Barcelona Wine Week hosts Catalan wine promotion activities

Barcelona is preparing to host a new edition of Barcelona Wine Week, held from 3 to 5 February at Fira Barcelona's Montjuïc venue. The Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food, through Prodeca and INCAVI, is taking part with several promotional activities: a stand for qualified estate wines, specialist talks, round tables and an inbound trade mission with 25 professionals from the United States.

Trade mission, masterclasses and winery visits with international buyers and opinion leaders

Prodeca has organised a trade mission with buyers from the United States who will visit the fair and Catalonia's wine country from 3 to 7 February, and which aims above all to set up and strengthen business meetings between Catalan designation-of-origin cava and wine companies and American wine sector professionals.

The initiative will bring thirty key US wine sector professionals to Barcelona, including importers, distributors and retail operators (retail), as well as opinion leaders and representatives of the specialist press and media.

The programme includes visits to the fair's various stands, joint lunches and dinners, a masterclass by sommelier Andrew Ashurst and a tasting and pairing led by sommelier Gemma Muray, plus visits to the selected wineries' territory to learn more about their history and tour their facilities to see first hand how each DO's prestigious Catalan wines are made.

The initiative takes place under the European project promoting Catalan designation-of-origin wines and cavas, Taste the Difference (TTD.EU), managed by Prodeca together with Unione Italiana Vini (UIV), which seeks to give visibility and value to Catalan wines through specific internationalisation initiatives.

Wineries taking part in the DO mission

• ALSINA & SARDÀ - DO CAVA / DO PENEDÈS
• BODEGAS COSTERS DEL SIÓ - DO COSTERS DEL SEGRE
• CELLER DE CAPÇANES - DO MONTSANT / DO CATALUNYA
• CELLER GERMANS BALART - DO TERRA ALTA
• CELLER MAS BLANCH I JOVÉ - DO COSTERS DEL SEGRE
• GIRÓ DEL GORNER - DO PENEDÈS
• GRATAVINUM - DOQ PRIORAT
• L’OLIVERA - DO COSTERS DEL SEGRE / DO CATALUNYA
• MAS LLUNES - DO EMPORDÀ
• MATA I COLOMA - DO CAVA / DO PENEDÈS
• PARÉS BALTÀ - DO CAVA / DO PENEDÈS
• SUMARROCA & NÚRIA CLAVEROL BY SUMARROCA - DO CAVA / DO PENEDÈS

Commercial promotional stand

For the first time, Barcelona Wine Week will host a space devoted to qualified estate wines and to the overseas commercial promotion of Catalan wineries. The stand will be just metres from the show entrance, on the central aisle and next to the spaces representing the Catalan designations of origin. It will offer information on the Catalan family of qualified estate wines and tastings for small groups by appointment, led by journalist and sommelier Sílvia Culell.

Specialist talks

In addition to the stand's tastings, the Catalan Institute of Vine and Wine (INCAVI) is organising two talks at Barcelona Wine Week. The first session, "History and singularity: native varieties recovered in Catalonia", takes place on Tuesday 4 February at 6 p.m. in the Speakers' Corner, guided by sommelier and journalist Sílvia Culell. The activity will be a wine tasting built around native varieties recovered and recently added to the specifications of the Catalan DOs. Recovering these native grape varieties makes them a distinguishing asset in the Catalan wine landscape and helps competitiveness, actively contributing to raising the value of Catalan wine production and opening new markets.

On Wednesday 5 February at 3 p.m. the Sala Príncipe will host the session "Identity, sensory profile and control: methodology of the Official Tasting Panel of Catalan Wines". Responding to a need in the wine sector, this talk will set out the development of a standard methodology allowing harmonised descriptive sensory analysis and making it possible to characterise sensorially all the wines of Catalonia's 11 wine DOs.

Round tables and wine debate

INCAVI's viticulture section is taking part in two debate panels within the fair's programme. The head of the Viticulture, Oenology and Ampelography Service, Xoán Elorduy, will be among the speakers in the talk "The legacy of garnatxa peluda: a Mediterranean variety resilient to climate change", presenting data from various studies on garnatxa peluda's resilience to climate change. In addition, Enric Bartra, INCAVI researcher and oenologist, will be among the speakers on the round table "Making the most of water: the wine sector facing the threat of drought", which will debate the challenges the climate crisis poses for producers and growers".

About qualified estate wines

Within a designation of origin, a qualified estate wine is one produced in a specific setting smaller than a municipal area and with its own characteristics. The name must be linked to the vineyards it comes from and must also have the prior report of its Regulatory Board.

Qualified estate wines must meet requirements of excellence and rootedness as well as commitment to the territory: a minimum of ten years in a designation of origin's register, a vineyard production yield of 15% set by the DO and a higher score from the tasting committee. The vineyard owner must also be the winery owner and the wine must be made at a winery on the same estate or nearby; the wine must be produced in a specific setting with its own soil and microclimate characteristics; and the winery must have a track record of prestige and quality in the market over a period of ten years or more, and there must be full specific traceability from production to marketing.

The qualified estate wine family currently comprises a total of 19 wines from six different designations of origin.