Catalonia is a leading wine producing land. It produces high-quality red, rosé and white wine, as well as many different sweet wines. In addition, it is the motherland of Cava. Flagship cellars such as Freixenet, Codorniu, Raimat and Torres lead Catalonia’s wine producers, which are distributed in 11 Guarantees of Origin for wine plus an extra one for Cava. Catalonia is a land of wine, present since the Ancient Greeks and Romans arrived to its shores. Since then, the vineyards have been an irreplaceable part of the Catalan landscape, as well as its culture.

Wine is rooted in Catalonia’s tradition and nowadays represents a rising sector, which is gaining international prestige year after year. Wines from Priorat, Penedès and Empordà are among the best in the world, and Cava is no longer a cheap replacement of Champaign but a quality product in its own right available all over the world. More than 200 million bottles of Cava certify this success, joined by 180 million for of wine.

Which are Catalonia’s Guarantees of Origin (DO)?

There are 11 Guarantees of Origin (DO) for red, white and rosé wines and an extra one for Cava. The 11 wine ones are:

DO Alella: Though the smallest, it is one of the oldest and most unique. It covers a small piece of land between the Mediterranean shore and the coastal mountains, north of Barcelona. It produces quality wines and is famous for its white wines, in which some are considered one of the best in the world.

DO Catalunya: It is a DO that fosters experimentation, as wines can be produced with a great variety of grapes in a wide range of soils. This DO has been growing significantly in the last few years, exporting more than 40 million bottles to more than 100 countries.

DO Conca de Barberà: It corresponds to a Catalan county with a very old wine tradition, coming from Medieval monasteries in the zone. Since the creation of this DO in 1989, there has been a continuous effort to modernise the cellars and the vineyards. The speciality of this DO is top-quality red wine, which is produced together with white and rosé. Most of these wines use a grape type that is autochthonous from the county that is called Trepat.

DO Costers del Segre: It is Lleida’s DO, split into the following sub zones: Artesa, Vall del Riu Corb, les Garrigues, Pallars Jussà, Raimat, and Segrià. It employs advanced technology and is famous for its innovation, changing grape varieties and fostering “Ull de Llebre”, Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnatxa, Sirah and Merlot.

DO Empordà: This DO is seeing new cellars booming in the Northern coast of Catalonia. New and old cellars are easily adapting themselves to new technology trends, changing harvest patterns and restructuring vineyards.

DO Montsant: It is the youngest Catalan DO, located in the southern part of Catalonia. Despite this fact, it has achieved a good market positioning. This DO includes the sub zones of South Priorat and some zones in Ribera d’Ebre. The soil has a high percentage of mineral salts, which is one of the main characteristics of this region. The cellars are young and modern, producing a small quantity of wine but of a great quality.

DO Penedès: This is probably the most famous wine region within Catalonia. It has powerful cellars, always improving their technology and innovating. It has traditionally been associated with white wines, but in the last years it has also started to produce top quality red wines, which have been internationally recognised.

DO Pla de Bages: It is a small DO but that produces quality wines. In the last years, wine producers from this DO have put effort recuperating an autochthonous type of grape: the “picapoll”, which is very small and can be either red or white.

DO Priorat: In the last 10 years, this DO has lived through a revolution, being recognised worldwide and seeing some of its red wines reaching the highest prices in specialised shops all over the world. The DO has new cellars, young entrepreneurs and experts who all work to maintain this DO among the best of the world. Their wines have a unique strong taste, full of peculiarities.

DO Tarragona: It is the oldest Catalan DO, producing liquor wines of great quality, such as Tarragona Clàssic. In the last years, red-wines have joined their traditional white and rosé wines.

DO Terra Alta: Many of the cellars from this DO work as a cooperative. Their wines have a singular taste and are reaching great levels of quality in the last years. Their rosé varieties are very fruity, the white have a low acidity and the red have a round body and a dark colour.

Finally, there is one DO that needs to be explained aside, the DO Cava.

DO Cava: This DO is shared with 6 other Autonomous Communities within Spain apart from Catalonia. However, 95% of DO Cava’s production come from Catalonia. More than 200 million bottles are sold each year, a number that grows year by year. Cava is famous all over the world. In the past it was sold as a cheap replacement for Champaign, but in the last years top-quality cava has started to be exported and has become famous for its great quality which is at a much more affordable price than the French Champaign.

Extracted from the article from the Catalan News Agency: http://www.catalannewsagency.com/specials/catalan-wine

Our purpose will be to bring to PUERTO RICO wine Market the excellence of our wines.

It will be a strictly professional event. 8 wine makers from Catalonia will be personally at the event to present 3 wines each. Importers, distributors, buyers & sommeliers will be able to meet with them first hand while enjoying the best tapas in town!

Enjoy the best Catalonia has to offer

Casa de España

Ave. Constitución # 9

(Antes Ave. Ponce de León)

Viejo San Juan, PR.

