Welcome back, dear friends of Wine Channel! Today we’re taking a little trip to Barcelona to meet our dear friend Adriano Amorosi from Eurocivis and talk with him about wine in Spain, as well as projects across Europe. It’s going to be a wonderful conversation on these topics. Hello Adriano, welcome!
Q: First of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you end up in Barcelona?
A: I arrived here in 2010 because I needed to complete the third year of my international doctorate. After spending some time in the United States, I had the opportunity to do a period here with a scholarship. I’m a European project manager, which means I write projects to obtain funding from the European Union. I was immediately contacted by a company that deals with European project design. And then, like a domino effect, one project led to another, and I stayed here in Barcelona. I am one of the founding members of Euro Civis, a Catalan organization that deals with the design and management of European funds. The mission of Eurocivis is to foster a common European identity. So, the search for a common identity among all of us Europeans.
Q: “Common European identity”: have you found a common denominator?
A: Certainly, there are many points in common. For example, “ratafia” is called ratafia in Abruzzo, ratafià in Greece, and ratafìa (with emphasis on the “i”) here in Catalonia, although the recipe is slightly different. We have written a project on this, which we are currently working on. It’s called Off Road, an acronym for “Flavour Food Road,” and it’s about reconstructing the cultural identities related to food in Europe, as there are many elements in gastronomy that connect people who seem very distant from us. Also, languages and dialects across Europe represent a common European identity, which ultimately reflects the determination to build a Europe of peoples. However, this doesn’t mean eliminating differences, but rather leveraging them to create the true strength of Europe.
Q: Wine is definitely one of those elements that connect us, guiding us along our paths with a sense of familiarity, but also curiosity and discovery of the productions across the various European territories. I know you’re a great wine enthusiast, and that there are some very strong regions near you…
A: In the northern part of Catalonia, beneath the Pyrenees, there is a great area experiencing significant growth both in terms of production and the quality of wines. The ongoing project is based on the creation of a unique platform that can enhance the value of grape varieties originating from regions with volcanic stone, like this one, where excellent white wines are produced. It’s somewhat similar to what we find in Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands. A completely volcanic island where small vineyards are protected by hollows dug into the rock, creating, besides a very good and high-quality wine, a unique visual impact.
But of course, the leading region in Spain is “La Rioja,” a territorially smaller region, but with the highest wine production, and also the most recognized internationally. Rioja is a wine with an established brand, not only in Spain, where it is considered the best, but also internationally. The second strongest brand, which we find on wine lists in restaurants everywhere, is Ribera del Duero.
Then there are the wines from the islands and the productions from the Murcia region, also called “Europe’s vegetable garden” due to the many greenhouses scattered throughout the territory.
And then we have Catalan wines, mainly from two regions: Penedès, which is the region with the most history, also home to the Wine Museum in Vilafranca del Penedès, with a well-established wine already successful in the national and international markets. And lastly, though it also has a history, it’s the most recent in terms of market share—Empordà wine, located under the Pyrenees. The distortion in geographical maps makes Catalonia look like a small triangle, but it’s actually one of the largest regions, besides being the most populous, with nearly 8 million inhabitants.
Cava, on the other hand, is equivalent to champagne or traditional method sparkling wine, and here we find some very unique wineries, like those in Sant Esteve, a town inland where the bunkers from the civil war, where partisans used to hide, are now used by wineries for Cava production. Right in the center of the town is SasRoviras-Sant Esteve, a winery that looks like it’s out of a movie because you descend into the tunnel via a vertical ladder beneath the city and find yourself surrounded by history and bottles of Cava.
Q: You mentioned a Wine Museum—is it a driver of wine tourism?
A: Spain is a country where tourism is the leading sector, and having an important wine museum in a region is very significant. But the key thing is that in Spain, if you call the museum for information, they will also tell you where you can go for wine tastings, they’ll call the wineries for you, show them to you online, and give you a lot of advice on how to explore the area. This is a tourism key: bringing together all the main actors in this sector, even the bar in front of the museum.
Q: Are there any opportunities at the European level, and how can companies access the projects?
A: There are plenty, both at the European and national levels, like the PNRR. Unfortunately, it’s not easy, and that’s why professions like ours, like EuroCivis, exist. I enjoy creating new projects, but creativity alone isn’t enough. My job is partly to understand what’s missing and translate it into project proposals, but there’s also a tough technical side that the European Union requires. You need to know the programs, the directives, and the decisions made within the various European contexts. And then you need to know the applications, meaning all the technical aspects, so obviously, you can’t just improvise.
