Viblioteca

Viblioteca is a bar de vins i formatges, a wine-and-cheese bar, in La Vila de Gràcia at Carrer de les Guilleries 10. Its own site and the Star Wine List directory both frame it around that single pairing, wine and cheese, done seriously. The name is a pun on biblioteca, the library, with the bottles standing in for the books.

The sommelier Yolanda Villegas opened it in 2008, and the counter she built runs to more than 60 cheeses at a time, matched to a list she pours by the glass. The Barcelona Food Experience guide and Indagare both single it out as the city's reference point for the pairing, which is a rare thing to claim with a straight face.

The room is small, white-tiled and modern, closer to a Nordic wine bar than a rustic cellar. You sit, you tell the staff what you like, and they build a flight of cheese and a sequence of glasses around it. The model is guided rather than self-serve, and the guidance is the value.

It is a wine destination first, a snack second, and it earns repeat visits from people who treat each one as a tasting. The list rotates and the cheese board changes with what is ripe. For where it lands among the city's wine rooms, see our Barcelona wine bars guide below.

Come for a focused, sommelier-led pairing in a calm room. Skip it if you want a big meal or a loud crowd; this is a counter built for two people and a sequence of glasses, not a long dinner.

Early evening is the calm window for the full attention of the counter and a longer guided flight.

Weekends fill the compact room, so book if you want a table rather than a perch after 9pm.