Wine route through Terra Alta

In the morn­ing

Vins del Tros is a pro­ject begun in 2009 by oe­nol­o­gist Joan Ramon Bada and wine­grower Josep Ar­ru­fat. Both men were born in Vi­lalba dels Arcs, were child­hood friends and grew up in love with the vine­yards that sur­rounded them. Their aim from the be­gin­ning was to pro­duce wines char­ac­ter­is­tic of the Terra Alta re­gion, by tak­ing ad­van­tage of the po­ten­tial of­fered by old gar­natxa blanca and gar­natxa negra vine­yards, the two main tra­di­tional va­ri­eties grown in the area. The win­ery oc­cu­pies the lower floor of one of the most em­blem­atic build­ings in Vi­lalba dels Arcs: Casa “Granyena”. Lo­cated in the heart of the old town, the house is sur­rounded by nar­row and im­pos­ing stone fa­cades.

As for the prod­ucts, the firm ages its wines in large 225 and 500-litre French oak bar­rels, al­though some of them con­tain up to 4,000 litres. Also used are clay am­phorae that hold be­tween 150 and 800 litres, an an­ces­tral tech­nique that the firm has re­in­stated. Vins del Tros makes a va­ri­ety of wines. Among its whites are Cent x Cent, Te la dedico, while its reds in­clude Señora Car­men, Lo More­nillo and La Tremenda.

For lunch

For three gen­er­a­tions, Nou Mod­erno has served meals made with local pro­duce. It is a quiet and re­lax­ing place, as well as a start­ing point for many peo­ple tak­ing ad­van­tage of the local en­vi­ron­ment for ex­cur­sions of all types.

The restau­rant is the “lit­tle brother” of the Bar Mod­erno, which was opened by the cou­ple Jepo and Roseta, of the pre­vi­ous gen­er­a­tion, 50 years ago. Rosa, Roseta's grand­daugh­ter, along with her mother Teresa, are the restau­rant's cooks.

Teresa sup­plies the ex­pe­ri­ence and wis­dom in mak­ing the tra­di­tional dishes of the Terra Alta re­gion, such as tru­ita en suc, clotxa and fricandó de vedella, an orig­i­nal recipe from Rosa's kitchen.

Yet, these tra­di­tional dishes have been mod­ernised with in­no­va­tions, still using local pro­duce, with touches of fu­sion and set menus fea­tur­ing care­fully se­lected Terra Alta wines. They are fun but hon­est dishes made with re­spect for tra­di­tion and the en­vi­ron­ment that in­spires them.