Long before it became one of Spain’s great wine estates, Abadía Retuerta was a working monastery where daily life revolved around craftsmanship, hospitality and care for the land. Bread was baked, vineyards were tended and travellers welcomed through its doors. Centuries later, the abbey is still shaped by the people who work on the estate. On this estate-hosted journey, you’ll spend time alongside bakers, beekeepers, curators, musicians and makers, sharing the skills and traditions that fill their days. Each offers the pleasure of slowing down, working with your hands and experiencing what it feels like to become completely absorbed in making something well.
Living Traditions at Abadía Retuerta
Learn and make alongside bakers, beekeepers, artists and craftspeople who still shape life at the ancient Spanish abbey
Abadía Retuerta Duero Valley, Spain
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Overview
A Signature Journey
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Tailored to you
No two journeys are exactly the same. Every experience is adapted around your interests, preferred pace, group size and travel dates.
BackWhat we love
The pleasure of making
At Abadía Retuerta, there’s something deeply satisfying about making something with your own hands alongside someone who’s spent years mastering their craft. Stretching and folding sourdough in the 12th-century abbey kitchen, collecting honey from a hive or gathering from a harvest, there’s concentration, occasional imperfect attempts, and the pleasure of becoming completely absorbed in what you’re doing. For a few hours, little else seems to matter.
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Bake
The abbey kitchen
Flour dusts the worktops of the Obrador, where breads, pastries and desserts are still made by hand each day. Alongside the kitchen team, get your hands into the dough, learning to tend the sourdough and make different breads, sweets or traditional seasonal pastries. Iberian ham and a glass of Abadía Retuerta Selección Especial bring everyone together around the table.
Grow
The monks’ garden
The estate's organic kitchen garden, once tended by the monks, is still worked by hand today. Alongside the expert gardener, move between beds of vegetables, herbs and seasonal produce, touching, smelling and picking whatever is ready that day. At an outdoor table, taste vegetables from the garden alongside freshly baked bread, estate olive oil and wine —a simple celebration of everything grown and made close by.
Tend
The secrets of bees
Alongside a specialist beekeeper from local honey producer Oro del Duero, head through the estate, learning to read the flowers and plants through the eyes of a bee. At the apiary, lift the lid on a working hive, seeing at close quarters how thousands of bees work together. Three distinctive honeys are paired with local cheese and Abadía Retuerta wines, bringing the experience to a delicious close.
Season
The estate harvest
During flowering season, walk between fragrant rows of lavender, gathering the flowers by hand before they’re distilled. Come grape harvest, head into the vineyards to select then tread ripe grapes in the traditional way and taste the fresh must. Roll up your sleeves and join in with whatever the season brings.
Art
Layers of the centuries
Moving from Romanesque stone to the contemporary spaces of LeDomaine, explore the abbey with its curator. Italian Renaissance paintings, French tapestries and Spanish bargueños give way to Joan Miró and Ulrich Rückriem, with old and new sitting comfortably side by side. Over a glass of one of the estate’s most distinctive wines, there is time to appreciate how each generation has added something of its own to the abbey.
Savour
Wine, art and music
In the Fireplace Lounge, pianist Miguel Ángel Recio takes his place at the estate’s Steinway & Sons. As a selection of wines is poured, each is paired with a carefully chosen piece of music, with the artworks around you offering further inspiration for what Miguel plays. As the evening unfolds, the wines, music and artworks each bring a different dimension to the experience.
Reflect
The joy of curiosity
Flour on your hands. A glimpse inside a working hive. Grapes selected at their peak. A pianist absorbed in the music. Spend time with people who have mastered their craft and something unexpected happens. Somewhere between learning, listening and making, you rediscover the pleasure of following your curiosity, simply to see where it leads.
On the journey
Signature moments, curated around you
Every experience is thoughtfully shaped around your interests, pace and the season, while staying true to the spirit of the journey.
- Estate-hosted journey
- Baking in the historic Obrador
- Iberian ham and estate wine
- Private beekeeping experience
- Honey, cheese and wine tasting
- Seasonal lavender or grape harvest
- Private art and architecture tour
- Wine tasting with estate curator
- Private piano, art and wine experience
- Time to enjoy the abbey
Where you'll stay
Historic sanctuary
This journey unfolds at Abadía Retuerta LeDomaine, a beautifully restored 12th-century Romanesque abbey. Centuries-old stone and cloistered courtyards sit alongside elegant contemporary interiors, while every room looks out across the vineyards. Wake to vines outside your window and settle into a place where eight centuries of history are simply part of the stay.
Additional Information & Cancellation
Cancellation
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