The 9 Best Gift & Specialty Shops in Sant Antoni, Catalonia

Reviewed By alexsZ4148EL

I was shopping at Vinarium twice during my recent visit to Barcelona and I was very pleased! On one occasion we were a bit tired and decided to eat in-door. We required a couple of nice bottles of local wine which I bought from Vinarium. Later that week we were invited to come for seafood dinner and I obviously wanted to purchase something special to impress our Spanish hosts. I was told that local supermarkets tend to sell very average selection of wines. In fact, you might have noticed yourself that wine in Spanish supermarkets or local convenience stores often is not properly stored ( looses a lot of natural taste and flavor due to exposure to sun) and even can be Expired. This observation doesn’t apply to El Corte Ingles which are ideally very good but I had a lot of bad experience with local ‘Tiendas’ when buying wine at the Spanish sea resorts. Hotel manager suggested I try Vinalium, speciality wine retailer which was located next door to my hotel by Sagrada de familia. I was very impressed by the staff who helped me to pick exactly what I wanted. At Vinalium they are very passionate and equally professional about wine and have in-depth knowledge of the product they sell. The sales assistant literally guided me toward the wine I wanted. As long as you can explain what qualities you want in your wine and what you are trying to avoid they would do the rest. I picked one of Riojas which they recommended I later realized it was indeed the best Rioja I tried in my entire life! The price range was actually quite reasonable...under €10 per bottle for amazing premium product. My second visit was all about local Catalonian wine and i have to say our Spanish friends were pleasantly surprised by my choice. Here is my secret when eating seafood, the best pairing is a white wine made from grapes that grow near the sea. Basically, the salinity of the wine will pair with the saltiness of the seafood...Guess what? At Vinalium shop they knew my secret and advised accordingly. In conclusion, if you want a genuine Spanish wine experience and you still want to stick to a reasonable budget this place should be your first choice.