Barcelona and Girona: Finding Wine Moments on a Family Trip to Spain

It started with Cobra Kai.

Watching the show together as a family, the episodes set in Barcelona caught our son Brendan’s attention. For me, Spain had long been near the top of my travel list - the food and wine culture alone made it a compelling destination, and I’d already made my way through most of Western Europe’s other major stops. When Brendan’s interest aligned with mine, the decision was easy. We set a goal: Spain in 2026. What was planned as a family trip became a father-son adventure when my wife had to stay behind at the last minute - but the trip was very much on. For Brendan, it would be his first time in Europe.

As the planning took shape, I set aside the idea of a dedicated wine side trip - a detour to Priorat wasn’t practical in our 10 day itinerary. Plus, this was a family trip first. We’d chase Gaudí’s architecture, walk Las Ramblas, and find the hotel from the show. Wine would find its own moments.

Wine sure did find its moments in this trip. OK, with a little help from my passion for all things vino!

From a server’s personal recommendation on our first night in Barcelona, to a solo detour to a remarkable wine bar, to tracking down a local bottle to enjoy on a balcony overlooking the Girona river - and a side trip across the border into southern France - the trip turned into one of the richer wine experiences I’ve had. Not despite being a family trip, but woven right into it.

While researching Cobra Kai filming locations, Brendan had also spotted Girona - a medieval city about an hour north of Barcelona, in the direction of the French border - as somewhere worth visiting. Once we booked it, we realized France was right there. More on that in a follow-up post - but first, the wine moments that found us in Spain.

Our First Taste of Barcelona

We had found Taller de Tapas through a Facebook group focused on traveling with food allergies, an invaluable resource for our planning. We booked a reservation for our first night in Spain, and it delivered.

The sun was getting low as we passed Sagrada Família on our way to dinner. We paused to take in Gaudí’s stunning unfinished masterpiece, with its exquisite detail. And we circled back to see it lit up after dinner.

The construction has apparently made enough progress that the Pope has a visit scheduled for June. A good sign for a building that’s been under construction since 1882. 

At Taller de Tapas, I ordered a pork dish prepared with peppers and served over a bed of crushed potatoes - simple, authentically Catalan, exactly what I was hoping to find on night one. Brendan went for a Galician beef dish which he really enjoyed.

When it came to wine, I struck up a conversation with our server, who quickly picked up on my enthusiasm for the subject. He steered me toward a personal favorite - the Nuviana Tinto, a blend of Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon from Lleida, an inland wine region west of Barcelona. He described it as similar to a young Rioja, which makes sense given the Tempranillo base, though something may have been lost in translation about exactly where it came from.

The wine was medium-bodied with good fruit and enough structure to match the lively pepper spice of the pork - exactly the right wine for that moment - a genuine local recommendation rather than the obvious tourist pour. It was also the start of a theme that would run through the trip: whenever possible, I was drawn to wines from the region I was visiting - small producers, local grapes, wines that conjured something of the place itself.

Discovering Modern Catalan Wine at Món Vínic

Barcelona has no shortage of places to drink wine, but I was looking for something specific - a spot where I could explore authentic regional producers without making a vineyard excursion. I love vineyard excursions, but it wasn’t fitting with our Barcelona plans.

I got in a rhythm on the trip of having a late afternoon wine moment before dinner. Brendan had some time to do his thing - working on his YouTube channel and Fortnite maps - while I did mine.

A little research turned up Món Vínic - once called the best wine bar in recent memory by Wall Street Journal writer Jay McInerney - and conveniently located just a couple of blocks from our apartment. The wine list at Món Vínic is impressive, and frequently updated. What drew me in was the inclusion of small, serious Catalan producers. This wasn’t a place pouring the obvious bottles. The staff knew their wines deeply and approached each pour with a genuine interest in pairing.

I started with a glass of Núria Renom’s “Donna,” a natural sparkling Chardonnay from Penedès. It wasn’t the bright, clean bubbles of a traditional Cava - there was a slight funkiness to it, textural and a little wild, closer in spirit to a pét-nat. The server paired it with a mild aged cheese, and the match worked through shared character rather than contrast - the wine’s funk picking up a similar quality in the cheese.

The second wine leaned further into what Món Vínic does best - championing small, local producers with a genuine story. Gemma Miró’s “La Partió” is a Carinyena from Priorat, vintage 2023, just 12% alcohol. Gemma is a young producer who reclaimed her grandfather’s small vineyard plot and personally delivers each new vintage to Món Vínic. The wine reflected that hands-on approach - vibrant and fresh, ripe berries, bright acidity, energetic rather than powerful. The staff mentioned she’d recently dropped off this vintage herself.

