Helping people discover Portugal and Spain
About Us Since 2005, Gabriella and Ryan Opaz have not only lived in Iberia, but have extensively covered its food, wine and culture on their award-winning website, Catavino.net. Travelling throughout Spain and Portugal, they ve visited wineries, gallivanted throughout the countryside and explored new flavors in both Michelin starred and grandmother run restaurants to share with their international audience. Iberia has become their home that includes a community of winemakers, chefs and local experts which they are extremely proud to call friends. Today, they use this extensive network and passion to make Catavino.net the leader in personal tailor-made tours in Portugal and Spain. When you work with Catavino, you re working with 20 years of relationships with local communities.
Meet Our Team Ryan Opaz Co-Founder and CEO Ryan is the wine guy of Catavino, having spent over a decade touring, discovering and speaking about the lifeblood of Iberia. Ryan is not your average guide. His experiences, much like his personality, are dynamic, engaging and unforgettable. Sharing a wine with Ryan is not just curing a parched palate but sharing stories and experiences from his past 11 years searching out new flavors. Gabriella Opaz Co-founder & Editor-in-Chief Gabriella is known as the Human Connector. As an award-winning speaker, writer and author, she has viscerally shared her passion for Portuguese and Spanish food, wine and culture on Catavino, while nurturing other writers to do the same. Gabriella connects you to the regions through stories, recipes and the people we work with! Janelle Norman Director of Tours Janelle has lived in Madrid for over 15 years and has 8+ years experience in arranging highly customized luxury travel in Spain and Portugal for the Virtuoso network. She comes to Catavino bringing with her a wide array of contacts from top specialist guides to chefs, art historians, sommeliers, other exclusive services.
Focus For over a decade, Catavino has focused exclusively on Spanish and Portuguese food, wine and culture. From sweet, perfectly grilled Portuguese fish to nutty, melt-in-your-mouth cured Spanish ham, and let s not forget the plethora of diverse quality wines across the Peninsula, Iberia is brimming with incredible gastronomy to explore. Catavino is a great and credible company with a fresh approach about Portuguese and Spanish wine and food. Not to mention, fantastic info about new trends as well as age-old traditions from the vibrant Iberian peninsula. - Bento Amaral, Director of Technical Services and Certification for the Institute of Douro and Port Wine (IVDP)
With over 30 years of combined experience, we turn dreams into memories through our: What We Do! Single or Multi-day Luxury Tours Private Regatta, River, and Yacht Cruises Exclusive Visits, Tastings and Guides from local Winemakers Food, History, Walking, Nature and Photography Tours Hiking, Rafting, Sailing and Kayaking Excursions Artisan Food and Wine Workshops Private Cooking Classes Wine Cellar Tastings Olive oil and other food tastings Shore Excursions
Catavino is an American owned incoming travel agency and DMC offering services all over Spain and Portugal. Our team is comprised of Americans living in both Spain and Portugal, and multilingual local staff who are dedicated to luxury tourism, event management, travel writing and investigation. Why Work with Us? Charismatic and professional guides include: sommeliers, chefs, winemakers, art historians, top local resident guides, artisans, grandmothers and a range of lovely people who take joy in making your experience memorable. We work with travel advisors to create a seamless trip for their clients. Want us to be in the background? We are happy to provide travel documents with your agency s logo. Besides luxury accommodation at top hotels, we can also arrange stays at exclusive, private properties typically closed off to the public. Our itineraries are personalized to meet the needs of each of our guests, their activity level and special interests. We work with top English speaking drivers who know the lay of the land and how to treat a VIP client.
Lisbon, Central Portugal Lisbon: Food, Wine and Historical Tours, Artisan Workshops, Cooking Classes and Boat Cruises. Cultural Day Trips: Évora, Óbidos, Sintra, Cascais & Alcobaça Food & Wine Day Trips: Alentejo, Tejo, Nazaré, Setúbal & Lisbon. VIP: Airport Services, Exclusive Check-in and Passport Control/ Customs.
