rose

The Penedès wine appellation is expecting “excellent” wines from this year’s harvest. Catalonia’s most important viticultural area has already started harvesting its chardonnay grapes and is expecting to harvest the other varieties in the next few days. The weather this year has been favourable for the appellation, with a “very healthy” crop that despite a reduction in volume, will be sufficient to fulfil the 22 million bottles normally produced by the wineries.

A selection of wines and cellars from Catalonia have travelled to New York to find new distributors. The event is being held on Tuesday June 5th at The Carriage House, from the Gabarrón Foundation. After New York, the Catalan red, white and cava wines will be displayed in Seattle (October 2012), Dallas (February 2013), and Los Angeles (June 2013).

There is a special feel to the streets of Catalonia on 23rd April as for one day locals set aside their daily concerns to celebrate a unique tradition: Sant Jordi’s Day. Every 23rd April is awash with the colour of roses and the gleaming jackets of books hot off the presses. Tradition dictates that today is the day men give their loved ones a rose and in return women buy men a book. The results are spectacular as around 7 million roses and 1.7 million books are sold in the space of a single day.

Alella offers a unique opportunity to enjoy a wine culture in vineyards just 15 kilometres from Barcelona. One of the smallest and oldest Spanish wine appellations (DO), it is perfectly situated on the Mediterranean coast, protected by the Litoral mountain range. The cellars organise numerous activities for wine tourists of all ages where you can learn how to taste wine, take part in the harvest, find a connection between chocolate and wine or just stroll through the vineyards.

Catalans traditionally exchange roses and books with their loved ones on 23rd of April. Streets and squares around the country fill with crowds in celebration of the National Day or ‘Diada’.