.
- Las Ramblas: La Rambla is Barcelona’s most famous street. The street lines the Gothic Quarter on one side, and El Raval on the other side. It is very popular to stroll down this street and enjoy the people and sites.
If you are looking for more budget oriented regions, or perhaps a neighborhood closer to the beaches, some of the other neighborhoods in Barcelona may be more suitable for you. You can read a guide of Barcelona neighborhoods here.
Barcelona, Spain
Second, choose a hotel.
Once you have chosen a neighborhood, you will want to choose a hotel. Our favorite search engine for hotels is TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor allows you to search by neighborhood, amenities, and traveler ratings. The reviews by travelers for each individual hotel can be very helpful in making your selection. You can read about O’Vineyards Winery and O’Vineyards B&B on TripAdvisor, as well. Usually you can book your stay right from within TripAdvisor. But TripAdvisor is much more than a hotel search engine. You can also search for restaurants and things to do in the area that you are visiting. It is an exceptionally powerful trip companion.
Third, figure out how you will travel around the city.
Once you have selected your hotel, you will need to plan a way to travel from the airport or train station to your hotel, and you will need a means for traveling around the city from your hotel. The Old Town and Las Ramblas are very walkable, but for more distant traveling, Barcelona is served by taxis, the Aerobus that links the airport to the city, the Barcelona metropolitan transport system buses, and a metro system. If you plan ahead, you can make an efficient transfer between the airport or train station and your hotel, and you can have a good plan for traveling around the city during your stay.
Barcelona, Spain
I think that if you follow these simple steps, you can easily select a place to stay to in Barcelona that will meet your needs. My in-laws, Liz and Joe, are hoping that you will take a couple days out of your trip to Barcelona to visit some wineries and other sites in the South of France. O’Vineyards Winery and B&B makes the perfect stop for an English speaker. My father-in-law, Joe, gives wine tours in English or “en franglais”. My mother-in-law, Liz, prepares fusion-inspired street foods that are served in the afternoons paired with the wines made from the vineyard. While tasting the wines, you can relax on the decks overlooking the vines and the Black Mountains in the distance. If you’d like to stay a night or two, the B&B is a beautiful modern structure with spacious rooms. Each room has a private bath and a view of the sloping hills of vines. Check out this earlier post by my brother-in-law, Ryan, about things to do in Carcassonne.
Each bedroom in the O’Vineyards B&B is equipped with a large private bath.
Come back next time, and I will share with you some ideas for things to do while you are in Barcelona.
I introduced this series of articles in an initial post, and the other ten parts of the series are:
- How to Get to Barcelona
- How to Select a Place to Stay in Barcelona (this article)
- 10 Things to Do in Barcelona
- 10 Foods to Try in Barcelona
- How to Get to Carcassonne from Barcelona
- How to Select a Place to Stay near Carcassonne
Coming soon…
- 10 Things to Do Near Carcassonne
- Wineries to Visit Near Carcassonne
- 10 Foods to Try in the Carcassonne Region
- 10 Souvenirs to Buy to Remember Your Trip to Carcassonne
Join us at O’Vineyards Winery and B&B in the Carcassonne and Toulouse region for our 2017 Fourth of July Celebration!
Advance Booking is recommended.
O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is an American outpost in the South of France.
The 2017 American Independence Day, the Fourth of July, is quickly approaching. O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is an elegant American outpost in the South of France. The proprietors, Liz and Joe, have an American background and they have become critically acclaimed French wine-makers in the Cabardes AOC. The Cabardes AOC is part of the western extent of the Languedoc wine region in the vicinity of Toulouse and Carcassonne.
We have things to do in Carcassonne for the Fourth of July!
We have things to do in Toulouse for the Fourth of July!
O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is calling for Americans and friends in the Toulouse and Carcassonne region to join us for our 2017 Fourth of July Celebration!
How do we celebrate the Fourth of July in America? As you probably know, we love to grill hamburgers and hotdogs, and yes, we love to enjoy our American food staples with delicious wine. At O’Vineyards Winery and B&B near Carcassonne and Toulouse, we will be celebrating the Fourth of July in the typical American fashion. BBQ, hotdogs, and fixings will be prepared especially to enhance the flavors of the acclaimed O’Vineyard wines. The wines will be available in our wine bar during opening hours by the glass or bottle. We are calling for fans of America from throughout the world who will be in the Toulouse and Carcassonne region during the 2017 Fourth of July to join us at O’Vineyards for our special celebration!
