Wine, as witnessed by the imposing monumental complex of Sant Pere de Rodes, has shaped the history of the Empordà. The wine culture in the area dates back to the 6th century BC, in the ancient Greek city of Empúries. From the DO Empordà it is stated that “there is no doubt that the culture of wine and the knowledge of the trade of the product of the vineyard come to Catalonia thanks to the most important Greek colony in the country, Empúries, a city that, over the centuries, will give name to the entire Empordà region”. It is added that “four centuries later there is archaeological and documentary evidence that wines from the territories of Emporiae and other places in Tarragona are known in domestic markets, in other provinces of the Roman Empire and in the metropolis itself.”
“Today, from the foot of the Pyrenees to the coves with crystal clear waters of the Costa Brava, you can embark on a magnificent journey of culture, landscapes and wines”, according to the DO Empordà Wine Route (a marketing club set up by the Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Girona with the support of the Regulating Council of the DO Empordà). The route has been part of the Spanish Association of Wine Cities since 2014, which brings together 36 destinations that have as a common denominator the predominance of the wine industry in their economy.
From the DO Empordà Wine Route it is stated that “the Empordà offers impressive landscapes of vineyards, wines that transmit the essence of the Mediterranean and a gastronomic culture recognized worldwide with an authentic constellation of Michelin stars and an unlimited offer of home cooking closely linked to the land and local products. It is also recalled that the area has quality hotel and tourist infrastructures linked to sun and beach tourism, cultural and food and wine tourism.
Visits to wineries, meals among the vines, stays in wineries located in beautiful natural settings, wine therapy treatments, enjoying the wide range of establishments of high enogastronomic interest and numerous activities such as kayaking with wine tasting (enokayak), winefulness, visiting vineyards by bike or horse, blind tastings or touring beautiful vineyards that descend to coves in Cap de Creus are just some of the many wine tourism proposals to experience the Empordà by land, sea and air.
The 28 wineries on the DO Empordà Wine Route registered a total of 80,374 visitors in 2022, 69.5% more than the previous year. The evolution of the number of wine tourists on the Costa Brava between 2014 and 2022 -except for the two years of the pandemic- indicates that visitors have more than doubled in nine years, with growth standing at 126%. Between 2019 and 2022 alone, the increase in wine tourists in the Empordà has been 43%.
The DO Empordà closed the last year selling more than 6 million bottles for the first time in the same year. Specifically, in 2022 the Empordà wineries sold 6,017,362 bottles, which represents an increase of 3% compared to the 5,839,749 units sold the previous year. The Girona market continues to concentrate the majority of DO sales, with 50.4% of the total, a very similar percentage compared to the previous year.
In the last year, the increase in sales in the rest of Catalonia stands out, with 23.4% of the total compared to 20% in the year 2021. This increase was mainly concentrated in the Barcelona regions. Direct sales at the winery represent 16.2% of the total, while the bottles sold in the Spanish market account for 3.4% of the entire business. Exports stand at 6.6%, a somewhat lower percentage compared to 2021, which was 8%.
The first president of the Regulating Council of the DO Empordà since its creation in 1975, Carme Casacuberta, believes that the Empordà is still at the beginning of its great ecotourism boom. She considers that “we must work with sanity, rigor and coherence, betting on sustainable wine tourism, to become a benchmark of quality.” Casacuberta has set itself the objectives at the helm of the DO Empordà “to continue working to improve the excellence of Empordà wines; preserve and promote local varieties and promote sustainable agricultural practices”.
He also states that we must focus more on internationalization and improve our presence in Barcelona and its metropolitan area, as well as work to “generate more value and quality”. Carme Casacuberta celebrates the growing commitment in the Empordà to traditional grape varieties, such as lledoner (garnacha), lledoner roig, cariñena or white cariñena. The Institut Català de la Vinya i el Vi de la Generalitat (Incavi) has recently achieved that another ancestral variety of the Empordà, the red carinyena, is included in the Catalan viticultural potential.
The Perelada wine tourism complex, with its spectacular new winery designed by the RCR Arquitectes firm, is, according to this winery group, “one of the largest, most complete and diversified wine tourism projects in Europe”. In the large Perelada enclosure they have a unique library in Spain with more than 100,000 copies of enormous value, including incunabula. The Cervantes collection initiated by Miguel Mateu Pla (1898-1972) stands out, with 5,000 volumes. It is one of the most important in private hands. They come to have more than a thousand different impressions and translations of The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha.
At the same time, they house a glass museum considered among the best in the world; a Gothic church and cloister with an important artistic collection or with its Castell de Perelada Music Festival. Likewise, the complex integrates a five-star hotel, a wine spa, a golf course, several restaurants and an exhibition space dedicated to the history of the Hispano-Suiza automobile brand.