Porto, Douro, Northern Portugal Tours: Wine, Food, Olive Oil and Historical Custom Wine Tastings: Wine Cellar Tasting and Old Port wines Cruises: Traditional Rabelo, Yacht, Private Nature Tours: Hiking, Rafting, Kayaking, Canyoning Wine Regions: Douro, Vinho Verde, Dão and Bairrada Activities: Exclusive cooking class at the estate of a countess, grape stomping during the wine harvest, and private Douro river cruises in traditional boats
Barcelona and Catalunya Barcelona: Architectural, Wine, Food, Olive Oil and Historical Tours, Cooking Classes and Private Yacht Charters Day Trips: Wine tasting in the Penedes, Priorat and Emporda. Exclusive winery visits, biking and nature tours. Cultural Visits: The historical city of Girona and the Dali museum in Figueras. Also Cadaques, Costa Brava, Tarragona, Sitges VIP: Airport Services, Exclusive Check-in and Passport Control/ Customs
Madrid and Central Spain Madrid Tours: Historical, Cultural, Food and Wine walking tours. Museum visits with art historians Cultural Day Trips: Toledo, Segovia, Cuenca, Salamanca, Avila, El Escorial Wine Day Trips: Ribera del Duero, Toledo Exclusive Cooking Classes with top chefs VIP: Airport Services, Exclusive Check-in and Passport Control / Customs
Other Areas We Specialize In North of Portugal: Gerês, Vidago, Guimarães, Braga South of Portugal: Algarve and Costa Vincentina Portuguese Islands: Azores and Madeira North of Spain: Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Rioja Andalucia Region: Granada, Seville, Cordoba, Costa del Sol, Ronda, Jerez, Cadiz Cultural Tours: Jewish, Islamic and Christian Tour Architectural Tours Activities: Fishing, Cheese Making, Wine Tasting, Harvest Experience, Horse Farm Visits
We were treated like royalty at each of the places we visited and were able to drink much better wine and experience much better cuisine than if I would have not had your assistance. I would recommend without hesitation that anyone planning a wine tour in the region to contact Ryan and Gabriella at Catavino. - Mont Stern, MD Exceptional Services! The tour far exceeded our expectations; absolutely everything was perfect! We will talk about all of the experiences for a long time and will always think of this as our best travel day together. - Judith Mamet I just wanted to take a moment to let you know what a great time we had on the wine tour. I will definitely be recommending you if any of my contacts head to the area. - Sally Goldman I'll definitely be talking up Portugal and Catavino when I get home. - David Cohen I really wasn't sure what to expect on the tour and was really blown away by the entire experience. Thanks again. I am so glad I was able to be a part of this experience - Bill Bennett, 2015 Harvest Tour
I received such amazing feedback! My colleagues, and all our clients loved the venue, wine tasting, food, service etc. The event was a huge success! The main question I was asked was how we managed to find such a hidden venue in the city center as no one had ever been there before! It's been a great pleasure working with you over the past months and I look forward to working with you again in the future. - Corporate Event in Madrid for 45 people - Fiona McDonald, Euroclear SA, Belgium Satisfied Clients! Everything was incredibly well organized and carefully prepared from the minute we arrived to each place. It s impossible to ask for more. There wasn t a single issue and I can happily recommend Catavino for an amazing experience! - Incentive Event in Portugal for 15 people - Miguel Antunes, Redlight Company, Portugal Catavino is a pleasure to work with professionally. We hired them to arrange an incentive weekend, for our developer team, in the north of Portugal with a winery visit. Their personal relationship with the winery meant we were treated like honoured guests. We look forward to working with them again for future incentives and meetings here in Portugal. - Incentive Event in in the Douro Valley - David Wesley, CEO, Sursumcorda Resource Group, LLC
Contact Ryan Opaz - CEO and Guide Us Today +351 927605381 ryan@catavino.net Janelle Norman - Director of Tours Follow Us! /catavinoexplores tumblr.catavino.net +34 679268848 janelle@catavino.net /catavino /catavino