The 8 Catalan Wineries participating in the event will be presenting 3 wines each:

Ø  Agnes De Cervera www.agnesdecervera.com – DO Priorat

Ø  Canals i Munné www.canalsimunne.com – DO Cava

Ø  El Grial www.bodegaselgrial.com – DO Catalunya

Ø  Mas Codina www.mascodina.com – DO Penedès and DO Cava: wines and cavas

Ø  Miquel Pons www.cavamiquelpons.com – DO Penedès and DO Cava: wines and cavas

Ø  Serra Major www.sarroges.com – DO Montsant

Ø  Mayol Viticultors Sl www.mayol.eu – DO Priorat

Ø  Falset-Marça www.etim.es – DO Montsant.

To launch CATALAN WINES USA in Atlanta we would like to invite you to our Wine Tasting Event that will take place at Casa de España in El viejo San Juan. The event will take place on tuesday, Februaty 28th from 4 to 8 PM.  We are inviting wine professionals only that would like to share a cultural experience while learning about our wines and tasting excellent Spanish tapas!

IMPORTANT: The owners and representatives of the wineries participating in CATALAN WINES USA 2012 will travel to Puerto Rico for the Wine Tasting and wine presentation event.  We have reserved the day after the tasting (Wednesday 29th) for one-on-one meetings. Please take a look at the participating wineries above and if you would be interested in meeting with some, we could reserve you 1 or 2 meetings with the wineries of your choice.

On behalf of CATALAN WINES USA and ACC10, we thank you for your interest in this Event!

Jaleo - Washington, DC

August 23rd 2010 we had our PREMIERE EVENT ever! CATALAN WINES LAUNCHING…and we chose one of the most recognised Spanish Restaurants in the USA: JALEO www.jaleo.com (famous & well known restaurant) founded by the best Spanish cook in USA: JOSE ANDRES.

Our purpose WAS to bring to the market the excellence of some of our wines and to keep you updated about all promotional activities designed to take place in the United States.

Tthe best Catalonia has to offer – August 23rd 3-6PM, 2010 , Washington DC – Jaleo Restaurant

Downtown

480 7th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004
Tel (202) 628-7949
Fax (202) 628-7952

Welcome to CATALAN WINES USA the new platform for the promotion of Catalan Wines in the United States. The platform has been created under the auspices of ACC10, the agency for Catalonia’s Trade and Development. It includes a group of selected wineries representing some of the best Catalan wines that are already available in the US market.

The wineries participating in CATALAN WINES USA offer an interesting mixture of some of the 12 different DO’s of Catalonia. Our wineries have their selected wines already imported into the US and stored in a central warehouse in New Jersey, available to be distributed throughout the US market right now!

This website is open to wine professionals (importers, distributors, journalists, sommeliers, chefs, wholesalers and store owners) and to the wine lover who wants to learn about new varieties available in the market. Our purpose is to bring to the market the excellence of some of our best wines, to provide information about them, and to keep you updated about all promotional activities designed to take place in the United States.

If you would like to become a member of our CATALAN WINES USA community register here and you will receive news, profiles of participating wineries, selected wines, future activities, production and export figures, and general information on the varieties that give our wines their unique personality. New selected wines will keep on being added along the way and showcased through our website.

There are 12 D.O.’s in Catalonia. You can locate them in this map of Catalonia: http://catalanwinesusa.com/catalan-dos/

Currently, we are promoting 8 wineries and each one of these includes 3 brands. Therefore we have 24 different wines we are promoting. All of the wineries have their wines ready to sell in the USA and ready to be shipped to your restaurant, storage if you distribute or wine shop.

The 8 wineries have been selected amongst hundreds of wineries in Catalonia following some key criteria to be able to cover the broad request of the American market. We have been promoting Catalan wines for a while now and we count on an extended network of USA wine professionals & Catalan wine lovers that have helped us to select not only the wineries but also their best bets for all the different kinds of American palates!

After 2 years of investigation, interviews and intensive & fun visits to the wineries we have been able to put together this 2011-12 selection with our best tries. We hope you will love them. Here,  in this section, you will find a presentation of our 8 wineries.  Some are big, others are small, some include expensive wines others very inexpensive, some are artisan style others sophisticated & ultramodern. Some are for high end restaurants and others for everyday tables and supermarkets. Some are red, some whites (and sparkling CAVA too!) .

The 8 Catalan Wineries participating in the event will be presenting 3 wines each:

Ø  Agnes De Cervera www.agnesdecervera.com –DO Priorat

Ø  Canals i Munné www.canalsimunne.com– DO Cava

Ø  El Grial www.bodegaselgrial.com –DO Catalunya

Ø  Mas Codina www.mascodina.com – DO Penedès and DO Cava: wines and cavas

Ø  Miquel Pons www.cavamiquelpons.com –DO Penedès and DO Cava: wines and cavas

Ø  Serra Major www.sarroges.com –DO Montsant

Ø  Mayol Viticultors Sl www.mayol.eu – DO Priorat

Ø  Falset-Marça www.etim.es – DO Montsant.

Please visit the 2011-12 Wineries section in our site for full details

Enjoy!