Vis à Vis: over two dozen wines you can only drink at Mugaritz

The two Michelin-starred restaurant in Errenteria (Gipuzkoa) is the only place on earth where you can taste a white wine made by Descendientes de J. Palacios, the iconic Bierzo producer who exclusively crafts reds, or an unconventional rosé aged under flor by Dominio del Águila in Ribera del Duero.

Both wines are part of Vis à Vis, a collaborative project developed through exclusive partnerships with like-minded producers that forms the backbone of Mugaritz's wine programme. When we wrote this article in 2022, the initiative sought to move away from a cult-of-personality approach to  wine lists,  extend the restaurant’s creativity into the liquid side of the menu and reinforce the experimental, open-minded ethos championed by chef Andoni Luis Aduriz (pictured below) in this corner of the Basque Country.

Mugaritz is not your average restaurant. Here, diners are asked to forget about bread — and often cutlery, too. Guests are challenged to interact with the food and use their imagination, sometimes in awkward ways. Tasting aspergillus and penicillium moulds, served in small, caviar-like tins is not only disconcerting, but also requires mindful eating. Another signature dish of the 2025 season is the “soup of the day”. In this case, each table is invited to select an ingredient from a display of small pots and add it to a broth. But these are no ordinary ingredients; they are grouped under concepts such as fantasy, rhythm, desire, chaos, innocence and tranquillity. As a result, each day’s soup is unique.

That same spirit of innovation has been channelled into wine through Vis à Vis: a one-of-a-kind collection of wines created in partnership with various producers. For an additional €176, this is now the most popular wine pairing. Other options include a NOLO selection for €99, a more affordable 'small sips' pairing for €88, and a line-up of rare and fine wines for €330.

A wine list of its own

Since unveiling its first collaborative projects in 2022, Mugaritz has served 48 different drinks, spanning cider, sake, pomace brandy, sparkling tea and mead. “As we move forward, cellar management is becoming increasingly complex,” explains Kristell Monot, Mugaritz's head sommelier (pictured below). With releases ranging from 300 to 900 bottles, the most recent batches of 60–100 bottles are kept exclusively for the Vis à Vis list. Some early editions have already sold out, but guests who prefer not to opt for the pairing can order wines from previous seasons that have benefited from additional bottle ageing, from producers such as Rafael Palacios, Verónica Ortega and Dominio do Bibei. Prices range from €66 for a sparkling cider to €330 for the Barbaresco produced with Ceretto in Piedmont  —all of them more accessible than the rare, iconic and historic vintages featured on the restaurant’s Iconography wine list.

As the range has expanded, Mugaritz has relied on distributors and importers to help with storage and logistics. “While always maintaining exclusivity, of course. The added value of these wines lies in the fact that they can only be uncorked here,” stresses Monot.

One clear outcome of Vis à Vis has been the stronger connection between food and wine. “More and more dishes on the menu are inspired by the wines,” notes Monot. “It’s not just the sommelier making decisions. Chefs are also involved in Vis à Vis and take part in trips to visit producers. That’s the Mugaritz spirit.”

Each wine has its own story. “We work with two types of producers: those who propose a specific idea and see this collaboration as an opportunity to experiment and enjoy themselves, and those who may be less creative but help us maintain the diversity we seek in our wine list,” Monot explains.

The Vis à Vis wines for the 2025 season

Below are the Spanish wines we tasted as part of the Laztana (‘sweetheart’ in Basque) pairing in June. From furhter afield, the selection included a Domaine de Pallus 2012 (Chinon), produced in the year that Bertrand Sourdais took over the family estate (he also owns Antídoto and Dominio de Es in Ribera del Duero), as well as a Niepoort Colheita 1998. Outside Vis à Vis, the standout was the wonderfully creamy and complex Mestres Mas Via 1998 from the Cavateca library series.

The line-up featured wines from both the third and fourth Vis à Vis seasons, combining youthful styles with wines that had enjoyed some bottle ageing, resulting in more diversity and nuances compared to our experience in 2022. There was also a sake, a mead, a pét-nat tea and a naturally sweet cider from Malus Mama. Beyond the pairing, we tried No. 27 Belondrade, an original Rhône-inspired blend (Roussanne, Marsanne, Viognier) with a Mediterranean profile: 14% ABV, notes of dried herbs and a certain warmth, but with an excellent counterpoint of dry stones  on the finish.   