Other experiences can be added:
O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is a particularly exciting destination for English speakers. Joe is an American and an experienced French wine-maker. Joe gives tours of the vineyard and explains the wine-making process in English or “en franglais”. Liz is a native French citizen, and a fusion-inspired chef.
O’Vineyards Winery guests can participate in a tour of the wine-making facilities.
Joe is an American and experienced French wine-maker who leads tours of the vineyard in English or “en franglais”.
O’Vineyards Winery and B&B features wines made directly on the property.
You may want to complement your visit to our Fourth of July celebration with a stay at our beautiful B&B. The B&B is a modern structure with spacious bedrooms. Each room has a large private bath and views of the vines. Breakfast is served each morning.
The rooms at O’Vineyards B&B are spacious with views of the sloping hills of vines.
Each room in the O’Vineyards B&B includes a large private bath.
The common area at O’Vineyards B&B is a particularly elegant place to sample wines or enjoy a delicious morning breakfast.
The O’Vineyards Winery and B&B features a relaxing deck with views of the vines from which the wines are prepared and the Black Mountains in the distance.
The O’Vineyards Winery and B&B offers breathtaking views of vines and the Black Mountains.
The O’Vineyards Winery and B&B decks are perfect for relaxing and enjoying the wines prepared from the vines in view.
O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is just minutes from Carcassonne. Carcassonne features a walled medieval city that is a UNESCO world heritage site and popular international tourist destination.
We are certain you will enjoy the wines so much that you will want to purchase a case or two. If you purchase 24 bottles of wine, you can become a member of our Sipster club. The Sipster club recognizes foodies and wine enthusiasts who love to muse about interesting things while enjoying a bottle of O’Vineyards wine. Sipster club members receive a 20% discount on future purchases and are eligible to win a visiting experience for two at O’Vineyards Winery and B&B. If you can’t make it for our Fourth of July celebration, consider purchasing O’Vineyards wines from the online store you will find on this site. Remember, if you purchase 24 bottles, you are eligible to become a Sipster club member.
O’Vineyards wines are available for purchase at the vineyard or in the online store.
Trah Lah Lah is popular O’Vineyard bottle.
Please explore our website for details about O’Vineyards Winery and B&B and typical visitation packages. Please call or email if you would like the special details of our 2017 Fourth of July celebration in advance.
We hope you will join us for our 2017 Fourth of July extravaganza! Our canine co-host, Muse, will be waiting to greet you as you approach the vineyard!
Muse may be canine, but she is perhaps the most popular host at O’Vineyards Winery and B&B.
How to Plan an English-Speaking French Wine Tour from Barcelona to the Cabardès AOC Near Toulouse and Carcassonne in 10 Easy Steps
Step 1: How to Get to Barcelona
As I mentioned in my last post, my spouse and I are planning a trip to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B near Toulouse and Carcassonne to visit the proprietors, my wine-making in-laws, Liz and Joe. A trip to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is a perfect get-away in the south of France for English-speaking foodies or wine connoisseurs. My father-in-law, Joe, is an American and an experienced French wine-maker. Joe gives informative tours on the wine-making process in English or “en franglais.” My mother-in-law is a native French citizen and is an excellent fusion-inspired chef. After the wine tour you can sample the wines and some of delicious bites of fusion-inspired street foods while you relax on the gorgeous decks with breathtaking views of the sloping hills of vines from which the wines are derived. Liz does an excellent job of pairing the tastes of her street foods with the various wines made at O’Vineyards Winery. And if you are so-inclined, you can stay the night in the beautiful B&B. The B&B is a modern structure with spacious rooms and comfortable beds. Each room is equipped with a private bath, and breakfast is served each morning.
For our trip to O’Vineyard’s Winery and B&B, my spouse and I are flying into Barcelona and then taking a train to Carcassonne, the walled medieval city that is just south of the quaint village of Villemoustaussou, the home of O’Vineyards Winery and B&B. Carcassonne is just a short trip by car or train from Barcelona, so a visit to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B makes a perfect short excursion for a visitor to Barcelona who would also like to enjoy some time in the Languedoc-Roussillon French wine region in the south of France. Specifically, O’Vineyards Winery is in the Cabardès AOC which forms a portion of the western extent of the Languedoc wine region. O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is about an hour from Toulouse by car and is just minutes from Carcassonne. It is located in the village of Villemoustaussou. My brother-in-law, Ryan, has previously written about how to plan a wine trip near Toulouse, how to plan a wine trip near Carcassonne and things you can do in Carcassonne.
