Moscow’s Winzavod area used to be a huge brewery in the times of Russian Empire and a wine factory during Soviet times. So even though having a genuine wine place sounds like a “must” for Winzavod, there used to be none, until the opening of Barrel bar. From one perspective, this place is tricky to find, but this can even be an advantage – on weekend nights it’s all booked, and just imagine what would have happened to Barrel if everybody knew about it 😉

This place occupies the basement of one of the factory buildings where the bottles of wine used to be stored. Now the wine is back, and the variety is what’s most surprising. Even cheap options on the menu are really okay and always served in the right glass and properly cooled. Barrel’s the first place where I tried green wine (really summerish) and it’s where I’m going to try selected Russian wines. Russian wines can be tricky, but I trust the choice of Barrel’s sommeliers.

Just two more things before you get there. Firstly, don’t hesitate to order the local bruschettes – they are yummy! Secondly, remember that WinZavod is an art cluster and Barrel shares the basement with a gallery and some stand-alone pieces of art.