The guy in the shop greeted us by shaving off a thin slice of meat from a cut of lamb. The wall was full with meat hanging behind him.
It was our last full day in Spain. In the Centro Region of Madrid.
Photo by Google Maps.
We had nothing planned (on purpose). We were just roaming the streets in the Centro Region of Madrid near where we were staying. It is an incredibly great place to walk and enjoy the city. Safe, quaint, a lot of history, and it looks bigger than it is. We walked the width of it in around 15 minutes.
Because we had just had lunch and were thirsty, we dropped into a small shop called Montanera Selecta (see their TripAdvisor ratings and description here) to get some water. From the outside it looked like a tiny convenience store in the middle of the block.
The Store Layout
Once inside we realized that the shop had 3 distinct areas. The first section was as you first walked in the door. It was the “meat” area, where they had an impressive selection of dried and smoked meats. We also discovered they are a restaurant of sorts with a kitchen in the back.
In the convenience section they sold cheese, assorted snacks (mostly healthy) and drinks (water and juices). They also sold salads and sandwiches that are made on site. The third section was a couple steps down and into what looked like a small wine cellar.
We were immediately intrigued.
Upon seeing the wine cellar with some tables, we started asking questions. Turns out that the shop was a cooperative (ko-pra-teev) of sorts. They have wines from local vineyards just outside of Madrid that don’t have their own tasting rooms in city. It made sense, but we’d never seen a wine coop before like this one. Since then we’ve experienced coops in Healdsburg, CA in the US and one in southern France.
As part of the cooperative, they allow wine tastings right there in the store. Anyone who knows us, knows we needed no further encourgagement. We knew at that point, this was going to be fun!
The Tasting
We were encouraged to look through the selection of wines and choose one we would like to taste. After perusing the shelves for a few minutes we made our selection. He then opened the bottle and poured us a whole glass of wine. Not a typical tasting of one ounce (28ml), but a full 6oz (170ml) pour. Just after we started tasting the wine, he brought out a plate (slate) of bread, a plate of cheese and some olives. When we had finished the first “tasting”, we decided to taste another. This time he brought us out breads with sliced meats. For our third tasting, we were treated to a cooked meat dish.
After having our 3 glass of wine each, we decided we were ready to head out. We grabbed a bottle of one of the wines we enjoyed and went to the register. We just had 6 glasses of wine, a bottle to take home, and a lot of tapas foods. And we didn’t spend that much.
Would we go back if we found ourselves in Madrid again? Without hesitation. Based on the TripAdvisor reviews we saw, almost everyone else who’s been there wouldn’t hesitate to go back either.
All because we practically stumbled into it. This “accidental” wine tasting has been one of our favorite experiences!