Need help diving into Barcelona’s wine scene? Culinary Backstreets has you covered. Our local guides have handpicked our favorite bars and shops selling the best natural wines, cava and reds around town.
LessBarcelona is natural wine’s flagship city in Spain, with an increasing number of specialized bars and restaurants joining the movement. At L’Anima Del Vi, French oenologist and Barcelona resident Benoît Valee has pioneered natural wine in Spain. What began as a little shop in Gràcia has grown into an attractive and welcoming bar in Born.
An old bodega established in 1949, Can Cisa/Bar Brutal was bought in 2013 and transformed into one of Barcelona’s best spots for natural wine This bar-restaurant-shop stocks hundreds of natural wines from all over the world, a list that is constantly being updated. Many are available by the glass, and in the company of excellent Mediterranean food that draws inspiration from both Catalonia and Italy.
This small wine bar sits in front of Santa María del Mar’s basilica door in what is undoubtedly one of the most picturesque corners of the city. You can sit outside sampling from the offerings all day long, as La Vinya offers a wide selection of mainly Catalan and Spanish wines and cavas. We love being able to discover something new as well as revisit a beloved classic, all perfectly paired with great tapas.
This cozy Gràcia tapas bar has an impeccably curated selection of bottles at fair prices. It was a colmado, or traditional grocery, since 1938, before becoming a wine shop in 2006. The owners stock about 300 wines that change yearly, usually tasting around 20 bottles for each one that they decide to sell in the shop. Customers can sip their selections and nibble on wonderful cured sausages and cheeses at the few tables inside. Bonavista also sells European craft and imported beers, as well.
It’s not easy to find a place that blends quality and fair prices, tradition and modernity, identity and open vision into one easy-going style. Denassus, in Poble Sec, has this touch. Here, you can find a range of plates, from traditional tapas to well-crafted, hearty meals, and a wine menu with 150 names. Of these, 70% are dedicated to biodynamic and natural wines, and the house wine is one made by the owners, in collaboration with partner wineries around Catalonia.
Cava, the Spanish sparkling wine, is an indispensable part of celebrations in Barcelona. While it is produced in many areas of Spain, most production takes place in Catalonia, and we like to get ours at Celler Florida. Open since 1895, this wine shop and import/export company is owned by a fourth generation of the Falgueras family, Toni. He’s been there so long, he was even born inside the shop. From classic white to mysterious blanc de noirs, Toni has some of the best cavas in Barcelona.
For a taste of Montsant or Priorat – not to mention the rest of Catalonia and beyond – Vila Viniteca is a major distributor that began in 1932 as a small colmado tucked away on a narrow pedestrian-only street in Born. The owner is now one of Catalonia’s most respected wine connoisseurs and the shop has become a kind of landmark for oenophiles. It offers hundreds of wines, most of them Spanish, as well as a full complement of gourmet food in front to pair with them.
Walking into Vins Per Tu in Clot feels like walking into a friend’s home – a friend who spends all their money on wine. Here, generic, mass-produced bodega wine is replaced with carefully selected boutique natural wine, and instead of a standard tapas menu, you’ll find innovative dishes, all for fair prices. There is no wine menu. Instead, Willy, the owner, will open a few different bottles every evening to choose from, depending on the season, the weather or simply what he’s feeling that day.