Grapes in La Vinyeta
21% OF YOUTH
Everything changed in the two thousand. Side. Empordá was already there, it had been born in 1975 to encompass the production that was carried out in the province of Gerona, but it had nothing else. A large percentage was wine from cooperatives that managed to be profitable while doing a little unintentional damage to their own brand. The new millennium brought with it a new agro-business panorama that was changing the vineyards of Spain, the proliferation and consolidation of new wines in new lands and (why not say it) a devaluation of the kilo of bulk grapes that pushed heirs and new owners to change their way of understanding the business. They went from being mere farmers to being viticulturists, from harvesting to winemaking . Because the old vines were there, they just had to be pampered. The new eyes, the new perspectives and the university delusions of unapologetic urbanites they changed the course of a region to place it on the map and in the nose of lovers of this drink . And they also achieved a "something is happening in the northeast of Spain" slipping into the best guides and generating many expectations.
Grape harvest in La Vinyeta
11% OF COSTA BRAVA
And here tourism appears. It is not that the new winemakers ignored it, it simply happened that creating a new brand and building a company many times from scratch used up a lot of sleeplessness and worries. But of course, they could not ignore the gateway for tourists that the exuberance of the Costa Brava and the magnetism of Dalí . But the challenge was not and is not to adapt to visits as a lesser evil, but rather to convince a sun and beach audience that has already matured and that who is not only worth the beach bar and the decontextualized paella.
11% of Costa Brava
6% FROM GIRONA
The capital of the province also does a little on its part. ** Girona is more beautiful than ever **, more brimming with elegance and new ideas. Because Celler de Can Roca is not just a restaurant, it is also the starting point for a city with a great future. Stroll through this hunting ground for gastronomic trends that it is its historic center serves to confirm that in new restaurants such as Plaça del Vi 7, Nu or Divinium the wine that shines in its glass cellars and that is recommended by someliers and waiters is that of the region. Is it a matter of making a country for the face? No, rather to be fair and give up brands and other D.O. that swell their fame and their prices. And the showcase of the glasses and the labels on these tables are an incomparable push to go in search of the vineyard and the origin.
Photogenic in Girona
14% OF RESTAURANTS
But this phenomenon is also transferred to the thriving restaurants in the rest of the region. It doesn't matter if they are the classic grilled fish establishments or the heirs to the El Bulli style. What none of its menus renounces the flavors of the sea and the orchard pairing is perfect . But, above all, fear is over, which was also a handicap.
What else can be written about Celler de Can Roca?
11% NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
Well, we have youth, tourism and gastronomy, but there is still much more. In terms of landscape, the province could not be more powerful . And if you add to that the already successful lines of vines placed like a mosaic on places like Cap de Creus, maritime terraces like the Garbet estate in Colera (probably the most beautiful vineyard in Spain) or small plots between pine forests and granite berrocals the result is unsurpassed . Tasting wine is not the same if it is not done in its context, capturing the aromas, the essence, the chlorophyll and the iodine. Then the bottle will be responsible for lasting that moment until eternity. But first you have to live it, and in this case the landscape speaks for itself.
The landscape here speaks for itself
5% TRADITION
The wide open window for fresh air to enter could also have been a risk: aesthetically attacking a land that has been a wine country since some Greeks anchored their ships on its coast. however here there are no artifice modernities or neon games . Wineries such as Can Sais or Gelamà they have respected the old buildings and farmhouses to house modern machinery. The simple visit to their headquarters is already an incentive. The wine, the icing.
5% CLOSENESS AND HUMILITY
There are no stewardesses, no secretaries, no smiling guys and almost no work uniforms. Most local businesses are showcased by the owners themselves . It is not a matter -only- of joining, but also of giving free rein to the pride for the wines and the wineries. But always from a surprising humility. There is no speech prepared with the scores according to what guides or grandiloquent values. Just simple descriptions and an almost common goal: bottle the essence of the region without pharaonic intentions . And that love is contagious.
The Coll de Roses winery
7% OF GOOD IDEAS
Restless youth is associated with good ideas whose limits are not only in the wines. They also expand into wine tourism with proposals in **very original wineries such as those of La Vinyeta**, museums such as Coll de Roses, breakfasts in spectacular vineyards and tastings in panoramic towers such as those of Arché Pagès.
20% WINE
Let's say that the last ingredient that finishes off a visit is always the wine. The only one capable of sublimating a walk and prolonging a chat under the stars.
*** You may also be interested in...**
- All the information about Girona - All the information about wine tourism