Sloping hills of vines and the Black Mountains offer breathtaking views from the O’Vineyards decks.
Since a trip to Carcassone and the Cabardès AOC makes a perfect excursion for a visitor to Barcelona, I thought I would share with you some of the information that my spouse and I learned while we were planning our trip to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B through Barcelona.
You Can Reach Barcelona by Air
The main airport in Barcelona is El Prat (BCN). BCN is served by several airlines that are popular with English-speaking travelers. These include traditional airlines such as Air Canada, British Airways, American Airlines, Delta, Qantas, and United. The airport is also served by several budget airlines that serve English-speaking cities of origin such Blue Air, EasyJet, Ryan Air and WOW Air. BCN is a full service international airport so it is also served by many other international and budget carriers that may serve your needs if you are connecting to Barcelona from other international cities of origin. Popular English-speaking cities that have direct flights to Barcelona include Liverpool, Los Angeles, Dublin, Manchester, and London. But as I mentioned, it is a full service international airport, so it receives flights from many other international destinations that may better serve your needs. You can find flights by checking one of the many discount conglomerate flight-booking internet sites. Some excellent websites for searching for budget for affordable flights include Skyscanner, Momondo, and Travelfusion. You can also find affordable flights by searching for flights directly on each airline’s website. For more information on the airlines servicing BCN, click here.
For our particular visit to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B we are flying into BCN from Bucharest on low-cost carrier Vueling Airlines.
Bedrooms in the O’Vineyards B&B are spacious, have private baths, and offer views of the sloping hills of vines.
You Can Reach Barcelona by Train
Barcelona Sants Station is Barcelona’s main train station. The Sants station is linked to many important cities such as Paris, Zurich, Milan, and Madrid. International high-speed trains arrive from Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, and Marseille. The train station serves several other national and regional destinations. You can easily purchase train tickets for Europe in advance by visiting the RailEurope website.
Although our main purpose for flying into Barcelona is to make our way to Carcassonne and the O’Vineyards Winery and B&B to visit my in-laws, we do want to take the opportunity to enjoy some time in Barcelona. In my next entry, I will tell you about how we went about choosing a place to stay in Barcelona, and I will also cover easy ways to get from the airport or train station to your hotel.
This is part 1 of a 10 part series on how to take an English-speaking wine holiday in the French wine region near Toulouse and Carcassonne. In this 10 part series we are highlighting how to reach the wine region surrounding Carcassonne from Barcelona.
We introduced this series in an article featured here, and the ten official parts of this series are:
- How to Get to Barcelona (this page)
- How to Select a Place to Stay in Barcelona
- 10 Things to Do in Barcelona
- 10 Foods to Try in Barcelona
- How to Get to Carcassonne from Barcelona
- How to Select a Place to Stay near Carcassonne
Coming soon…
- 10 Things to Do Near Carcassonne
- Wineries to Visit Near Carcassonne
- 10 Foods to Try in the Carcassonne Region
- 10 Souvenirs to Buy to Remember Your Trip to Carcassonne
Come back next time to learn more about planning an English-speaking wine tour from Barcelona to the Cabardès AOC near Toulouse and Carcassonne. Next time we will talk about how to select a place to stay in Barcelona. In the meantime, please explore this site to learn more about O’Vineyards Winery and B&B. Also, do not hesitate to contact my in-laws at the vineyard if you need help planning a visit to the winery.
How to Plan an English-Speaking French Wine Tour from Barcelona to the Cabardès AOC Near Toulouse and Carcassonne in 10 Easy Steps
Introduction
Hi! My name is Darren.
I am going to be doing a little bit of guest writing for the O’Vineyards Winery and B&B (bed and breakfast) blog. I am part of the O’Vineyards Winery and B&B family through marriage. I also have a special relationship with O’Vineyard’s Winery and B&B that is in development and will be announced in due time if the circumstances play out as hoped.
I am an American who lives on a budget but likes to enjoy the finer things in life. I love to travel and have traveled all over the world to some of the most luxurious spots on the globe. I especially love to travel to places that are away from tourists, places that are easy on my wallet, and places where I feel linguistically comfortable. Although I dabble in several languages and have especially taken a lot of French, I don’t consider myself to be fluent in any language other than English. Therefore, when I plan a trip to a locale such as a French wine region, I try to plan the trip so that I will also be comfortable with my native language skills. A trip to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B makes a perfect vacation for an English-speaker who wants to make an affordable yet luxurious wine visit to the Cabardès AOC (Appellation d’origine Contrôlée) near Toulouse and Carcassonne.