I liked it enough to buy a bottle to take back to the apartment. That evening, after an afternoon marveling at the rooftop sculptures and sweeping views of Casa Milà, I kept things simple for my dinner - a takeout burrito bowl from a local spot. The apartment had no wine glasses to speak of, so La Partió got poured into a coffee mug - not ideal, but it did the job.

More importantly, the wine itself was terrific with the food. A Priorat Carinyena with a burrito bowl isn’t an obvious pairing, but the bright acidity cut through the rice and beans, and the fruit and herbal tones played off the cilantro and spice. Sometimes the best wine moments involve the simplest of meals - even if the glassware leaves something to be desired.

Discovering Girona: Local Wine with a View

Girona was Brendan’s discovery. While researching Cobra Kai filming locations, he had spotted the medieval city and flagged it as somewhere worth visiting. Girona sits about an hour north of Barcelona by train, in the direction of the French border - close enough for an easy day trip, though we stayed a night to give it more time.

As our cab approached the old city, the streets narrowed to something that felt more suited to pedestrians, or perhaps horse-drawn carts. We slow-bounced over cobblestones toward our apartment, and the sense of going back in time was immediate. Girona delivered everything Brendan had spotted from his research - a bustling Saturday afternoon in a beautifully preserved historic city. We meandered through narrow streets and alleys, crossed the famous bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel, found a nature trail behind the castle and walked it together.

My health tracker registered 40 flights of stairs that day, between the six flights to our apartment and the general terrain of the place. Girona is not a city for the sedentary.

While Brendan explored on his own for a bit, I set out on a dual mission: scout dinner options and find a local wine and some cheese for the balcony.

The dinner scouting proved more challenging than expected - it was a busy Saturday, many menus were in Catalan only, and few restaurants posted menus online. I ducked into one small shop hoping to find cheese, only to discover they didn’t carry it. The cashier, sensing my mild confusion, pointed me toward a place that did, and even suggested a soft Spanish cheese she liked. I found the cheese, picked up some jamón and supplies at a small grocery, and made a mental note of a restaurant called Brots de Vi where the host had been friendly and accommodating when I asked about the menu and food allergies.

For the wine, I found my way to Somia Vins i Llibres - “Dream Wines and Books” in Catalan - a shop that was exactly what the name suggests: wine, books, and a small seating area where you could pour a glass and read. A great concept, though I had other plans for my bottle. Without anyone actively on hand to guide selections, I browsed a section of local wines and used a quick ChatGPT consult to help narrow things down. The result was a Balart Cellers Garnatxa Peluda from Terra Alta - a rare Grenache biotype, one that’s nearly exclusive to this corner of Catalonia.

Back at the apartment - all six flights of it - I settled onto the balcony with the Garnatxa Peluda, the cheese, and the jamón. The late afternoon light was extraordinary, golden hour falling across the Onyar river below and the cathedral spire rising behind the colorful houses on the opposite bank. I wasn’t taking tasting notes. The focus was the moment itself - the wine, the view, the simple food. The Garnatxa Peluda was food friendly and worked well with both the soft cheese and the jamón. That was enough.

Dinner at Brots de Vi lived up to the scouting. The staff were genuinely helpful navigating Brendan’s food allergies, which had been the deciding factor in booking. I started with a striking dish of pureed leeks with mushrooms - more interesting than delicious, paired with a small glass of Cava - and followed with a Catalan pork main dish served with roasted stuffed potatoes.

The wine was a Petit Carlania from Carlania Celler, a biodynamic producer from Conca de Barberà, a Catalan wine region west of Barcelona. The grape was Trepat - a native Catalan variety historically used for Cava and now being rediscovered for still reds. Bright red fruit, light to medium body, a touch of pepper. Food friendly and a good match for the pork. Another grape variety to add to my list - I’ve been documenting tastings across more than 300 varieties, and Trepat was a welcome new entry.

After dinner, Brendan joined me back on the balcony as the light faded. Bats appeared overhead in the darkening sky above the river - an unexpected and somehow perfect end to the evening.

Our exit the next morning was less graceful. In the scramble to catch our train to Perpignan - and France - we managed to lock our cooler bag full of allergy-safe food inside the apartment. With the key left behind and the train departing, there was nothing to do but laugh and go. Girona had given us plenty.

From Spain to Southern France

Girona’s position near the French border wasn’t just a geographic footnote - it opened the door to one of the most rewarding wine experiences of the trip. When I realized how close we were to France, I spotted an opportunity: Banyuls-sur-Mer, a small harbor town on the Mediterranean just across the border, where I could walk to legitimate wineries while giving Brendan his first taste of France. Nestled in the rugged vineyard landscape of the Collioure AOC, with steep schist terraces climbing above the sea, it felt about as far from a tourist wine trail as you could get. That story deserves its own post - which is coming soon.