We have listed the wines by the reference numbers on their labels.

Nº 22 Dominio del Águila 2016 Rosé, Ribera del Duero. Ever since Kristell Monot tasted Jorge Monzón's white wine blind at Rekondo in San Sebastián, she had wanted to produce a white Vis à Vis with him. However, due to the limited availability of white grapes, they turned instead to another of his signature wines: a rosé made in the traditional clarete style. The innovative twist was to age the wine under a layer of flor in a Montilla cask. This completely reshaped the profile, aligning it perfectly with the experimental, cutting-edge spirit of Mugaritz.

Nº 25 González Byass 2002 Fortified, Jerez. With just 160 bottles produced, this is the rarest, most scarce wine on the pairing menu. A Palomino Fino from Pago de Carrascal, it was made from sun-dried grapes in the style of a Pedro Ximénez and aged statically in a single cask since 2002.  Less concentrated and viscous than a PX, it is versatile at the table,  complex and deep, with abundant dried fruit notes and a subtle touch of raisins.

Nº31 Jade Gross 2023 White, Rioja. Almost a cult figure now, Jade Gross runs a tiny project in San Vicente de la Sonsierra. Born in Hong Kong, she abandoned a career in international relations for cooking, spending several years in the kitchens of Mugaritz before falling in love with wine. Her contribution focuses on Tempranillo Blanco, a relatively new variety in Rioja that is still finding its voice. Gross favours a delicate, fragrant style with aniseed notes, light to medium body, and a cleansing bitterness on the finish.

Nº32 Ca N’estruc 2017 White, Catalonia. The aim here was to capture the purity of Xarel·lo aged in concrete eggs. After a vertical tasting of all available vats, Mugaritz selected a single tank from the 2017 harvest. The wine captures the Mediterranean style, with a rich texture and plenty of scrubland notes. The label seeks to convey the magic of the Montserrat mountain rising on the horizon.

Nº 34 Alta Alella 2018 Sparkling, Cataluña. This Pansa Blanca (Xarel.lo) pet-nat is made with no added sulphites and aged for 22 months — longer than the standard for the category. Five years of post-disgorgement ageing further challenge the stereotype of pét-nat as a frivolous, drink-now style. . Creamy and with toasted notes, it paired well with the pine nut and fennel paste spread onto a ceramic arm,  challenging diners to eat in a basic, primitive way in the absence of cutlery.

Nº 37 Frontonio 2020 Tinto, Aragón. Made from Garnacha Peluda, a downy-leaved mutation of Garnacha Tinta which the winery usually reserves for blends, this wine was fermented with stemsand aged 14 months in foudre in theunderground cellar in Alpartir. The nose is quite exuberant —floral, lavender, orange peel, almost ethereal— while the palate retains some weight. It was served with a playful riff on Comtessa, a popular cream-and-chocolate frozen dessert, reimagined here as folds of Penicillium candidum mycelium filled with whipped cream and served with Empeltre juice (a variety of black olive). However, the fragrant, crunchy style of this Garnacha, which avoids overripeness and extraction,  jarred slightly with the intensity of the olive sauce.

Nº 38 Fulcro 2022 Blanco, Rías Baixas. This Albariño, made by one of our favourite producers in Rías Baixas, is a blend of different plots that were part of a batch of four barrels originally destined for the US. Mugaritz retained one of these barrels for Vis à Vis. Balanced, with subtle oak and fairly integrated acidity, it is already quite approachable. While it showcases well the new style of Albariño wines from the Salnés Valley, we found it less impressive than other whites by Chicho Moldes that truly stand out.  

Nº 40 Descendientes J. Palacios 2023 Blanco, Bierzo. Despite the Godello boom, Descendientes de J. Palacios remains one of the few Bierzo estates without a white in its range. Ricardo Pérez  suggested venturing into this category with Mugaritz, not with  the fashionable variety, but with Palomino and a touch of Doña Blanca. It is quite refined on the nose, with aniseed and white fruit notes, and the use of fairly neutral varieties enhances the character of the soil. Savoury, with warm notes on the finish evoking slate soils, it is still young, but hopefully it will be available in future editions. It paired perfectly with pilongas glacé, a chestnut-based dish and one of Bierzo's most distinctive crops.