Catalan single-estate wines shine in New York alongside the most iconic products of Catalan cuisine

On Tuesday 20 September, PRODECA, in collaboration with the Catalan Government Delegation to the United States and Canada, hosted a food reception in New York where six exclusive Catalan single-estate wines showcased the potential of Catalonia's agri-food sector, a benchmark cluster in Europe for food and drink production.

The event was attended by the President of the Government of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, and the Minister for Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, Teresa Jordà, who are in New York for the opening of Climate Week, held from 19 to 25 September.

Speaking from New York, the President of the Government of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, praised Catalonia's agri-food industry, declaring that "Catalonia is a benchmark cluster in Europe for the production of quality food and drink". "It is the leading sector of Catalan industry and accounts for almost 20% of GDP, with a presence and socio-economic impact across the territory and a very high export capacity of almost €13 billion", he said.

Together with the Minister for Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, Teresa Jordà i Roura, and Prodeca's managing director Ramon Sentmartí, the head of government led the event " to strengthen the relationship between Catalan products and the US market".

The event brought together distributors, chefs, purchasing directors from hotel chains, supermarkets and US media, and took the form of a food reception featuring Catalan products.

With this event in New York, a new phase begins to strengthen the strategy for promoting Catalan products and cuisine in the US market, through a promotion plan by Prodeca (the promoter of Catalan food), coordinated with the Catalan Government Delegation to the United States and ACCIÓ. 

The plan focuses on three lines:

• Increasing the value sector professionals place on Catalan food and drink in this market.
• Increasing demand for Catalan agri-food products and the number of Catalan companies exporting to the USA.
• Establishing a framework for relations and collaboration with US players around Catalan cuisine and the values of the Mediterranean Diet.

Trade tasting of Catalan single-estate wines

Wine ambassador Lucas Payà, former sommelier at Ferran Adrià's elBulli and an expert on Catalan single-estate wines, led a masterclass tasting at the Dumbo Loft venue before a specialist audience of distributors, chefs, purchasing directors from hotel chains and supermarkets, and media. 

The single-estate wine classification is the highest recognition a wine can obtain in Catalonia. It denotes special qualitative characteristics and must meet a series of very strict requirements: the wines come from vineyards with yields below those typical of the variety in their Designation of Origin, are aged in oak barrels of no more than 600 litres and are matured exclusively in barrel. All this allows full specific traceability from production to marketing, guaranteeing singular, demanding and sublime wines.

It currently Catalonia has just 12 single-estate wines , and six were tasted in New York: Coma Blanca and Clos Fontà from Celler Mas d'en Gil (DOQ Priorat), Edetària negre from Celler Edetària (DO Terra Alta), Teixar from Celler Vinyes Domènech (DO Montsant), Vi de Finca Mogador from Clos Mogador (DOQ Priorat) and Mas de la Rosa from Celler Vall Llach (DOQ Priorat).

Presenting Catalan cuisine as culture

The event also featured food critic Colman Andrews, who addressed the role of Catalan cooking and its implications for this century's culinary revolution. Andrews acted as host to the New York audience.

Chef Nicolàs López and the American Carolina Gómez took guests through a tapas demonstration using iconic products from the Catalan larder. Preserves, cheeses, cured meats, gourmet fine food products and other foods from producers based in the United States took centre stage, along with Catalan agri-food's two other strongest export pairings: wine and extra virgin olive oil.

Finally, the New York-based Catalan filmmaker Laia Cabrera also took part, with an immersive projection of Catalan landscapes.

Catalonia, the heart of the Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean Diet has become a benchmark model of healthy eating and Catalonia has added-value assets for capitalising on this market, above all its world-renowned chefs who have become culinary benchmarks and ambassadors for Catalan products and techniques.

One of the defining features of Catalan cuisine is how cross-cutting and interdisciplinary it is. With almost 50,000 specialised companies, as an economic sector it spans a wide range of activities and forms a broad value chain around food. In recent years, Catalan gastronomy has established itself as one of the country's strategic economic activities with growth prospects for the future.

From an international perspective, Catalan cuisine has been seen as a sector linked to excellence and to the most internationally renowned figures in cooking. By way of example, Catalonia has 54 Michelin-starred restaurants.

Catalan food products, well established in the United States

Catalonia's agri-food industry is the country's leading economic sector and one of the most dynamic exporting sectors of the Catalan economy, as shown by the sustained increase in recent years in both volume and value of overseas food and drink sales: since 2011 Catalan agri-food exports have grown 86.39% in value and 53.16% in volume.

The United States carries a great deal of weight for the Catalan food and drink industry: in 2021 it became the 9th destination for Catalan exports overall. It is also the leading market for wines and cavas and the 5th for vegetable oils and fine food products. Over the last ten years, sales of Catalan food in the United States have soared by 125%.