During the month of April 2022 dr. Nicola Tucci was at UAB to implement the activities of the project TRACEWINDU. The visit was an opportunity to analyse the status of the communication and dissemination activities of the project and, in particular, to understand how to improve the impact of TRACEWINDU especially in WP4 and WP5.
The visit was useful also to permit some meetings in the Cava region (Sant Sadurní d’Anoia) to better understand the potential of CORPINNAT. The name CORPINNAT is formed by the combination of two Spanish words and means “heart of Penedès.” And is a collective European Union brand established with the aim of distinguishing great sparkling wines made in the heart of the Penedès from 100% organic grapes harvested by hand and entirely vinified on the premises of the winery.
Corpinnat producers must make wines from 100 percent organic, sustainable vineyards that have been harvested by hand. The wines must be made within the Corpinnat territory, entirely vinified on their winery premises, aged for a minimum of 18 months, and they must contain a minimum of 90 percent indigenous grapes. These regulations effectively rule out the largest Cava producers from participating in the association and labeling their wines Corpinnat.
There are nine Corpinnat producers to date: Gramona, Sabaté i Coca, Mas Candí, Ilopart, Torelló, Nadal, Can Feixes, Recaredo, and Julia Bernet. Each producer formally left the Cava DO last month, and they will now only bottle their wines as Corpinnat. “All of the Corpinnat companies are no longer part of the Cava DO, as the Regulatory Board considered both brands incompatible on the same label,” explains Ton Mata, the president of the Corpinnat association and the director of Recaredo. “For this reason, we decided to follow our own path and will no longer use the [labels] Cava, Paraje Calificado, or Gran Reserva.”
During the secondment several visits were done and important agreements were reached with the smaller producers in the area. The agreements are addressed to enlarge the critical mass of participating stakeholders in the future activities of the project, and direct engagement on testing the approach of TRACEWINDU.