Barcelona Wine Week 2026: One day, three standout wines
Bill Bolloten shares his discoveries at Spain’s largest wine trade showcase.
I attended Barcelona Wine Week for just one day this year, following two intense days at Vinos OFF The Record and Liquid Vins, two other key gatherings in the city’s vibrant wine calendar.
With 1,350 wineries presenting wines from 96 Denominations of Origin, the scale of BWW was, as always, overwhelming. Navigating such a vast array of producers felt nearly impossible.
So instead, I focused on greeting friends at their stands, wandering in the hope of discovering a few wines that would surprise me, and embracing the fair for what it ultimately is: a social event that reflects what wine is truly about.
Here are three wines that particularly caught my attention.
El Cantorral Blanc de Noir 2024, Bodega Tintoralba
A surprising Blanc de Noir from a project in Albacete, made from Garnacha Tintorera, one of the very few teinturier grape varieties, known for producing deeply coloured wines due to its red flesh and juice.
Through careful filtration, Tintoralba has crafted a very pale, transparent wine. On the palate, it is fresh yet intense and concentrated, with a long, lingering finish. A captivating and unexpected expression of the variety.
Ojo y Coíllo Benavente Alto 2024, Miguel Castro Maillo
One of the highlights of the day was meeting Miguel Castro and discovering his terroir-driven wines from the Sierra de Montilla.
Sourced from 40–80-year-old bush vines in the Benavente Alto vineyard at around 500 metres altitude, this cuvée reflects the albariza soils that retain and transmit moisture despite the zone’s extreme heat and dry climate.
Made primarily from Pedro Ximénez, with a small proportion of other native varieties, the wine is fermented and aged in 500-litre botas and undergoes 12 months of biological ageing under flor. The result is a complex, savoury and nutty white wine, with notes of yeast and citrus on the nose and a taut, saline finish.
The name Ojo y Coíllo refers to the traditional pruning of old PX vines in Montilla: the ojo (eye) is the productive bud of the current year, while the coíllo is the bud that will bear fruit the following season.
Puesta en Cruz 2022, Quinta De Mil
It was a pleasure to meet Josep Zafra, who leads the Quinta De Mil project in Fermoselle, in the Arribes del Duero region. His work focuses on recovering and preserving old native varieties such as Bruñal, Puesta en Cruz and Juan García, and revealing their ability to produce distinctive wines.
Puesta en Cruz is a rare white grape variety indigenous to Arribes that nearly disappeared during the 20th century; according to Josep, only around 4,500 vines remain within the Arribes DO.
Aged for 12 months in clay amphora, the wine showed an intensely aromatic nose of wild herbs layered with some subtle tropical hints. On the palate, it offered vibrant acidity and good volume, finishing dry with a slight touch of astringency and a saline, mineral edge. A compelling and beautifully expressive wine.
