USA INWARD MISSION BARCELONA WINE WEEK 2026

Prodeca - DARPA is organising an INWARD MISSION of wine sector professionals from the United States and China, from 2 to 6 February 2026, coinciding with Barcelona Wine Week.

PURPOSE OF THE ACTIVITY

Prodeca, as part of the European project Taste The Difference (TTD.EU), is organising an inward mission of professional wine sector operators from the United States and China, coinciding with Barcelona Wine Week 2026.

This initiative aims to promote the internationalisation of Catalan wines and cavas with a designation of origin, by facilitating B2B meetings between Catalan wineries and international wine sector operators from the United States and Chinese markets. 

ORGANISATION OF THE INWARD MISSION

The activity is aimed at 20 key wine sector professionals: 10 from the United States and 10 from China, including importers, distributors, retail operators, restaurateurs, etc.

The inward mission will take place during and after the BWW fair, in three formats: 

• POST-FAIR VISITS TO THE REGION

The operators will be split into two groups of ten: one from the USA and one from China. A total of 8 visits to the selected wineries will take place on the 5th and 6th, morning and afternoon.

• VISITS TO THE STAND DURING BWW

The operators will be split into four groups of five: two from the USA and two from China. A total of 24 visits to the selected wineries' stands will be scheduled on the 3rd and 4th, in the morning.

• MASTERCLASS DURING BWW - HUB Workshop Room

Organised through the Catalan designations of origin and led by a renowned sommelier at BWW to introduce the participating operators to Catalan wines, with 12 references from the various Catalan designations of origin to be tasted. 

CONDITIONS AND COST OF PARTICIPATION

Catalan wine and sparkling wine producers meeting the following requirements may apply to take part in this inward mission:

• Being registered with a Catalan designation of origin as required by the European TTD.EU project.
• Taking part in BWW 2026 (in any format)

Prodeca covers the costs of organising this activity and there is no cost for the participating companies.

However, logistics and sample costs are at the participating companies' expense:

• Supplying wine for the various tastings
• Where visits to the region take place, helping organise and host the buyers, providing winery visits and tastings and a meal (lunch or dinner).

SELECTION PROCEDURE

Places on the inward mission will be awarded through a competitive process, by comparing the applications submitted in order to rank them, with a maximum of 100 points.

Once the application deadline has passed, the following procedure will apply:

1. Receive and register the applications through Prodeca's registration form.

2. Administrative check of the requirements set out in the participation conditions. Applications that do not meet the minimum requirements will be excluded and the reasons communicated.

3. Sending the matchmaking form to the registered wineries.

4. Assessment of the admitted applications according to the criteria set out in the following section.

5. Ranking by score and allocation of places in the following order of blocks: 

• VISITS TO THE REGION
• BWW STAND VISITS

6. In the event of a tie in scores between candidates, the tie-break criterion set out below will apply.

7. Communication of the results to all companies (admitted and excluded).

8. The selected companies will have a deadline to confirm their participation. If a company withdraws or does not confirm, the place will be offered to the next company on the list.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

MAXIMUM SCORE: 100 POINTS

1. Rotation and access for new companies (up to 30 points)

• Has never taken part in the BWW inward mission → 30 points
• Has taken part previously → 15 points
   

2. Preference matching between importers and wineries - matchmaking (up to 50 points)

• Match above 50% → 50 points
• Match below 50% → 25 points
   

3. Basic commitment to internationalisation (up to 20 points)

• 'The company declares that it has export capacity and staff responsible for exporting (in-house or external) on its team'. Declaration of compliance → 20 points

Tie-break criterion: in the event of a tie, the chronological order in which registrations arrived will prevail.

REGISTRATION AND APPLICATION DEADLINE

• Closing date for applications: 4 December 2025

Companies must complete Prodeca's registration form with the information requested before the closing date. No applications will be accepted once the deadline has passed.

Prodeca will process the personal and business data provided in accordance with current data protection legislation. The selection results will be sent to all registered companies by email.

PLANNED TIMETABLE