Natalia, CEO 11Onze (Right), delivers VINARI award to the best young white wine: blanc LaFou Els Amelers 2020, de LaFou Celler (DO Terra Alta) Photo Credit: Jordi Play
Post-Covid: Catalan Wine industry turns challenges into opportunities.
Gala Premis Vinari 2021 goes ahead despite Covid-19 challenges. Last month, over 852 different wines from over 200 Catalan wineries entered the competition to be crowned as the best wine from the region. It’s an honour that every vineyard vies to behold.
The festival is an exercise to celebrate ingenuity, innovation and sustainability within the wine growers in the region. No wonder, Catalan based fintech start-up 11Onze, www.11onze.cat, – a champion of community projects and sustainability – is supporting the festival by becoming its main sponsor. The winners of all categories will be announced in a television show featuring top Catalonian artists this October. Major innovative wine brands from the sector will be awarded, as well as promoting various wine tourism initiatives.
“The mission of 11Onze has been clear since its inception. We exist to serve and empower the people of Catalonia, and the Vinari awards is an initiative that celebrates the innovation, hard work and resilience of the wine industry which is recovering from the impact of the pandemic that slowed economic growth in the sector.” said James Séne, Founder, 11Onze.
“Climate change has already warned us in many ways that we have to work in a sustainable way and Catalan wine has been seeking ways to do so for years: from choosing models of sustainable agriculture, respect for biodiversity, options that improve waste reduction, reduction of water footprint and CO₂ emissions… And more recently, elements such as eco-design or communication have been incorporated to facilitate this task,” Séne added.
“Catalonia is a world-class wine region and we are super pleased to support hardworking locals and I believe, like fine wine, our community will mature and grow. At 11Onze, we are all about supporting small and medium businesses. In these tough times, they need community and financial support more than ever. Supporting this world-class wine festival is our way of saying we are here for you and we celebrate your success,” said Natalia Cugueró, CEO, 11Onze, who is the force behind this partnership.
“We are aware of the several challenges facing the wine industry and strongly believe that digitization of wineries to boost online sales will help mitigate these issues. We also see cities like Barcelona becoming more attractive for wine tourism,” she added.
Catalonian wines tend to be full-bodied and high in alcohol, due to the grape varieties and the region’s warm weather conditions. But Catalonia’s best wines also feature intense minerality derived from vineyards planted on granite, chalk and fractured slate soils.
Catalonia’s 10 denominated wine regions focus mostly on so-called Mediterranean grape varieties, primarily Garnacha and Carignan (also called Cariñena or Samsó) among red grapes, and Garnacha Blanca and Xarel-lo among white grapes.
The competition was held in two phases of blind tasting. First is the preliminary GALA D’ESTIU on the 9th of July to award to young wines, and the GALA PREMIS VINARI, which is the grand gala on October 8, where the winners of all categories will be announced in a television show featuring top Catalonian artists. Major innovative wine brands from the sector will be awarded, as well as promoting various wine tourism initiatives.
Wine consumers all over the world associate Catalan wines with heritage and quality. These features combine perfectly with the ethos and values of 11Onze, as the Catalonian Fintech company prepares to roll out some unique products to benefit the community. 11Onze is committed to Catalan entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, empowerment and localization.
