Espinaler

In 1896 Miquel Riera i Prat opened a tavern called Espinaler in Vilassar de Mar, near Barcelona. Five generations later, the family still runs it, along with a line of tins and sauces.

About Espinaler

Based in
Vilassar de Mar, Barcelona, Spain
Founded
1896
Known for
Salsa Espinaler and tinned seafood

The Espinaler tavern opened in Vilassar de Mar, in the province of Barcelona, in 1896, pouring wine and vermouth for the town. It has stayed in the founder's family for five generations, and David and Miki Tapias, great-great-grandchildren of the founder, run it today.

Two moments shaped the brand. In 1952 Ventureta Roldós, wife of Joan Tapias, wrote the formula for Salsa Espinaler, the sauce that carries the tavern's name. In the 1970s Miquel Tapias Roldós began traveling to Galicia to choose shellfish at the auctions himself, which started Espinaler's canned seafood line.

Espinaler questions

What is vermouth?

Vermouth is a wine flavored with herbs and other natural aromatic ingredients and strengthened with added brandy or alcohol. Under US federal rules it is a type of aperitif wine, made from grape wine with at least 15 percent alcohol by volume. The Espinaler tavern has poured vermouth since it opened in 1896, and the brand sells a vermouth under its own name.

What makes Galicia important to Espinaler?

Galicia is the region in Spain's northwest corner, on the Atlantic. Its rías, long inlets where rivers meet the sea, hold more than 2,000 mussel rafts, and Galicia is Europe's leading mussel producer. Spain's fisheries ministry calls its port of Vigo the most important fishing port in Europe. Espinaler has chosen shellfish at Galicia's seafood auctions since the 1970s.

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