The first hurdle to overcome when searching for the Spanish capital’s top bodegas is the correct interpretation of the word “bodega”. It is defined as a warehouse, winery, wine cellar and wine shop or bar specialising in wine. In Spanish slang it can also mean a convenience store.

I asked several people working in the Madrid wine trade, and they all struggled to define exactly what a bodega is – and sometimes disagreed with each other. For example, while La Bodega de los Reyes fits the description because it has a wine cellar, a nearby bar owner said it couldn’t be classed as a bodega as it was just a wine shop.

An internet search suggests dozens of Madrid bodegas, yet some are not the atmospheric, historic bars you may be hoping for. Bodegas de los Secretos, for example, is very much a restaurant. The excellent De Vinos retains some historic fixtures (a winning feature of Madrid’s most established bodegas), such as a marble bar and traditional decorative flooring, and offers a choice of 600 wines, but it is a modern wine bar. La Taberna de La Copla used to be known as Bodegas El Mañon and its brick-walled basement reveals a mini-museum of antique bottling paraphernalia and tinajas (large, traditional clay or earthenware jars used for storing wine). Which all seems to indicate being a bodega, but co-owner Alejandro Simon insists that it isn’t any more: “This building has a strong bodega history, but it is just too difficult to operate a bodega with the regulations in place now, and too small a market for us just to focus on wine, so we are now a bar offering a wider range.”

Here, then, is a selection of places that would undisputedly be classed as bodegas: unpretentious, inexpensive bars specialising in wine, and with a strong sense of history.

Bodegas Rosell

Close to Atocha station, Rosell is spread over several rooms, including a restaurant. The main bar area, with some seating around tables made from wine barrels, has three maroon wrought iron columns to lean against when you’ve had one too many. It is a pleasingly rough and ready room, with a mishmash of guitars and other instruments, dated photos and wine bottles gracing its walls.

It was founded in 1920 and boasts a facade with tiles painted by Alfonso Romero Mesa, who also decorated Las Ventas, Spain’s largest and most prestigious bullring. During the Spanish civil war the cellars served as air raid shelters.

It was buzzing with locals on my visit. My €4.20 glass of rioja came with crisps and a mussel, and popular tapas here include pork tenderloin, oven-baked cod and wild mushrooms.
9/10

Bodega de la Ardosa

Dating from 1892, this bodega in the Malasaña neighbourhood is a proper exhibitionist, with a bright red frontage and vintage-looking engraved glass signage. There were no more than three or four tourists inside (it was March) but some evenings in peak season it gets so popular there are queues to get in.

The lower half of the walls are lined with bright blue, yellow and white tiles; the upper half does its best to hide the grimy wallpaper with a host of antiquated pictures. Behind the bar, as well as wine bottles, there are old beer bottles and cans.

The bar serves vermouth on tap, which is made in-house, but I pushed the boat out and ordered a €2.80 glass of ribera (accompanied by a free small plate of olives) and a €4.25 sardine in delicious olive oil on a tomato paste-coated cracker. Somehow, the latter appeared within minutes despite the general chaos of this packed, buzzing bar.

One quaint feature is a second, quieter room out back, which you have to duck under the bar to reach. 8/10

La Venencia

I’m not surprised that Ernest Hemingway frequented this gorgeous bodega near Puerta del Sol, which has curated its decrepitude to such a skilful degree that it really does feel like stepping back in time. With its molasses-stained oak sherry barrels, antique cash register, vintage bullfighting posters, chipped floor tiles that have certainly seen better days and several hundred very dusty bottles on shelves reaching almost to the ceiling, it is, needless to say, full of character. A raised area at the back is a bit more secluded.

The place was bustling with locals and some Americans when I visited, but the only thing that lets it down is the rather brusque service non-local people have reported online, and which I witnessed when someone attempted to take a photo. However, the no-photo rule is longstanding, going back to the Spanish civil war (the walls and ceiling clearly haven’t been painted since then) when people were wary of spies. And be warned: La Venencia also has a ban on tipping (another quirk rooted in its republican, socialist history) and spitting.
7/10

Vinícola Mentridana

At unpretentious Vinícola Mentridana, in the Lavapiés neighbourhood, two walls are lined with old, dusty wine bottles reaching up to the ceiling. However, despite being established in 1920 it doesn’t feel as historic as the other bodegas mentioned. Perhaps an overenthusiastic renovation in 2010 took away some of that bodega feel?

It was much quieter than the others when I visited, with just a few locals at the bar – which was welcomed as buzzing bars can become exhausting after a while. There’s a good choice of wines from across Spain and my €4.20 glass of tinta de toro was bold and delicious. However, the €7.20 cheese and ham toastie accompanying it was not nice.
6/10

La Taberna del Foro

The sign of this busy little place, close to Antón Martín metro station in the city centre, shouts BODEGA in large letters, but it also calls itself a restaurant, tapas bar and taberna. It has a good selection of wine on offer as well as sherries and sangria, and a wide choice of tapas – they were slicing a leg of Iberian ham with great enthusiasm when I visited.

Banks of wine bottles line the walls, and on higher shelves there are rows of old books (a pity they are so high up you can’t reach them, but they do add character). A television showing a football match spoiled the atmosphere a tad for me, and after a recent revamp it all feels a little too neat to evoke much history, despite being founded in 1929.
6/10

Accommodation was provided by CoolRooms Palacio de Atocha (doubles from €275 room-only)