You’re a company CEO or a department head. You want to motivate your employees to develop strong professional and interpersonal relationships that will create a more collaborative atmosphere in the office and benefit the company’s performance in the marketplace. A team building exercise is a useful tool to achieve this goal.
Carrying out a team building experience in the Rioja region creates the ideal atmosphere to make it a success.
Creating a winning team building experience involves three key elements:
- An attractive location away from the office
- Outside activities where participants can discover together attractions in the region such as cultural sites, history, food, geography, and participate in immersive experiences.
- A comfortable place to sleep, eat and meet.
The surroundings
Your team will want to wake up relaxed and energized. The Rioja region is a beautiful natural space to put you in a great state of mind: the upper Ebro valley, framed by two mountain ranges, rolling hills, a sea of vineyards, a countryside dotted with picturesque villages and wineries, and the majestic Ebro river itself, a panorama that changes with the seasons.
Building Team Spirit – Learning
When you think of Rioja, you think of wine. Spending time here gives you the opportunity to learn lots about what makes Spain’s most prestigious wine region great. Listen to the experts in one of over 600 wineries in the region. Your team will discover our storied history that dates back to pre-Roman times. The economic activity at these wineries, honed by centuries of experience. How grapegrowing and winemaking are influenced by ‘terroir’: factors such as climate and microclimates, soil types, geography, local traditions and winemaking practices. How organic viticultural practices and sustainability are top-of-mind in wineries today.
You can visit famous hundred year-old wineries, avant-garde architectural masterpieces, family wineries surrounded by their vineyards and underground cellars where wine was made centuries ago. Each plays its part in the mosaic that is Rioja.
Photo: Bodegas Valdelana.
Rioja is known as the birthplace of the Spanish language. Our monasteries, churches and fortified villages are witnesses to the development of the region beginning centuries ago. Visiting the dolmens (prehistoric shelters), Nájera, the monasteries of Suso and Yuso, and Laguardia will give you a feeling for our past.
Photo: Rioja Alavesa Wine Route. Dolmen of The Sorceress.
Building Team Spirit – Collective Experiences
Wine tourism in Rioja has evolved from a model based on standardized winery tours and a visit to the shop into unique, memorable experiences.
A sample of recent experiences that have earned a Best Of Wine Tourism accolade are:
The Campo Viejo Color Lab: experience how your perception of wine is altered by music and colors.
Photo: Campo Viejo.
Stargazing and wine tasting at the spectacular lookout point at Bodegas Valdelana.
Photo: Bodegas Valdelana.
Winegrower for a Day by Riojatrek: an experience that won entrepreneur Marina Grijalba an award for innovation.
Photo: Riojatrek.
Bodegas Lecea’s grape treading ‘by foot ‘experience.
Photo: Bodegas Lecea.
La Casa Cosme Palacio: an experience that earned the winery an International ‘Best Of Wine Tourism’ award for creating “anything goes” bespoke experiences for visitors.
Photo: Casa Cosme Palacio.
Home Away from Home
Rioja offers numerous alternatives for every company budget. The following properties have all received ‘Best Of Wine Tourism’ awards for excellence in wine tourism.
(* the hotel is part of a winery).
These hotels have restaurants and meeting rooms, making them ideal home base venues for groups.
A team building exercise in Rioja will energize, unite and inspire your team to carry your company forward.
Text by Tom Perry, Inside Rioja.
Featured photo: Bodegas Lecea.
Learn more about Bilbao-Rioja Great Wine Capitals.