Guests enjoy a wine tour with my father-in-law, Joe.
I am currently in the middle of planning a trip to Villemoustaussou and the O’Vineyards Winery and B&B to see the proprietors, my wine-making in-laws, Liz and Joe. Since we will be traveling through Barcelona on this particular trip, I thought I would share with you my planning process for the trip. I think that the things I have learned planning the trip will be very helpful for any English speaker who would like to plan a side-trip from Barcelona to the French wine region near Carcassonne. The O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is located in the Cabardès AOC which is part of the western extremity of the Languedoc-Roussillon wine region of France. This AOC is near the city of Carcassonne, a walled medieval city that is a popular international tourist destination and a UNESCO world heritage site. O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is about an hour from Toulouse by car and is just minutes from Carcassonne. It is located in the village of Villemoustaussou. My brother-in-law, Ryan, has previously written about how to plan a wine trip near Toulouse and things you can do in Carcassonne.
Beginning with my next entry, I will write a 10-part series on how to plan an English-speaking French wine tour as a side-trip from Barcelona. I’m sure that since I am writing on the O’Vineyards blog, you have already figured out that the O’Vineyards Winery and B&B will be fully featured in my write-up, but I’ll give you lots of additional pointers to help you make the most of an all-inclusive French wine tour near Toulouse and Carcassonne that originates from the magical city of Barcelona.
A walled medieval city and UNESCO world heritage site lies at the center of Carcassonne.
Here are the 10-easy steps that we will use to plan our English-speaking French wine tour from Barcelona:
- How to Get to Barcelona
- How to Select a Place to Stay in Barcelona
- 10 Things to Do in Barcelona
- 10 Foods to Try in Barcelona
- How to Get to Carcassonne from Barcelona
- How to Select a Place to Stay near Carcassonne
Coming soon…
- 10 Things to Do Near Carcassonne
- Wineries to Visit Near Carcassonne
- 10 Foods to Try in the Carcassonne Region
- 10 Souvenirs to Buy to Remember Your Trip to Carcassonne
We will begin with a review of how to get to Barcelona in my next entry, but to conclude this entry, I would like to tell you about some of the amazing things that you can do when you visit my family at the O’Vineyards Winery and B&B.O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is a boutique wine, dine and stay experience in the South of France near the medieval city of Carcassonne.
My father-in-law, Joe, is also an American and is an experienced French wine-maker. He gives tours of the winery in English or “en franglais”. The tours are excellent. You will learn all about the wine-making process and you can meet fellow foodies who may be taking the tour with you. After you complete a tour with Joe, you can spend time relaxing on the gorgeous decks overlooking the sloping hills of vines.
My mother-in-law, Liz, prepares street foods for you to sample on the decks in the afternoon, and she serves the tasty bites with delicious wines made directly from the vines in your view. Liz is an excellent fusion-inspired chef. She is the mother of my spouse and she is a native French speaker and citizen.
Guests enjoy wine from the fields beyond paired with street foods prepared by mother-in-law, Liz.
O’Vineyards Winery is also a full-service B&B (bed and breakfast). The spacious rooms in the O’Vineyard Winery and B&B are each equipped with a private bath, and breakfast is served each morning. The O’Vineyards experience has been reviewed by many happy visitors on TripAdvisor. Click here to read reviews of the winery and here to read reviews of the B&B. Please explore this website for more information about O’Vineyards Winery and B&B, and do not hesitate to contact my in-laws at the vineyard if you need help planning a visit. I’ll see you here next time when I share with you all that I have learned about how to get to Barcelona so that I can make my way to Carcassonne and Villemoustaussou to visit my in-laws and sip some delicious wine.
Cheers!
Darren
O’Vineyards visitors experience a Visit with detailed explanations by Joe, the Winemaker.
Our friendly vineyard dog Muse is always present enjoying the fun.
She loves to be the co-Host and loves meeting all our new visitors … creating her own Fan Club!
Business Insider FINANCE . June 26. 2014.
