BARCELONA
Despite being delicately sipped by James Bond and glugged in more abundant quantities by Ernest Hemingway, vermouth has waned in the fashion stakes over the past 50 years. That’s changing in Barcelona, where the fortified wine is enjoying a renaissance and where – like coffee in Italy, and tea in Japan – it comes with its own small set of rituals. Known in Catalan as ‘vermut’ since it was introduced from Italy, it’s appreciated on its own rather than in cocktails, served before lunch and dinner as an aperitif (expect tutting and sideways glances if you order late at night) and often stars alongside anchovies at al-fresco café tables. Learn more about the dos and don’ts of the culture by joining a vermut tour with Trip4Real of bodegas in the Sant Antoni and El Poble Sec districts – the latter translating, rather misleadingly as the ‘Dry Village’.