Barcelona’s El Born has a new natural wine bar with a clear local focus. Canvis Nous has opened on Canvis Nous street, a historic lane in the district, and says it wants to serve residents rather than chase the usual tourist crowd.

The bar is the work of Alfredo Lopez and Nacho Alegre, founders of The Natural Wine Company, who opened the physical venue in 2024 with British hospitality entrepreneur Frank Boxer. Chef Miguel Rojas, originally from Sonseca in Toledo, leads the kitchen, where the team keeps the approach relaxed and informal.

Canvis Nous lists more than 300 natural wines, made with minimal intervention and without clarifying, filtering or added sulphites. Small plates are designed for sharing, with prices from 14 to 20 euros, while bottles cost between 25 and 30 euros. Early dishes included smoked veal tongue, Russian salad with mussels, pickled rabbit and capers, and the current menu includes green bean and lamb sweetbread salad with mustard, plus pork belly in its own juice with carrots.

The bar sits on a narrow street that locals know as the “street of the bomb”, after an anarchist attack during a Corpus Christi procession in June 1896. Today, the area is calmer, with art galleries and IT service shops alongside the older buildings, and the owners say that shift has helped them build a regular neighbourhood crowd. For more on the district, see our Community coverage and Sport stories from across the city.

Lopez and Alegre’s link goes back more than ten years, to an amateur football league that brought together musicians, designers and other friends in Barcelona. During the pandemic, they turned that network into The Natural Wine Company, a subscription service that sent six bottles and a surprise gift each month, before deciding to move into a permanent space. Alegre said the idea of a physical headquarters for their club had been in their minds for some time.

The interior is meant to feel distinctly Barcelona, with cream-coloured walls and a faux wood finish, and the room is decorated with a lithograph by Federico García Lorca and original cartoons by Javier Mariscal. The owners say the bar has already settled into a local rhythm, even if they joke that Tinder couples can linger for hours over cheap wine without ordering food.

Originally published by El País Barcelona.