3 Ways That Winemakers Trick You Into Paying Too Much
Unless you’re a wine connoisseur, finding the right bottle can be tricky. It’s generally accepted that the more expensive a bottle of wine, the better it is.However, Ryan O’Connell fromNakedwines.com says belief is prompting winemakers to up their prices, sometimes unreasonably so.
Nakedwines.com is a customer-funded winery that helps independent winemakers set up a business.
O’Connel, a marketing manager-turned winemaker says that the day he entered the production side of wine, he began spotting patterns — ways that winemakers could potentially take advantage of consumers.
Here are three main indicators he gave us to tell whether or not you’re paying too much for a bottle of wine.
1. Award competitions
It doesn’t take much to convince the average wine buyer that a medal means high-quality.
“In the industry, we all know that medals and competitions of that sort, especially in the U.S., are pretty much luck-based. So many competitions award medals to 80 percent of the entrants, that it’s just kind of a money machine for the people running the competition,” O’Connell says. “Those medals are worth about as much as the blue ribbon on a PBR.”
He says that large production wines can pay a lot of fees to rack up awards in easy competitions. Good indicators of a trustworthy wine competition include locality, a diverse panel of judges and a low percentage of awards. Several good competitions O’Connell mentioned were the North Coast Wine Challenge and the International Wine Challenge.
2. Bottle packaging
Like most products, winemakers can get away with higher pricing just by spending more on the packaging. To tell if you’re paying for the packaging or the wine, O’Connell recommends feeling the weight of the bottle first. He says some companies use heavier bottles to make people subconsciously spend more.
Another embellishment winemakers add is the punt, or the indent on the bottom of the bottle. Luxury wine punts usually measure about 1.5 inches, which means more money spent on design. Although larger punts make for more stable shipping, O’Connell says it’s a pretty good indicator of how much effort was put into the packaging.
Even things opacity and color of the glass can cost extra. O’Connell says once you’ve noticed the differences once, it becomes easier to pick them out in the store.
“If you’re buying wine for $10-15 and it’s got expensive packaging, you’re probably putting more money into the packaging than the grapes. If you spend $100, then there’s a fair chance that the winemaker just spent a ton of money on the fruit, AND a ton of money on the packaging,” he says.
3. Regional acclaim
When buying wine from a famous region, you’re paying for the region’s brand just as you’re paying for the bottle.
“If a region is really world-famous, then it’s probably spent a lot of money achieving that world fame,” O’Connell says. “Then everything gets more expensive as a result of that marketing expense.”
Not that those regions don’t deserve their reputation. But O’Connell believes that it’s hard to extricate the costs of the marketing from the costs of actual wine production.
As a work around, O’Connell suggests finding a region nearby that makes a similar style of wine. You may end up paying a quarter of the price you’d find for a celebrity region.
For beginners, find some local wine stores. Talk one-on-one to winemakers who can open up some bottles and let you taste their wines. Once you familiarize yourself with the different regions and their tastes and prices, you’ll be able to better understand what you’re getting with your money.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/3-ways-that-winemakers-overcharge-2014-6#ixzz36lehdBe0
Alexa, Thank you for your TripAdvisor review!
“Lynsey’s Hen Do” by Alexa_waugh
5 of 5 stars. Reviewed May 21, 2014 NEW
I booked this wine tour for my sister’s Hen Party and I cannot recommend it enough. We arrived to a beautiful welcome, followed by a brilliant tour of the vine yard and the winery. It was very informative and Joe was excellent with the group of women asking lots of questions… and drinking quicker than he could fill the glasses! After sitting outside with a glass of wine, we went in for lunch and the food was incredible. the wine was free flowing and the dining experience was relaxed. Joe and Liz joined us for drinks and we couldn’t have had a better time. the only disappointment was having to leave the few bottles of wine we purchased because we couldn’t carry them in hand luggage. I cannot express how highly i recommend the tour. If you are looking for info on wine, to drink lots of wine, to see the workings of a small business, taste amazing food and drink more wine… then i throughly recommend you book this tour. Plus you can stay there too so no excuse for having to drive!
Honeymoon, Anniversary, Birthdays and Family reunions!
A great Celebration week at O’Vineyards
Three free bottles of Ryan O’Connell’s “KidCab”
Become a Naked Angel and grab this Special Offer from Naked Wines US!
Restful Ambience at O’Vineyards
A beautiful sunrise! The almond trees in bloom! Joe and I were happy to welcome Kristen & Russ Moorhead znd their colleagues and friends!
