The Best Wine Bars and Spanish Wines

Wine-tasting (with Cava-sipping on the side) has proliferated in Barcelona over the last decade. With light tapas for accompaniment, nomadic tippling is an unbeatable way to begin an evening.

A typical night out in Barcelona has several stages. Discos and music bars don't jump to life until well after midnight, so the early part of the evening is a culinary and oenological prologue. The city is well equipped with opportunities to take advantage of this warm-up time; wine bars, specializing in light fare and new and interesting vintages, have become a popular part of Barcelona's nocturnal routine. Whether in Sarrià, the Eixample, or the Ciutat Vella, there is a plethora of taverns to choose from. Wine served by the glass is usually chalked up on a blackboard and selections change frequently. Walking between stops is important for the longevity of your nightlife plans; covering a couple of miles with short hops between copas is essential and will keep you clearheaded enough to last through the wee hours.

A Good Wine Bar Crawl

Starting at Terrabacus (Muntaner 185 93/410-8633), ask one of the fleet of sommeliers for suggestion. Next head to La Bodegueta Provença (Provença 245 93/487-5221) where an interesting selection of wines is detailed on the chalkboard. Nearby is the original La Bodegueta (Rambla de Catalunya 100 93/215-4894), a charming dive—literally. Ten minutes west is Cata 1.81 (Valencia 181 93/323-6818) a wine-tasting (cata) bar with creative fare. La Barcelonina de Vins i Esperits (Valencia 304 93/215-7083) is a vast cava and wine emporium.

Sips to Sample

When you're eyeballing the wine list, keep a look out for these copas.

Torre la Moreira

This full-bodied and acidic Albariño wine from northwestern Spain's Rias Baixas winegrowing region is a refreshing and fully satisfying accompaniment for seafood tapas at Cal Pep, Botafumeiro, or nearly any tavern with a good Albariño selection.

Juvé i Camps Reserva de la Familia

A Barcelona favorite, this mid-range cava made with the standard Penedès grape varietals of Macabeu (40%), Parellada (40%), and Xarel.lo (20%) grapes is a tawny gold hue with feisty bubbles and a tart apple and citrus flavor. Crisp and fresh on the palate, the finish is balanced and clean as a whistle.

Grans Muralles

This Torres single-vineyard red wine will cost you well over a $100 a bottle, so this is one to look for sold by the glass at La Vinya del Senyor, Vinoteca Torres, or Cata 1.81. Made with ancient, pre-Phylloxera grapes (Monastrell, Garnacha Tinto, Carró, Samsó, and Cariñena), some of which are now extinct, this vineyard tucked in under the medieval walls of the Cistercian monastery of Poblet is a taste of history: dense, complex, peppery, tannic, and fruity.

Kripta Gran Reserva

Agustí Torrelló, one of the fathers of Catalonia's cava, created this excellent Gran Reserva in homage to the Mediterranean winemaking tradition. The bottle is shaped like an amphora, requiring the use of an ice bucket à table. Made from old vines and aged for five years, the wine is a straw-colored gold, intensely bubbly, and superbly crisp and refreshing. Complex on the palate, tastes range from chocolate to butter, with a solid mineral base.

Pair that with…

Start light with a few of Catalonia's own Arbequina olives. Boquerones (small, fresh, pickled, white anchovies) are another excellent and refreshing morsel to pair with an Albariño wine or a flute of cava. A ración (portion) of regular anchovies wouldn't be a bad idea either. Beyond those preliminaries, pimientos de Padrón, lovely deep green peppers from Galicia's village of Padrón, are always welcome additions at this point, as are croquetas (croquettes) small breaded fritters with minced meat filling of ham or chicken. La Barceloneta has its own mega-croquetas called bombas, round slightly-larger-than-golf-ball-sized fritters filled with mashed potato and ham. Chopitos (baby octopi), cooked to a dry crisp, are delicious with white wines and cavas, while, as wines turn darker, a plate of jamón ibérico de bellota might be the perfect closer, unless a ración de albóndigas (meatballs) or a sizzling chistorra (spicy sausage) proves irresistible.