Think you can just show up at a winery in Spain and get the Napa Valley red carpet treatment? Think again. Wine tasting in Spain is a slow roll, often family-run affair, and it must be booked in advance. No knocking on doors for service, no drop-ins.

Here let me share with you 5 expert tips for doing the wine tour thing right in Spain - from a veteran Spanish wine drinker!

Hi - I'm Maria from Always Pack Tissues, and I live part-time in Zaragoza, Spain - smack in the middle of 5 wine regions ranging from well known Rioja to lesser known Somontano. I've been to dozens of Spanish wineries and I can tell you the ropes. Follow me for the deets and you'll be wine tasting in no time!

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Know Your Spanish Wine Regions

Not a sommelier? No problem. Here's your Spanish wine 101:

• Wine Tasting near Barcelona

Seek out Penedes for their Cava production.

• Wine Tasting near Madrid

Ribera del Duero isn't far, and they produce some lovely reds. Rueda is another neighboring region known for their easy drinking whites.

• Wine Tasting in Rioja

Garnacha and Tempranillo are king here. Stop in Logroño as the city hub in the middle of the wine region.

• Wine Regions near Zaragoza

Near me in Zaragoza we have:

• Calatayud

• Cariñena

• Somontano

• Navarra

• Rioja

• Campo de Borja

• Wine Tasting near Valencia

Discover airen, a middle-of-the-road white wine accessible both in price point and flavor.

• Wine Tasting near Malaga

Sherry, specifically jerez or Pedro Jimenez sherry, is the bees knees around there, which is the Andalucia region.

Sherry can range from dry and crisp with raisin-like flavors, to thick black plum flavors. Sherry tasting in Spain is a wild experience!

A dry amontillado is a fantastic starter with tapas - served cold in good portions like a white wine glass. There ain't no sipping cups around here.

Of course this list is not exhaustive, but these are some of the primary wine regions in Spain you need to know!

Understand What Varietals Each Region Offers

This helps to drive your wine tasting experiences. If you like whites, you may want to visit Somontano, where dry reisling and gewurtzaminer are the winning whites. Navarra features rose wines (which I don't particularly love), but if that's you - go for it. I prefer Provencal rose.

Are you a bubbles gal? Head to cava country in Penedes.

Knowing the regions effectively means you know the varietals you'll find in your glass. And if you are only learning, what better way than to take a wine tour in Spain to find out!

Book Wine Tours in Spain in Advance

When it comes to booking tours, it is an essential step that must not be skipped. Occasionally you can call ahead (given a know-how of the Spanish language) and you can get yourself a slot on the roster for the day.

But, more often than not, tastings occur one time a day only, typically in the morning around 11am. This allows for meal times to happen naturally (more on this below).

In order to book in advance there are three ways to achieve this:

• Call ahead

• Email the vineyard/bodega (bodega is the word for winery in Spanish)

• Use an online booking tool

I prefer to use Winedering as opposed to Viator or GetYourGuide for booking online, even though some bigger bodegas do offer their own booking platforms on their websites.

Winedering is different than the Viator's of the world though because it is a wine tour platform only, meaning they curate all the tours specifically for enotourism. You'll find unique experiences there too, like:

• Picnics in the vineyard

• Wine walks

• Tastings with food pairings

• Master classes with wine flights

  
  

In order to find the wineries to book, it can take quite a bit of work without tools like Winedering. Typically you might start a search on a map view or a simple Google search. Instead, start on Winedering and you can narrow down from there.

Bring These Things With You for Wine Tasting in Spain

Luckily, wine tasting in Spain is pretty much like anywhere else in the world, but you may be surprised to find that most folks don't speak English.

• Prepare some key phrases for wine tasting!

• Additionally, at least in the wine regions near me in Zaragoza, the soil can be quite rocky or clay. Wear appropriate footwear to walk in between the vines.

• Snacks are typically included in tastings in Spain, such as jamon, kikos (little crackers), and some cheeses. Expect that you'll be drinking very large helpings of wine, which seems to be the norm, and snacks are a good filler so you don't get too boozy. If you tend to need something to snack on though, I always like to have a backup plan in my purse.

• Bring water!

  
  

• If you are wondering if wineries in Spain are kid-friendly, the answer is a resounding yes! Don't worry about double-checking - it would be noted in the booking if they weren't welcome. Be sure to bring easy toys or entertainment for them so you don't get distracted though. If you're lucky, kids may even get to try 'mosto' - the grape must juice from harvest. Kids go nuts for it!

• Lastly, everyone is different, but I like to bring home the wine I like from the bodegas in Spain. This means bringing my VinGardeValise wine suitcase with me. They come in many sizes, but I have the 12-bottle suitcase, shown in the photo below. It's a godsend for bringing purchases home to the United States, but it's also good for the short journey back to my apartment if I'm not getting a whole case at each winery I visit.

Check out their suite of super savvy wine suitcases at the VinGardeValise website here. Get an extra discount with code ALWAYS20.

Get Familiar with Spanish Meal Times

As a final expert tip for wine tasting in Spain, recognize that everything more or less centers around meal time, specifically lunch time.

Lunch in Spain is from 1-4pm, often running until about 5pm. Expect that most tastings will start around 11am or noon, ending in time for everyone to have their lunch break.

No one skips a lunch break in Spain.

I find that booking just one winery visit a day is sufficient - and you will drink a LOT. One is probably more than enough that early in the day anyway!

So ideally, plan your morning wine tour, then have a lunch plan booked nearby. Just like the tour booking, you'll need to phone in, email or use a web tool to make a lunch reservation in Spain. It is not so common (at least in my area) to just show up without a booking.