Catalan wine searches for new opportunities in Danish market in reverse trade mission

The Valls Chamber of Commerce has brought together five Danish wine importers and eleven Catalan wineries with the aim of establishing new commercial relationships.

The Scandinavian businesspeople will spend three days in Valls, where will be able to visit wineries to learn more about how they work.

This is the 12th year that Valls has organized these reverse trade missions.

The initiative from the Chamber of Commerce has allowed Catalan wineries to find new markets in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Japan.

"Wines from Catalonia are definitely growing," Christian Dexters, one of the Danish importers, told the Catalan News Agency. "I think it's a region that's become more and more known."

He described Catalan wines as "more fresh," and noted they have more "energy." 

He believes there's a "big opportunity" to sell styles such as garnatxa in the Danish market.

Wineries have also been looking forward to participating in these meetings. Montse Rexach, from the Rexach Baqués winery, says that in previous editions, they have been able to make contacts that led to new export markets for their wines and cavas.

"If we are there again, it means that things are working; and coming here is very easy," she explained.

Rexach believes that when the national market is saturated, selling abroad is a good option.

She acknowledged that when wine is exported, it is generally sold cheaper, but that if you work well "it pays off."

Montse Barranco, from the company Excelling Wines, dedicated to advising on exports to small wineries, pointed out that these lower prices can be down to different factors.

"In the export market, alcohol is sold without taxes because it is paid at destination. Most of the time it is the importer himself who comes to collect the order from the winery and assumes the transport, and this means that in the end the price can be lower," she pointed out.

The president of the Valls Chamber of Commerce, Josep Maria Rovira, says that the reverse trade missions allow wineries to reduce costs, since instead of having to assume the expense of a trip abroad, they welcome the importer to their home.