Medieval Wine Cellar Vermouth Tasting

The Celler de Proava sits at Carrer de Baix 29, in the El Carme quarter near Plaça de l'Arbre, and you reach it down a flight of stairs: it is a medieval underground cellar with its stone arches intact.

What vermouth means in Spain

Vermut here is a time of day as much as a drink. It is taken before lunch, poured over ice with a slice of orange and an olive, usually alongside something salty — olives, crisps, tinned mussels. "Hacer el vermut" describes the whole ritual, and it is as much a social habit as a culinary one; Sunday late morning is its natural home. A guided tasting takes something people normally drink without thinking and puts it in order: where vermouth comes from, which botanicals go into it, why some are red and some white, and what actually changes when you taste several in sequence.

Price, places and dates

The tasting costs €30 and the run continues until 28 August. Sessions are booked ahead through the official page, which is also where the specific times for each day are listed — they are not in our listing. One practical point for August: underground, the temperature does not move. This is one of very few things in the centre that is comfortable at two in the afternoon.

Nearby

You are five minutes from the Torres de Serranos and about ten from the Mercat Central, which shuts in the early afternoon — see it before the tasting, not after. The neighbourhood is covered street by street in our El Carme guide, and for what to eat next, see where to eat tapas and what to eat in Valencia.