Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/57654
STRATEGIES United They Stand L by David Ransom ong considered an area made up of great winemaking regions, Spain's east- ernmost territory of Catalunya holds some of that country's most recognizable D.O.s, including Penedès, Tarragona, Montsant and, of course, Priorat. Yet, until recently, Catalunya had never worked to market its famous D.O.s collectively to the world, instead letting the burden of promotion fall on the shoulders of the appellations themselves. That all changed last fall, when the Associació Vinícola Catalana (AVC), the main governing agency for Catalunya's wine regions, representing 85% of the territory's producers, embarked on a program to promote wines from Catalunya as a whole for the fi rst time. Its fi rst program, held in New York City, brought together over 30 producers from some of Spain's most celebrated wineries, including top cava producer Gramona, Priorat's Mas d'en Gil and Empordà cornerstone Castilla Perelada, for an ambitious weeklong series of tastings and semi- nars. Adding star-power to the program were a dinner at NYC's most authentic Catalan restaurant, Mercat, and a seminar led by one of Spain's most revered Sommeliers, Josep Roca of legendary Michelin three-star Girona restaurant El Celler de Can Roca. The dinner, with wines hand-picked from the regions by Roca and featur- ing a menu created by Can Roca's chef and Josep's brother, Joan, was expertly interptreted by Mercat's Executive Chef, Jay Rodriguez. At the day-long trade event, Mr. Roca's seminar Cartavi Award winners (center) Deborah Hansen of Taberna de Haro and Carl Wiseheart of Mercat are pictured with (left to right) Jordi Bort, INCAVI; Joan Huguet, AVC; and Josep Roca, El Celler de Can Roca. included an in-depth discussion of the varying terroir throughout the region, and included a whopping 21 wines tasted, at the conclusion of which, Joan Huguet, Vice-President of the AVC, and Jordi Bort of INCAVI, the governing body of the awards program, announced the two U.S. winners of the Associació's Cartavi Awards. The Cartavi Awards, a program established in Catalunya four years ago to recognize excellence in representation of Catalan wines on restaurant wine lists, expanded to include U.S. establishments for the fi rst time last year and had two winners this year: Boston's Taberna de Haro, and New York City's Mercat. So, why such an ambitious campaign for a region that is widely regarded to already have an excellent reputation and distribution in the U.S.? Sales momentum is a big rea- son. According to the fi gures of the OeMv (Spanish Observatory of the Wine Market), the U.S. is the second largest importer of Catalan wines in terms of economic value, an increase of 8.7% compared to last year with a turnover in the fi rst half of 2011 of 29.6 million euros. Giving the market a better understanding of the wines and regions should only help increase these fi gures. "Our New York City program provided a variety of ways for wine industry profes- sionals and journalists to experience wines from Catalunya in both educational and entertaining formats," says Núria Ruiz Milà, Director of International Promotion for the AVC. "It is our hope that the AVC has created more excitement and a greater under- standing of the quality and range of wines from our region." 24 / the tasting panel / march 2012 CATALUNYA'S PRODUCERS PROMOTE THE REGION AS A WHOLE IN NEW YORK CITY PHOTO: JENNIFER MITCHELL PHOTOGRAPHY