La Tavina is one of those places where we, wine berserks, get a tingly feeling in our stomachs; a small amusement park with three floors entirely devoted to tasting, drinking, buying and enjoying wine unceremoniously.
Located at the start of calle Laurel, in the heart of Logroño’s bar scene, La Tavina has a street counter and a second one on the inside to eat tapas and drink some of the 20 different wines by the glass that are renewed every season. Being in the capital of La Rioja, the region’s brands take centre stage but there are always alternative options from other Spanish regions and from abroad.
On weekends the bar can get very crowded, particularly in the springtime when hen and stag parties descend upon Logroño, but it is a very pleasant spot to enjoy a glass of wine midweek and during the rest of the year.
Those in search of a quieter place can walk up the stairs to the shop-cum-wine bar on the first floor, which stores a selection of over 600 local, national and international wines to take away or drink with some tapas on the long tables available for customers. Prices are very reasonable: Ganko, a 100% Garnacha from Rioja made by winemaker Olivier Rivière, or Abel Mendoza's sought-after Tempranillo Blanco cost just under €18 per bottle; if you want to drink it in the store, La Tavina charges a €2 corkage fee.
Tastings are held every Monday and have proven to be very popular. Most of the producers who flock here to present their wines are local but there are occasional tastings with wines from other regions as well as artisan products such as cheese or chocolate. In line with La Tavina’s reasonable pricing policy, tastings cost around €22 per person and usually include something to eat.
The laid-back atmosphere on the lower levels is also felt on the small but modern-looking restaurant on the second floor, which serves simple dishes without fanfare but using good ingredients. The wine is king here so the menu of the day (€18) can be paired with a wide choice of wines by the glass or with any of the bottles on the first floor, which cost the same as in the shop plus the corkage fee.
Sonia is the sommelier in charge of the wine selection and the numerous activities held at La Tavina. On Wednesdays she chooses a wine that is served blind —both by the glass or in full bottles upstairs. The client who gets it right receives a bottle of such wine the next day.
As well as the Monday tastings, Sonia leads an express tasting course (€20) every Saturday and Sunday adapting the contents to the knowledge and interest of participants. “People generally want to learn the basics, but if a group requests to taste, say, barrel-aged whites, I’ll organize a tailor-made tasting”, says Sonia, who is happily surprised by the knowledge and eagerness to learn she finds among foreigners requesting courses, which are led both in Spanish and English. “We get many foreign producers and wine aficionados from Canada, the US and Australia; France is relatively close to us, but we don’t get many visitors from the other side of the border”, she adds. Y.O.A.
