PAGO DE THARSYS Bodega y Viñedos — Hotel in Requena

High quality winery and one of only a few Cava vineyards outside of Catalunya.||||The accommodation consists a small number of rooms along with some common areas, all set in a working vineyard and distillery.||||The rooms were very comfortable and fitted out to a high standard. They are set in an area with water features and close to a rural pond containing Ducks, Geese, Terrapins and large fish. There are lots of areas to relax both inside and out.||||The staff were incredibly welcoming and provided a tour of the vineyard and distillery (may need to book). This included a tasting of all the wines they produce (Reds, Whites, Roses, Cava and various spirits). We also learnt that the Pago is a fairly recent denomination represents the top rung on Spain’s wine quality ladder above DOC.||||It is a working vineyard but incredibly quiet and peaceful at night, however being a B&B you will need to drive 5 mins into town for dinner. ||||Having said that we bought some food in, sat out by the pond and had a great picnic with the wildlife. Wine was provided via the honesty bar in the lounge. It was one of our favourite and most surreal meals on a month long tour of Spain. ||||We were on motorcycles and secure parking is provided at no extra cost.||||In summary a delightful vineyard...

My problem here, and the reason for only 3 stars above, is the inhospitable attitude of the front office staff. The accommodations are quite nice, price is fair- about 70 Euros, less for multi night stay, breakfast with fresh orange juice and super coffee plus nice food all included. Wine tour also included with English speaker. We wanted to enjoy doing the entire wine tour in and around requena and Uriel but found that the staff seemed almost insulted when I asked for assistance, simply dismissed us and told us to go to the tourist office in Requena (which we did, it was closed but looked very limited). We also stayed at several nice in town hotels in this region where the front office staff bent over backwards with maps, advice, etc. And could not be more helpful. Thus, it is not cultural. It kind of put cold water on our stay, so we gave up and left after one night, even though we would have preferred to stay longer and enjoy all the wineries in the region. This appears to be the only winery that has a lodging...

This review is only for the bodega part as we haven't stayed here overnight. The place is well run, with walk-in tastings (9 euros for 3 wines or 11 euros including Spanish sausage to go with it) if you don't have enough time for a full tour. You can get reds, whites, cavas or a mix. Generous pourings, friendly staff, good choice of wine. Whilst not everything was to our taste, there was enough variety to find a good match. After enquiring via email before, we were allowed to bring our little dog in his travel crate which was massively helpful (else we'd not be able to visit at all). It's not fully "pet-friendly" and wouldn't work for a bigger dog, but at least some accomodation was made, which is rare in Spain - small progress. We'd love to stay in the hotel if it allowed pets as the grounds seemed very nice - maybe one day things...