Fiona Dunlop

Emiliano García Domeñe

Bodega Montaña, Valencia

Appears in
New Tapas: Today's Best Bar Food from Spain
New Tapas

By Fiona Dunlop

Published 2002

  • About
The Mediterranean sea plays a key role in the tapas at Bodega Montiña, not least because the bar lies a few blocks from the waves in El Cabañal, the fishermen’s quarter on the outskirts of Valencia. Despite its far-flung location, Bodega Montaña’s well-worn features (it dates from 1836), its list of over 900 wines and its succulent tapas ensure it is known by every tapa-hopper in the city. Surveying and serving them all is Vicente, the well-disposed manager.

From its modest early days as a general store, Bodega Montaña blossomed under the 45-year-long ownership of a Frenchman who introduced wine, olive oils and finally tapas. When Emiliano García Domeñe took over in the early 1990s, he introduced wines from Italy, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa to accompany the stocks of Rioja and Valdepeñas. For Spain - and even more so for Valencia - this was a brave step.