Wine tourism in the Anoia region of Catalonia, Spain.

Anoia? You might ask yourself “Is that yet another new DO in Spain?” Well, it could well be one in the future particularly if wheat farmers sell thier land to wine producers. The Anoia province (comarca) is actually part of the High Penedès wine region but not part of the Penedès province if that makes any sense?

The Consell Comarcal de L’Anoia (basically the Anoia tourist board) has created their own wine routes to include 16 wineries. If you had asked me two days ago how many wineries there are in the Anoia I would have said 4: Can Feixas, Can Bonastre, Bohigas and Celler Puig Romero of La LLacuna. Seems that the Anoia boundary includes many more!

Boundaries apart this is obviously good news for wine tourists as they have even more wineries to choose to visit. I was impressed to see owners of wineries actually turning up for the official presentation of the new wine route – Can Bonastre, Torres, Can Feixas, Pages Entrena, Cavas Bohigas and others I probably didn’t recognize.

Other attendees included hotels such as Tall de Conill, rural hotels and restaurants from Anoia.

Jordi Mercader, Vice President of the Consell Comarcal de L’Anoia gave a presentation of the project and was quickly followed by a chance to taste some of the wines of the producers in the wine trail. Jordi will be presenting his conclusions at the next Wine Pleasures Wine Tourism Conference and Workshop in January/February 2010 (dates pending).

Cut to the chase here’s a rare moment on film – an interview with 3 wineries stongly committed to developing wine tourism in the Anoia region.

Paella de Requena alguién?

Durante los Wine Pleasures Workshops, el Hotel Subur Maritim nos preparó una paella para una de las comidas. En mi mesa tenía una valenciana a mi lado y la preguntamos como estaba la paella. Adivinar su respuesta.

Unos días más tarde y con un grupo de importadores participantes en el workshop fuimos a visitar la DO de Utiel-Requena y en una de las visitas, una bodega (Vera de Estenas) nos preparó una deliciosa paella de Requena que, según el chef es totalmente diferente a las de Valencia. Desde luego era totalmente diferente a la de Sitges! Cómo se hace una paella de Requena? Véase el vídeo y el chef nos explicará.

RMB Associates quick to make purchase decisions at Wine Pleasures

Georgia based RMB Associates recently attended the Wine Pleasures Reverse Trade Mission. RMB have offices in the USA, Mexico and Canada. Both partners travelled to Spain to discover small boutique wineries from Spain. During a visit to the Vera de Estenas winery (DO Utiel – Requena) and just before a paella from Requena for lunch, Wine Pleasures asked them about their Wine Pleasures experience.

Erkki Naski the Robert Parker of Finland joins Wine Pleasures

Considered by many participants at the Wine Pleasures Workshops 2009 as the Robert Parker of Finland, Erkki Naski, wine consultant tells us about wine events in Finland aswell as giving his view on the Wine Pleasures Workshop as a method of discoveing small boutique wineries which never make it to the large trade fairs.

ERLEBEN – SIE Wine Pleasures

Kerstin Erlenmaier of Vinos y Tapas based in Berlin tells us a little about her comapny and experience at the Wine Pleaures Workshops Buyer meets Spanish Cellar and the International Organic Workshop.

Bodegas Los Pinos (organic wine) & Distribuidora de la Peña (El Salvador) chat to Wine Pleasures about organic wines

Bodegas Los Pinos receive 10 buyers participants in the Wine Pleasures Workshops at their winery in Fontanars (Valencia). This was the only winery from Spain to participate in the Organic Workshop. Italians and French clearly have greater interest in exporting their wines. One Itlaian winery said at the workshop “los españoles son muy generosos – todos los pedidos irán a Italia” Yes indeed so as will the event itself. Wine Pleasures has announced that the 2010 workshop will be held in Italy.

65,600 botellas de vino ya vendidas en los Wine Pleasures Workshops 2009 – Utiel Requena, Priorat y Valencia son las zonas afortunadas

Los pasados días 15 al 17  y 17 al 19 de marzo se llevó a cabo en el Hotel Subur Maritim de Sitges los Wine Pleasures Workshops Buyer meets Spanish Cellar y el International Organic Workshop.

El día 20 se confirmó las primeras ventas: 40,000 botellas bodegas DO Utiel-Requena, 10,000 botellas bodega DO Priorat, 10,000 botellas bodegas DO Valencia.

Tras entrevistarnos con los compradores estimamos que los compradores participantes en los dos workshops y entre ellos  comprarán unas 120,000 botellas haciendo un pedido global  de 180,000 botellas y esto a corto plazo (de aquí hasta septiembre) . Si se reparte esta cantidad de forma proporcional entre todas las bodegas participantes en los dos eventos, cada bodega conseguirá un pedido de entre 3,000-4,000 botellas (4 palets). El precio de inscripción fue de 998 Euros, una invesrión que para muchas bodegas ha sido una excelente inversión de tiempo y de presupuesto y esto sin salir de España.

En la realidad esta estadística no se cumplirá ya que habrán bodegas (de hecho ya hay) que llevarán pedidos de 30,000 + botellas y otras no venderán nada de momento.

A través del Blog Wine Pleasures puede ver reportages de tanto los compradores así como las bodegas participantes en los Workshops.

Wine Pleasures ahora está preparando para un nuevo workshop: Buyer meets Italian Cellar que se celebrará en Treviso (Veneto) los próximos días 18 al 20 de mayo en el Hotel Villa Pace Bolognese.

It’s Simply Red for Chris & Jorge at Wine Pleasures

Ex Simply Red drummer, Chris Joyce together with Jorge Chenea participated in the Wine Pleasures Reverse Trade Mission last week. On their last day they were able to visit La LLacuna and sample some of the local cured meats – fuet, butifarra blanca etc aswell as the tasty alberquina olive variety. C & J Fine Wines are now looking for a Pinot Grigio and will therefore be heading out to Treviso, Italy for the Wine Pleasures Workshop Buyer meets Italian Cellar this May.

Herbert Samuel Restaurant Sommelier finds interesting wines at Wine Pleasures

Daniel Avital, Head Sommelier at the Herbert Samuel Restaurant, Tel Aviv talks about his experience at the Wine Pleasures Workshops 2009 during a visit to the organic winery Bodegas los Pinos (DO Valencia):

Vega Privanza (DO Ribera del Duero) en el Wine Pleasures Workshop

Raimundo Izquierdo, propietario de la Bodega Vega Privanza en el Wine Pleasures Workshop: Buyer meets Spanish Cellar: